1. FROZEN DESSERTS
Ice Creams, Sorbets, Bombes,
Parfaits & Frozen Soufflés.

2. FROZEN DESSERTS - intro
• A wide range of desserts are created simply by
freezing.
• They fall into two main categories:
• Sorbets made of simple combinations of fruit juice or puree,
wine or liqueur, plus sugar and various flavourings
• Richer mixtures based on eggs, milk or cream.
• Of the latter, the most common are custard-based ice
creams made of milk and thickened with egg, but some even
richer mixtures are used for parfaits, frozen soufflés, bombes
and other frozen creations of Grande Cuisine.

3. FROZEN DESSERTS - intro
• The key to good sorbet and ice cream is smoothness;
• The ice crystals that form naturally during freezing must
be forestalled.
• This is accomplished by stirring the mixture constantly, usually by
machine.
• The higher the proportion of water, the more easily ice crystals form, and
therefore the more thoroughly it must be stirred.
• Sorbets, particularly those based on wine or on fruit juices rather than
fruit purees, are quite hard to make due to high proportion of water.
• Very rich mixtures such as parfaits and bombes with a high proportion of
eggs and cream, freeze smoothly with no stirring at all.
• Good sorbets and ice creams should also be light from the air absorbed
during churning.
• Sorbets may be lightened further by adding whipped egg white or
meringue halfway through freezing, while parfaits and bombes are
lightened with whipped eggs and cream.
• One commercial use is to increase bulk by adding air, as can be shown by
weighing equal volumes of commercial and homemade ice cream.

4. FROZEN DESSERTS - intro
• When making any mixture to be frozen, bear in mind that taste is blunted
by cold, so flavours must be concentrated, with a bite of acid lemon or
alcohol as well as plenty of sugar.
• Fruits are excellent in sorbets and ice cream, especially acid fruits such as
passion fruit, citrus fruits and berries.
• For ice cream, the straight forward tastes of vanilla, coffee and chocolate
are still preferred, together with crushed nut mixtures such as praline, or
candied fruits macerated in liqueur.
• Ice cream may also be tinted with food colouring, but with discretion.
Mint and pistachio ice creams, for example, are appealing when tinted the
palest green.

5. INGREDIENTS FOR
FROZEN DESSERTS
• Each type of ingredient used in a frozen mixture has a specific effect.
• Sugar often dissolved in water as syrup, white or brown sugar adds smoothness by hindering
the formation of ice crystals.
• Sugar also lowers the freezing point of a mixture, so it takes longer to stiffen.
• With too little sugar, a mixture may be grainy; with too much sugar, it may scarcely stiffen .
• Honey, maple syrup and other sweeteners act like sugar when frozen, though the flavour may be different.
• Artificial sweeteners lack sugar's capacity to produce a smoothness in the mixture.
• Cream and milk : The butterfat content, that is, the proportion of cream in frozen mixtures, has an
important effect on their consistency:
• The higher the butterfat, the smoother the ice cream.
• Cream with a high fat content (whether it is whipped first or not) may curdle or form granules
of fat.
• Milk is the usual base for ice-cream custards, often with some cream added halfway through
churning.
• Evaporated or condensed milk is an inexpensive alternative to cream, but adds a flavour.
• Creme fraiche, soft cheese and yogurt add a pleasant bite to ice creams and frozen desserts, and fresh
cream cheeses like French fromage frais and Italian ricotta give body.
• Yogurt retains its characteristic flavour when frozen and may be used alone or with milk.

6. Frozen Desserts – preparation
• Liqueur and wine : Many traditional sorbets are based on wines; and frozen
desserts may be flavoured with liqueurs.
• However alcohol sharply lowers the freezing point of a mixture, so strong
liqueurs or spirits must be used in moderation.
• Fruit : Fruit are often used for sorbet and to flavour ice cream. Fruit juices,
particularly lemon, are important in sorbets in adding acid to balance sugar and
heighten flavour.
• Nuts : Chopped walnuts or almonds offer a contrasting crunch and are classic in ice
cream .
• Corn flour, potato flour and other thickeners :Thickeners make ice cream heavy,
sacrificing quality for economy.
• Eggs : Whole eggs and egg yolks are indispensable for thickening custard ,ice
creams and bombe mixtures.
• Note : Raw egg yolk can harbour bacteria that are not killed by freezing. Therefore,
in any frozen mixture that is to be stored, the egg yolk must be cooked, either as a
custard or by whisking with sugar over heat.

