Marcella Hazan

Il Gelato di Cioccolato del Cipriani

The Cipriani’s Dark Chocolate Ice Cream

Preparation info

  • Difficulty

    Easy

  • About

    6 to 8

    Portions

Appears in

Marcella's Italian Kitchen

Marcella's Italian Kitchen

By Marcella Hazan

Published 1986

If One judges chocolate ice cream by how sumptuously concentrated, how close to chocolate essence it is, the one made by the Cipriani Hotel in Venice must take an absolute first place. When Franco, the pastry chef, at last released his recipe to me, I discovered the secret: deep brown caramelized sugar added to the cocoa and bittersweet chocolate to intensify both color and flavor. To obtain a suitably dark caramel, it may be helpful to read the note on croccante.

Ingredients

  • 4 egg yolks
  • ⅔ cup plus 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
  • 2 cups milk
  • 3½ ounces semisweet baking chocolate
  • 1 ½ ounces unsweetened cocoa powder

Method

  1. Put the egg yolks and ⅔ cup granulated sugar in a bowl and beat with a whisk until they are creamy and form pale ribbons.
  2. Bring the milk to a boil in a saucepan, then add it to the beaten yolks, trickling it in slowly and steadily and mixing it in with the whisk.
  3. Melt the chocolate in the upper half of a double boiler, then pour it into the bowl containing the egg yolks and milk mixture, mixing it in thoroughly with the whisk.
  4. Add and mix in the cocoa.
  5. Transfer the contents of the bowl to a saucepan, turn on the heat to medium, and stir with a wooden spoon until all the components of the mixture are well amalgamated.
  6. Put 2 tablespoons of sugar in a saucepan with 2 teaspoons of water, turn on the heat to high, and melt the sugar until it is dark brown. Add it immediately to the egg and chocolate mixture, mixing it in thoroughly with the whisk. If it crystallizes, don’t worry: It will dissolve as it is whisked.
  7. Transfer the mixture to a bowl. When it is cool, place the bowl in the refrigerator for at least 20 minutes. Put the mixture in your ice cream maker and proceed according to the manufacturer’s instructions.

© 1986 Marcella Hazan estate. All rights reserved.

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