Cafe Lula

I hadn’t planned to make this and it isn’t often that I spontaneously bake. Usually because I don’t have time in between all the planned baking! But after making macaroons I found myself with some spare egg yolks and it seemed a shame to throw them away. I knew I’d seen several recipes in my new Green and Black’s cookbook that only used egg yolks, and, as they all contain chocolate, I knew I’d want to make pretty much all of them! It was difficult deciding which to make (dark chocolate and cardamom ice cream? buttermilk and bitter chocolate ice cream? gooey chocolate puddings?) but I’ve never made parfait before so I decided to try something new. It was a good decision!

This is somewhere between frozen chocolate mousse and ice cream, which obviously could never be a bad thing. It’s also very quick and easy to make, which means you can stock up your freezer with these wonderful little pots so that you always have a stash of dessert.

Chocolate and Tia Maria parfait

Adapted from Green and Black’s Ultimate Chocolate Recipes

Makes 6

Ingredients:

125g caster (superfine) sugar

150ml water

125g dark chocolate, broken into pieces (I used 72% G&B cook’s chocolate)

4 large egg yolks (click here for some ideas for using up the egg whites)

1-2 tbsp Tia Maria (I used 2 tbsp)

300ml double (heavy) or whipping cream

Put the sugar and water in a saucepan and bring to the boil to dissolve the sugar. I used water from a just-boiled kettle here, but the recipe does not specify, so you’re perhaps supposed to bring the water to the boil in the pan. Worked fine with boiled water though! Boil the sugar and water mixture for 3 minutes once the sugar has dissolved.

Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the chocolate until it has melted, then whisk together using a handwhisk so that the mixture is fully blended (I found that just stirring did not combine the ingredients fully very easily).

In a large bowl, whisk the egg yolks until pale, then slowly pour in the chocolate mixture, whisking as you do so. Whisk in the Tia Maria.

In another bowl, whip the cream to soft peaks and then fold it into the chocolate mixture.

Divide the mixture between 6 ramekins and freeze for at least a couple of hours.

I like to remove them from the freezer about 30 minutes before serving, which makes them creamy round the outside and ice cream-like in the centre. If you want them more solid, maybe only remove about 15 minutes before serving.