7. Storing sorbet and ice cream
• Sorbet and ice cream should always be kept an hour or two after
churning to let the flavour mellow.
• The richer the mixture, the longer it can be stored before ice
crystals start to form.
• Sugar inhibits crystallization, as do stabilizers such as gelatin often
used in commercial preparations.
• Homemade frozen yogurt mixtures keep up to a week; plain ice
creams can be frozen a month or more, while rich mixtures such as
parfaits can be stored three months; light sorbets are best eaten
within two to three hours, though they can be frozen up to two
weeks with little change.
• Frozen mixtures must be tightly sealed as they easily pick up an
other flavours.
• A fresh-frozen mixture thaws quickly, so handle it as little as
possible. The texture should be soft enough to scoop easily.

8. Presenting frozen desserts
• For a simple presentation, ice cream may be set into a square or
round mould with an indented design, then easily unmoulded on to
a chilled serving dish.
• Served against a background of brightly coloured sauce or fruit.
Sliced fruits may be added as garnish, with a sprig of mint, frosted
fresh fruit as decoration.
• A sprinkling of browned chopped nuts or crushed caramel may be
preferred,
• Accompaniments are equally traditional. The intense flavour of a
sorbet demands at most a spoonful or two of liqueur, sweet sauces
from fruit or butterscotch to chocolate.
• Richer frozen desserts, however are often complete in
themselves, needing only the crispy rolled
cigarette macaroon or fan wafer, accompaniments that are
also good with ice cream.

9. PROBLEMS WHEN MAKING FROZEN DESSERTS
• Lumps
– Mixture (particularly fruit puree) was not smooth before being frozen.
– Paddle did not scrape sides of container during churning.
• Granular texture
– Too much water or alcohol in mixture.
– Amount of sugar or fat too low.
– Mixture was insufficiently churned, or churned too slowly.
– Freezing done too quickly at too low a temperature.
– Cream curdled during churning.
– Container was too full.
– Finished dessert was stored too long.
• Poor flavour
– Too little sugar.
– In a sorbet, too little acid such as lemon juice was used.

10. SORBET
• Sorbet, sometimes called ice or water ice, consists of sugar or sugar
syrup and flavouring, but there are countless variations.
• Chopped herbs such as mint, or spices such as cinnamon, may be
added to the fruit juice.
• When a sorbet is based on a spirit such as Calvados, ingredients
that drastically lower the freezing point of a mixture, a sharp fruit
flavour such as apple or unripe grape is often included.
• Wine sorbets are best with the sweetness of aperitifs like port and
vermouth.
• Most famous of all is Champagne sorbet, though an inexpensive
sparkling wine can well be substituted, since the bubbles can hardly
be appreciated.

11. SORBET – contd.
• Finding just the right balance of flavour and sweetness in a sorbet
is a matter of tasting and adjusting ingredients until the
combination is just right. The proportion of sugar is critical.
• The texture of a sorbet may be lightened by adding lightly whipped
egg whites or Italian meringue halfway through churning - even a
teaspoon or two perceptibly smoothens texture and increases
volume.
– When more meringue is used, a sorbet changes so much that it is
given another name, "spoom".
• A sherbet is yet another variation, often confused with a sorbet.
– To make sherbet, milk is substituted for the water in a sorbet usually
flavoured with citrus or other tart fruits.
– Sherbets are pleasant, but lack the richness of ice cream and the bite
of a true sorbet.

12. SORBET - examples
• Lemon sorbet : 175 ml lemon juice and the finelly grated rind of 3 lemons. After
freezing, pack into chilled hollowed lemon shells and top with the lid.
• Orange or tangerine sorbet : 500 ml fresh orange or tangerine juice and water.
After freezing, pack into chilled fruit shells as for lemon sorbet.
• Blackcurrant sorbet : Blackcurrants simmered with the sugar syrup until very soft,
15-20 minutes, then puree and sieve them. Serve in stemmed glasses, topped with
a spoonful of cassis liqueur and frosted blackcurrants.
• Champagne or wine sorbet : 1 bottle (750 ml) Champagne or wine and water.

13. ICE CREAM
• The classic ice cream made with egg custard is incomparable
– The standard proportions are 500ml milk, 135 g sugar and 6-8 egg yolks,
plus 250 ml cream, but there are many variations. Opinion is divided as to
whether the cream should be cooked with the milk as custard, or should
be whipped and stirred in for lightness. For richness, cream may replaced so for
all of the milk. To make so-called French ice cream, more egg yolks are added
to the standard custard.
• Ice cream based only on milk or light cream, or even a mixture of both, is common
in Italy and in the United States, where it is often called Philadelphia ice cream.
• Sweetened with sugar, it can support the full gamut of flavours, but must rely on
top quality basic ingredients for success.
• Unlike custard-based ice creams, this mixture need not be cooked before freezing,
but the cream is often boiled to reduce and enrich it.
• In mixes such as frozen yogurts, the egg-yolk custard may also be dropped; its
thickening power is not needed.
• Mixtures made with fruit puree may be thickened with gelatin.
• Note : When tart fruit puree or juice is used, or a sweet ingredient like chocolate,
is added to the basic mixture, proportions of sugar may need to be adjusted.

