Coffee & Peppermint Arctic Roll

Let’s celebrate our friends across the pond with a coffee and peppermint Arctic roll. Arctic rolls are a traditional British dessert made of ice cream wrapped in a thin layer of sponge cake forming a roll, with a layer of flavored sauce or schmear between the sponge and the ice cream. Food scientist Katie Rosenburg created this roll by combining two of our favorite flavors...coffee and peppermint!

Coffee Peppermint Cake Ingredients:

Butter (to grease the parchment)
6 medium eggs
1/4 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 cups sieved flour
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Instructions:

Prepare a baking sheet by lining the pan with parchment paper and leaving an inch or more parchment around the cake.
With an electric mixer, whisk the eggs and sugar together for 3 minutes or until pale and thickened. Fold in by hand the remaining ingredients and pour onto the prepared baking sheet.
Bake for about 15 minutes at 350ºF.
After two minutes of cooling, roll up the cake and leave it rolled up in the parchment paper while it continues to cool.

Peppermint Schmear Ingredients

1 1/4 cups heavy cream
2 tablespoons confectioners’ sugar
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
8 drops of beet juice (shred beets into a paper towel or cloth, squeeze the beet juice into the schmear) or 8 drops of red food coloring
Splash of peppermint extract and vanilla extract
2 tablespoons peppermint pieces

Instructions:

Combine all ingredients in a large bowl. Mix with a hand mixer for about 4 minutes on medium speed or until you have formed stiff peaks.

Coffee Ice Cream Ingredients:

1 cup whole milk
1/2 cup packed brown sugar + 2 tablespoons
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
4 medium egg yolks
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup whole coffee beans

Instructions:

Heat together 1/2 cup of cream, whole coffee beans, milk and brown sugar. Before it starts to simmer, turn off the heat, cover and let the mixture steep for 30 minutes.
In a separate bowl combine the egg yolks and 2 tablespoons of brown sugar. Stir mixture until sugar is dissolved.
Reheat the original mixture until it is hot, then slowly add a small portion of your egg/sugar mixture until the bowl is hot to the touch. Add this back to the original mixture. Cook on medium heat for about 10 minutes until thickened, and make sure to stir constantly. Do not let this reach a simmer.
Add the final 1 cup of cream to a bowl and place the bowl inside another bowl containing ice. Pour the original mixture into the bowl containing the cream. Once it is cool, place in the fridge for a couple hours and preferably overnight.
When you are ready to make your ice cream, use a strainer with large holes to remove the coffee beans.
Follow instructions on your ice cream maker to make the ice cream.
Put in the freezer until it is semi-solid (about 1 hour), and mold the ice cream into a long cylinder shape using cling wrap to keep the structure. Put back in freezer until completely frozen.

Assembling the Roll:

Once the cake is completely cooled, ice cream is frozen, and schmear is made, you are ready to assemble the Arctic roll.
Unroll the cake and spread on a good layer of the peppermint schmear.
Remove the frozen ice cream and place on the cake, then roll the cake around the ice cream.
Wrap the roll with a new sheet of parchment paper and let freeze for an hour.
Remove from freezer and top with schmear and more peppermint pieces.