This home-made chocolate Ice cream is my latest conquest that I am veryyy proud of! After 3 months of trials, here we are! With a step-by-step breakdown, a few pearls of wisdom, and the tricks to make the BEST Chocolate Ice cream at home.
You guys know by now that I am borderline OBSESSED with frozen desserts. Just ask my Lotus Ice cream cake and Pineapple ice cream. Poor things are terrified of my experiments on them!
Ironically, it’s usually the most popular and easiest recipes that are HARDEST to nail! You know? Everyone has their own preferences and opinions.
Chocolate ice cream is on top of that list. Which is why I was super careful before putting this recipe up. I wanted to get it JUST right! The perfect balance of sweet and bitter that comes through from chocolate, and the smoothness to die for.
Jump to:
Ingredients
The ingredients, as you can see, are super basic! But before I move ahead, here are a couple of things I wanted to highlight.
- Milk and Heavy Cream: Use good-quality full-fat whipping cream and milk.
- COCOA POWDER: The right cocoa powder makes or breaks a recipe. For this recipe, I recommend the Dutch-processed Cocoa powder. Dutch-style cocoas are alkaline and impart a more intense color to the recipe. They have a flavor that’s earthy and deep. Recommended brands would be Hintz and Cadbury. If you can’t find these specific brands, just look for words like “Dutch processed”, “Dark”, or “Alkalized”.
- CHOCOLATE: This one I leave to you. I prefer dark chocolate for that rich, bitter taste. You can use semi-sweet or milk, chocolate chip or bar. Really, there is no preference. For the ultimate luxurious experience, go for the Belgian Dark Chocolate.
- Flavor Enhancers: Salt, coffee both work to enhance the chocolaty-ness of this dessert.
- Sweetener: Sugar works perfectly for this recipe. For an added layer of creaminess, you can also use sweetened condensed milk in the same quantities.
See the recipe card for full information on ingredients and quantities
Instructions
This ice cream is made in 2 parts: The chocolate Ganache and the Ice cream base.
PART 1 – Making the chocolate Ganache
Step 1: Add milk, a portion of the cream, salt, coffee, and cocoa powder to a saucepan.
Step 2: Let it simmer for 4 to 5 minutes at medium heat, whisking occasionally.
Step 3: Remove ganache from the heat and add chocolate chips. It will take roughly 5 to 7 minutes to fully melt.
Step 4: Keep the saucepan back on the heat if your chocolate requires some assistance to melt. Your ganache should be smooth and silky. Turn off the heat and cover the saucepan with a lid. Let it sit out till it gets to room temperature. Then refrigerate the ganache for 4 to 5 hours.
PART 2: Ice Cream base and assembling
Step 5: Whip the remaining heavy cream in a large bowl until light and fluffy.
Step 6: Add in your cooled ganache to the cream and use a spatula to fold it in. Hold back 2-3 tablespoons of ganache.
Step 7: Transfer the ice cream base to a loaf or a container and use the leftover ganache to create swirls on top with a knife tip. Cover the loaf with cling wrap and freeze overnight.
Serve with any toppings of your choice, like chocolate shavings, chocolate chips, chocolate sauce, or nuts!
Top Tips
- The thing with a good ganache is patience. Don’t increase the heat or else you’ll end up splitting your ganache, or it may become too grainy.
- NEVER KEEP HOT GANACHE IN THE FRIDGE DIRECTLY. Sorry for yelling, ok 😛 Hot Ganache in the fridge will become grainy or split. Always allow the ganache to come down to room temperature before you refrigerate.
- While cooking the ganache, you may see lumps of cocoa powder. Simply pass the ganache through a sieve to remove them.
- Cover the ice cream with a cling wrap such that it touches the ice cream base and no air comes in contact with the ice cream directly. THEN add the lid and freeze overnight.
Vegan Chocolate Ice Cream version
I know that half of the charm of making your own ice cream at home is the ability to control the ingredients. Here are substitutions you can make to make a dairy-free, sugar-free vegan ice cream
- Milk – Use nut milks or soy milk instead of regular milk. Ideally, almond milk or coconut milk is best.
- Cream – Use coconut cream. Chill it in the fridge and remove the heavy, thick layer of cream on top of the can and whip it in a cold steel bowl. It will whip up beautifully just like a regular whipping cream.
- Sugar – Use coconut sugar instead of regular sugar.
- Chocolate – Use 100% Dark chocolate instead of semi-sweet.
- Use cocoa powder, which is gluten-free, like Hintz
FAQs and Troubleshooting
Putting together the most common questions I got on TikTok and IG when I posted the recipe there.
Homemade ice cream has less shelf life than a commercially made dessert. This is because our homemade version is free from preservatives and has a lower fat content. The ideal freezing timeline for any homemade ice cream is around 3 weeks. But I’m sure you’ll finish it wayyy before that! I have faith in you!
This recipe is specific for Chocolate. You can do more add-ons or create an Ice cream cake with this recipe, but the base won’t work without the chocolate. So yes, you can use it for other flavors that center around chocolate.
Yes, sometimes the ganache can split or become grainy after it is removed from the heat. It happens to the best of us. Add warm milk 1 tbsp at a time and whisk constantly. (NOT HOT, just warm). But try not to use more than 7 tbsp. Your ganache should come back to life.
In that case, place your ganache in the microwave for 30 seconds, and whisk. And then another 30 seconds and whisk again. Your ganache will most probably come back together. IF not, you can do another 30-second increment again. Now cover the ganache, cool it down, and refrigerate again for 30 minutes.
More Ice Cream and Desserts!
Do you have any questions? I’m happy to help! And of course, If you try this recipe, I’d loveeeee to see it or simply hear about it! Hit me up in the comment section below and I’ll get back to asap! Happy Cooking!
Chocolate ice cream
Equipment
Ingredients
- 250 gm dark chocolate
- 3/4 cup full fat milk
- 550 ml heavy whipping cream
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/4 cup Dutch processed Cocoa powder
- 1 tbsp instant coffee powder
Add ons (optional)
- 1 cup chocolate shavings.
Instructions
- In a saucepan, prepare the chocolate milk for ganache. Add cocoa powder, milk, sugar, coffee, salt, and 1/3 cup of the total 550 ml of cream.
- Let the mix simmer at medium low heat. Whisk it for 5 to 10 mins or until everything is dissolved. Pass the chocolate milk through a sieve just to be sure there are no lumps.
- Put the chocolate milk back in the saucepan and reduce the heat to low. Add chocolate chips or chunks in the chocolate milk and allow them to melt
- Simmer for 5 mins or until the chocolate is fully melted and you have a smooth chocolate ganache.
- Turn off the heat and cover the chocolate ganache. Allow the ganache to come down to room temperature. THEN place it in the fridge for at least 4 to 5 hours to cool down.
- In the meantime, in a large bowl, add the remaining whipping cream and whip it until the cream is light and fluffy. Refrigerate.
- After 5 hours, bring out chocolate ganache and fold it into the cream with a spatula. Leave a little ganache behind to use as chocolate topping later.
- Pour the ice cream base into a container. Add leftover chocolate ganache in between layers or on the top.
- Cover the container with cling wrap over the ice cream. Make sure the cling wrap sticks to the ice cream base. Then use a lid to cover it.
- Freeze overnight.
- Serve the next day with any toppings of your choice.
Anonymous says
Looks amazing…????
Tastes delicious.. ????