14. Working with Ice creams
• Flavourings for ice cream are range from traditional chocolate chip, butter pecan
and rum raisin to the picturesque rocky road (chocolate with nuts) and even more
unusual flavours such as bubble gum.
– Preferences vary from nation to nation - the French enjoy pistachio and praline; Italians are
fond of hazelnut, while chocolate ripple is favoured by the British.
• Fruit ice creams such as strawberry should be flavoured with a puree that is thick
and concentrated so the custard is not thinned.
• Note : Fruits with too much acid may curdle an egg custard; for example, the rind
of orange and lemon is used in ice cream, with little or no juice, and fruits such as
plums must be cooked before they are pureed and added to the mixture.
• A vast range of sauces, toppings and accompaniments transform plain ice cream
into the coupe of Grande Cuisine and the sundae of the American ice-cream
parlour.
• Escoffier's Peach Melba with its vanilla ice cream, poached peach halves, and fresh
raspberry puree is known around the world, as are his Belle Helene (pears,
chocolate sauce, and vanilla ice cream). A “Balnana Split" is just one of the other
possibilities - a halved banana with scoops of ice cream served with a hot fudge
sauce and topped with whipped cream.

15. BOMBES, PARFAITS & FROZEN
SOUFFLES
• Even richer than ice cream are the frozen desserts that need no churning to be
smooth when frozen. Simple to make, they take several hours to set firmly in the
freezer.
• Most common are bombes, made with a mousse of egg yolks (or whole eggs) and
sugar mixed with an equal quantity of whipped cream.
• For a white colour, Italian meringue may be substituted for the egg yolk mousse.
• To balance such richness, forceful flavours such as brandy, fruit puree, etc are
added, often with nuts and glace fruits for texture.
• When making a bombe, the mixture is usually set in a smooth domed mould.
– First the mould is lined with one or two layers of contrasting ice cream, or occasionally
sorbet, then the bombe mixture itself is added and chilled.
– When cut in wedges, colourfull striped slices are revealed.
• A parfait is based on essentially the same mixture as a bombe. It may be frozen on
its own in a parfait glass (a stemmed glass thick enough to withstand freezing)
or layered with macerated fruits, crushed macaroon
crumbs and other fillings. The traditional flavour for a
parfait is coffee, but popular alternatives include
chocolate, praline, maple, liqueurs and fruit purees.

16. • Frozen souffles are an alternative bombe presentation, piled high
above the rim of one large or several individual souffle dishes
within a paper collar that is removed before serving.
• Often whipped egg white or Italian meringue is folded into the
basic mixture to give a hint of the lightness of a hot souffle.
• The bombe family of desserts is so rich that they need little
decoration.
• After unmoulding, a bombe may be given a ruff of whipped cream
around the base, with a rosette for parfaits or miniature souffles.
• Toppings such as fresh berries or chocolate leaves should be
minimal, but a contrasting tart fruit sauce is a welcome
accompaniment.

17. CLASSIC FROZEN DESSERTS
• Christmas Ice pudding A frozen version of Christmas pudd1ng containing rum-soaked dried fruits
mixed into a chocolate chestnut-flavoured egg custard, lightened with whipped cream or sugar
content that prevents hard freezing, thus creating the illusion that it is less cold than ice cream.
– The name of the dessert in Italian means "half cold". The mixture is frozen in a lined pudding basin and
unmoulded to resemble a traditional Christmas pudding.
• Cassata - The typical Italian version of bombe; a mixture of Ita!ian meringue, whipped cream and
candied fruit, surrounded by layers of ice cream.
• Biscuit glace - A variation of bombe mixture that uses Italian meringue in addition to the usual
mousse and whipped cream. A biscuit glace is moulded in a square or round mould to resemble a
cake. The basic mixture can also be used to make frozen souffles.
• Baked Alaska - (Fr. omelette a la norvegienne) Ice cream set on a layer of cake, encased in
meringue and baked to serve with a warm coating of browned meringue. Italian meringue is
prefered so that the dessert can be assembled long in advance and frozen; it is then browned in the
oven just before serving.
• Ice-cream layer cake - Alternating layers of ice-cream and sponge cake frozen to resemble a layer
cake and cut in wedges, often with a hot fudge sauce. Popular flavour combinations are chocolate
sponge with mint chocolate chip ice cream, or vanilla sponge with coffee or praline ice cream.

18. ANISH BANERJEE
initiative
THANK YOU