Twice the chocolate
Double chocolate
Cocoa for the deep roasted flavour, melted dark chocolate for the richness and body. No eggs needed: the chocolate does all the work a custard normally would.
- Makes about 1 litre
- 20 min hands-on
- Chill 4 hrs
- Churn 20–30 min
- No eggs
Ingredients
- 500 ml2 cups whole milk
- 250 ml1 cup double cream (heavy cream)
- 150 g¾ cup caster sugar
- 40 g½ cup cocoa powder
- 150 g5 oz dark chocolate, chopped small
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- A good pinch of fine salt
Method
Use chocolate you would happily eat on its own, somewhere around 60 to 70% cocoa solids.
- Whisk the cocoa, sugar and salt together dry in a saucepan. Doing this first is what stops the cocoa going lumpy later.
- Whisk in a splash of the milk to make a smooth paste, then whisk in the rest of the milk.
- Bring to a simmer over a medium heat, whisking all the while, and let it bubble gently for 30 seconds. The cocoa loses its raw edge and the mixture thickens very slightly.
- Take it off the heat, tip in the chopped chocolate, and leave it for a minute before whisking smooth.
- Stir in the cream and the vanilla. If it is not perfectly smooth, give it ten seconds with a stick blender.
- Chill for at least 4 hours, ideally overnight.
- Churn for 20–30 minutes, then freeze in a shallow tub for 4 hours before scooping.
Worth knowing
- Cocoa solids set hard. This is a firmer ice cream than vanilla, so give it a full ten minutes out of the freezer before serving.
- Dutch-processed cocoa gives a smoother, darker result; natural cocoa is fruitier and sharper. Both work.
- Do not use chocolate above 75%. Very dark chocolate has so little sugar that the texture turns chalky.
- A pinch of instant espresso (half a teaspoon) makes chocolate taste more of itself without tasting of coffee.
Make it yours
Five ways to change it
Mexican chocolate
Add ½ tsp ground cinnamon and a small pinch of cayenne with the cocoa. Warming rather than hot.
Mocha
Whisk 2 tbsp instant espresso powder in with the cocoa at step 1.
Chocolate orange
Steep the zest of two oranges in the hot milk for 20 minutes at step 3, then strain it out.
Rocky road
Fold 75 g mini marshmallows and 50 g toasted almonds in during the last minute of churning.
Chocolate stracciatella
Drizzle 80 g melted chocolate into the machine at the very end so it sets in fine flecks.
If it goes wrong
Rescue remedies
It tastes gritty
Either the cocoa never fully dissolved or the chocolate seized. A stick blender fixes both in seconds, before chilling.
It is too hard to scoop
Chocolate ice cream always sets firmest. Add a tablespoon of golden syrup or vodka to the base before churning, and let it stand before serving.
It tastes bitter
Your chocolate is probably above 75%. Drop to 60–70%, or add another 20 g of sugar.
Can I make it with eggs?
Yes. Use the custard base and whisk 30 g cocoa into the dairy, then stir 100 g chocolate into the finished hot custard.