Coffee Meringue Ice Cream Cake

By á-174535

Ice cream? Meringue? Made into a cake? Perfect! The light crunchy layers of meringue filled with homemade coffee ice cream is a perfect dessert.

Ingredients

• Parchment paper
• Vegetable oil cooking spray
• 5 large egg whites
• 1 1/4 cups sugar
• 1/8 teaspoon fine salt
• 1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
• 1 teaspoon liquid coffee extract, divided
• 1 1/3 cups sliced natural almonds, about 4 1/2 ounces
• 1 1/4 teaspoons flaky sea salt, such as Maldon, divided
• 3 scant tablespoons high-quality roasted coffee beans
• 2 1/2 pints coffee ice cream, preferably Haagen-Dazs

Preparation

Step 1

Preheat oven to 200°F. Trace a 10-inch circle on each of 2 pieces of parchment. Turn over parchment, and place each on a baking sheet. Coat parchment with cooking spray.

Place egg whites and sugar in a heatproof bowl set over a pot of simmering water. Stir until sugar dissolves and mixture is warm, about 3 minutes. Remove from heat. Add fine salt and cream of tartar, and beat with a mixer on high speed until stiff, glossy peaks form and meringue is almost cool, about 8 minutes.

Using the traced circles as a guide, gently mound slightly more than half the meringue on 1 piece of parchment and the remainder on the other. Drizzle 1/2 teaspoon coffee extract over the smaller mound, and spread meringue into a flat disk, leaving the edge slightly swoopy and the top smooth. Spread out remaining mound into a slightly thicker disk, using a swirling motion, until it is about 1 1/2 inches away from edge of circle. Drizzle remaining coffee extract over second disk, and swirl in extract with a spoon, leaving some of it very distinct and spreading meringue to edge of circle.

Bake meringues until crisp all the way through, about 4 hours. Remove from oven, and let cool completely, about 1 hour.

Raise oven temperature to 325°F. Toss together almonds and 1 teaspoon sea salt on a baking sheet. Bake, stirring occasionally, until nuts are deep golden brown, about 18 minutes. Let cool completely. Coarsely grind coffee beans in a spice grinder.

Beat ice cream with a mixer on medium-low speed until slightly softened and mostly smooth, about 30 seconds. Add almonds and ground coffee, and beat until just incorporated. Spread ice cream mixture on flat meringue; sprinkle with remaining sea salt. Top with swirled thicker meringue. Freeze at least 20 minutes, or wrap in plastic wrap and freeze up to 6 hours. Let sit at room temperature 5 minutes. Cut into wedges, and serve.