Coconut Ice Cream with Pandan Chiffon Cake as served at Mason's Creamery in Cleveland, Ohio, as seen on Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives, season 35.
Recipe courtesy of Mason's Creamery

Coconut Pandan Chiffon Ice Cream

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  • Level: Intermediate
  • Total: 4 hr 25 min (includes freezing time)
  • Active: 1 hr 15 min
  • Yield: 1 quart
Pandan is a tropical plant from Southeast Asia used in a lot of dishes, especially desserts. It contributes a delicate, fragrant vanilla flavor, plus a hint of nuttiness.

Ingredients

Chiffon Cake:

Coconut Ice Cream:

Directions

Special equipment:
a candy thermometer; an ice cream maker
  1. For the cake: In a saucepan, pour the coconut milk and set on medium heat. Cut the frozen pandan leaves into small chunks and place in the coconut milk to steep. Cook until the temperature reaches 180 degrees F, then turn off the heat and let sit for 15 to 20 minutes. Strain and reserve the coconut pandan milk.
  2. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Oil a 9-inch springform pan and line with parchment paper.
  3. To a stand mixer, add the sugar, egg yolks, avocado oil, salt, pandan extract and reserved coconut pandan milk blend. Beat with the whisk attachment until foamy, then sift in the flour. Pour the batter into a separate mixing bowl.
  4. In the now empty mixer bowl, add the egg whites and beat until stiff, about 5 minutes.
  5. Gently fold the egg whites into the batter. Do not overmix or you will knock out the air in the egg whites and the cake will be flat.
  6. Pour the mixture into the prepared pan.
  7. Bake until a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean, 45 to 50 minutes. Transfer the cake in the pan to the freezer for 20 to 30 minutes. (Freezing your finished cake has many benefits in ice cream making; you can easily cut into chunks, the cake has more body and it doesn’t tear apart when folding into ice cream. Because it is already cold, you also don’t have to worry about ice crystals forming around the cake when it freezes.) Cut into hunks.
  8. For the ice cream: In a saucepan, pour the milk, cream and coconut cream together. Turn the heat to medium and slowly stir. Bring to 120 degrees F.
  9. Meanwhile, in a mixing bowl, combine the sugar, salt and egg yolks. Mix thoroughly with a whisk, but not to the point where it is foamy.
  10. When the milk blend reaches 120 degrees F, slowly add the egg mixture, whisking constantly. It’s important to pay attention and not pour too quickly, or you could curdle the egg (super gross). Continue to slowly stir with a silicone spatula, making sure to constantly scrape the bottom. Keep an eye on the temperature of the custard; at 138 to 140 degrees it will start to slightly thicken. When temp reaches 145 degrees F, turn off the heat and remove the pan from the range.
  11. Pour the custard into a mixing bowl and float the mixing bowl in an ice bath to cool to 40 degrees F. (The colder the custard pre-churn, the creamier the result will be.)
  12. Pour the cold custard into an ice cream maker and turn on. Let churn until it has a soft serve-like consistency, 10 to 15 minutes. Scrape the finished ice cream into a mixing bowl and fold in hunks of pandan chiffon cake. Freeze to finish hardening, about 1 hour.
  13. Top scoops of the ice cream with some shredded coconut before serving.