The Perfect Chocolate Ice Cream Recipe

This chocolate ice cream is rich, creamy and more importantly chocolatey. It is everything you could ever ask for and everything a chocolate ice cream needs to be. There are two key ingredients that give this ice cream its rich, chocolate flavour; they are the Dutch processed cocoa powder and 70% dark chocolate.

It is these ingredients that make this ice cream undeniably delicious. I have to admit that I don’t eat a lot of ice cream nowadays since I am lactose intolerant, but when I was young I use to love the rainbow-coloured ice cream. And the only why reason I liked it was because of the vibrant colours (obviously).

Then I moved on from this rainbow ice cream phase and fell in love with strawberry ice cream. This is because my family and I went strawberry picking at these strawberry fields in the Sunshine Coast and we had their delicious strawberry ice cream. As a young girl, I liked the colour of the ice cream since it was pink – but I remember it being one of the best ice creams I have ever had, and it probably still is.

So what’s my favourite flavour now? Well, if I could eat ice cream, it would be this chocolate ice cream or maybe a really good vanilla-bean ice cream or even choc chip cookie dough. The flavours and possibilities are truly endless.

I made this chocolate ice cream using my Kitchenaid Ice Cream Maker Attachment. The bowl needs to be placed into the freezer a day before and the custard should be refrigerated for at least 6 hours.

So this chocolate ice cream tastes amazing on its own, but you can turn it into ice cream sandwiches, serve it in waffle cones or blend it with some milk to create a chocolate milkshake. It tastes so much better than store-bought ice cream, and let me know if you give it a try! I would love to see your creations!

The Perfect Chocolate Ice Cream Recipe

Adapted from The Perfect Scoop by David Leobvitz.
Makes about 1 quart (about 1 litre) 

• 2 cups heavy cream
• 3 tablespoons unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
• 5 ounces of 70% dark chocolate finely chopped
• 1 cup whole milk
• ¾ cup caster sugar
• Pinch of salt
• 5 large egg yolks
• ½ teaspoon vanilla extract

1. Warm 1 cup of the cream with the cocoa powder in a medium saucepan, whisking to thoroughly blend the cocoa. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer at a very low boil for 30 seconds, whisking constantly. Remove from the heat and add the chopped chocolate, stirring until smooth. Then stir in the remaining 1 cup cream. Pour the mixture into a large bowl, scraping the saucepan as thoroughly as possible, and set a sieve on top of the bowl.
2. Warm the milk, sugar, and salt in the same saucepan. In a separate medium bowl, whisk together the egg yolks. Once the milk mixture reaches a simmer (forms small bubbles on the edge of the saucepan), gradually pour it into the egg yolks whisking constantly (this is called tempering to ensure your eggs don’t scramble!). Then scrape the warmed egg yolks back into the saucepan.
3. Stir the mixture constantly over the medium heat with a heatproof spatula, scraping the bottom as you stir, until the mixture thickens and coats the spatula (170°F or 75°C on an instant-read thermometer). Pour the custard through the strainer and stir it into the chocolate mixture until smooth, then stir in the vanilla. Stir until cool over an ice bath.
4. Chill the mixture thoroughly in the refrigerator for at least 6 hours or overnight, then churn it in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions. (If the cold mixture is too thick to pour into your machine, whisk it vigorously to thin it out.)
5. Place it in the freezer until ready to serve.