Michelle Darmody: Vanilla ice cream dipped in hot caramel sauce

Or a smooth cherry sauce is absolutely delicious over ice cream

Hot caramel sauce is a decadent addition to any ice cream. 

A hot sauce poured over freezing cold ice cream so that it thickens on impact is a glorious thing. A good vanilla ice cream goes with almost any sauce or topping, it is the classic dessert.

Vanilla ice cream with chocolate sauce

recipe by:Michelle Darmody

Cool down with a classic treat topped with hot chocolate sauce - a simply delicious summer dessert

Servings

6

Preparation Time

 4 hours 0 mins

Cooking Time

 10 mins

Total Time

 4 hours 10 mins

Course

 Dessert

Cuisine

 Italian

Ingredients

• 300 ml milk

• 3 tsp vanilla

• 110g golden caster sugar

• 280 ml cream

• 3 egg yolks

• For the sauce:

• 100g dark chocolate, broken into small even-sized pieces

• 25g butter

• 120 ml cream

• 1 tbsp muscovado sugar

• ½ tbsp brandy

Method

1. To make the ice-cream put the milk, vanilla and half of the sugar into a heavy-based saucepan and bring to a shivering stage, just before it boils and the sugar has melted. Set aside.

2. Add the rest of the sugar to the egg yolks and whisk until pale. Add a ladleful of the milk mixture to the eggs, then whisk the egg mixture into the remaining milk and continue whisking over a low heat until it thickens.

3. Place the mixture into a bowl and put it in the fridge to cool, stirring every now and then to make sure a skin does not form on the surface.

4. Whip the cream until it doubles in volume, stop before it gets to stiff peaks. Stir this into the cold custard until combined. Scoop into a freezer-safe dish and place it into your freezer. Stir every hour for about four hours to break up the crystals.

5. To make the sauce melt the chocolate in a bowl over a saucepan of simmering water. Try not to stir it in case steam gets in and causes the chocolate to stiffen.

6. Heat all of the remaining ingredients in a saucepan over a low heat until combined. Remove from the heat and stir the mixture through the melted chocolate. 

You can easily make an ice-cream sundae with any of the sauces featured here, just add some toppings such as roasted nuts — and don’t forget the cherry on top.

This classic American treat has been served since the late 19th century, but it was 1950s America that made ice-cream parlours the height of glamour, with towering ice-cream sundaes served across colourful Formica countertops.

Caramel sauce

recipe by:Michelle Darmody

Caramel sauce is surprisingly easy to make and keeps well in the fridge. Keep a stock in the fridge at all times to facilitate desserts in a hurry

Servings

6

Cooking Time

 10 mins

Total Time

 10 mins

Course

 Dessert

Cuisine

 American

Ingredients

• 250ml of cream

• 80g  muscovado sugar

• 90g soft butter, cubed

• ½ tbsp of golden syrup

• ½ tbsp of treacle

Method

1. Gently heat the cream in a saucepan. Add the sugar and butter and whisk until melted. Whisk in the syrup and treacle.

2. Serve warm over very cold ice-cream. Store any extra in a sealed jar in the fridge.

Closer to home we have had a resurgence of great ice-cream makers in Ireland in recent years. Ballyhubbock Farm in Wicklow makes a very delicious line of sheep’s milk ice cream, their flavours include lemon curd and raspberry crumble. Murphy’s, who started out in Dingle, now have other locations and sell the tubs for home use. If you do not eat dairy Nobó produce a selection of tasty ice-creams that use coconut milk and other plant-based ingredients.

Cherry sauce

recipe by:Michelle Darmody

Sweet and slightly tart, a cherry sauce turns a bowl of ice-cream into a luxury dessert in a few minutes

Servings

6

Preparation Time

 5 mins

Cooking Time

 30 mins

Total Time

 35 mins

Course

 Dessert

Ingredients

• 250g cherries

• 35ml water

• 120g demerara sugar

• ½ tbsp freshly-squeezed orange juice

• 2 tsp brandy

Method

1. Put the cherries into a heavy-based saucepan over a low heat and add the water. Bring to the boil then allow to simmer for 15 minutes, stirring now and again until the fruit is beginning to soften.

2. Add the sugar and stir until it dissolves, add the orange juice and brandy, then bring back to the boil.

3. Simmer for 15 minutess until the fruit has burst and softened and the sauce is smooth and dark purple.

A banana split is another dessert option. If you have not had one in years you might be surprised by how tasty they are. Cut a banana in half lengthwise and lay it in a dish, preferably a boat-shaped glass dish, top it with vanilla, chocolate shavings, chopped nuts and any of the sauces featured here. Placing a cherry on top is also the classic way to serve it.