vera kung

This blog is in danger of turning into a sorbet shrine, but I’ve had a few requests from the folks at Poke (who have been sampling my handiwork on Sorbet Fridays) for this recipe… so here it is! This is my favourite sorbet so far because it’s so hard to believe it’s dairy-free (well the caramel sauce has butter, but the actual sorbet has no dairy).

Chocolate sorbet

180g inverted sugar syrup (see previous post)
150g hot water
50g cocoa
pinch of salt
50g dark chocolate, chopped into small pieces
200g cold water
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
3/4 tsp xanthan gum and icing sugar mix^*
15g glycerol

1. Mix the cocoa and salt in the hot water until smooth, then stir in the chocolate until completely melted.
2. Stir in the sugar syrup, vanilla, glycerol and cold water.
3. Pour mixture into a blender. Using a fine sieve, sprinkle the xanthan gum mix into the liquid. Blend well — the resulting mixture should be a bit frothy. Pour into an airtight container, and chill for at least a few hours.
4. Once it’s thoroughly cooled, put the mixture into the freezer. Stir as frequently as you can be bothered (I usually do it once an hour — the more often you stir, the less likely you’ll get big ice crystals), scraping any frozen bits off the side and mixing it through.
5. When the mixture starts to become frozen on the edges, pour it unto a bowl and beat it with an electric beater. It should lighten slightly in colour. Pour it back into the freezer-safe container, and put it back in the freezer.
6. When it’s nearly solid, take it out and beat it with the electric beater again. Return to freezer until frozen solid. The sorbet continues to harden over a few hours after it’s frozen just solid enough to scoop and eat, but it should still be scoop-able. Makes about a litre.

^{* 1:1 by volume — see previous post for explanation.}

Salted caramel sauce

100g sugar
50g water
1/10 tsp cream of tartar
75g butter
some extra water
1/8 tsp salt

1. Combine the sugar, water and cream of tartar in a heavy-based saucepan. Cover with a lid and bring to the boil, then turn down the heat and leave to simmer with the lid off.
2. Watch closely while the syrup boils. After a while, it will start to turn a golden colour. When it’s a light brown colour, stir in the butter (be careful — it may spit a little). Once it’s combined, take it off the heat. If the mixture is too thick, add a little water (I added about 20g). Mix in the salt and allow to cool. Makes about 150ml.

You can top the sorbet with the sauce when serving (like in the photo) with a sprinkling of salt flakes for texture, or you can freeze it into the sorbet (as I did when I took it in to Poke). To freeze the sauce with the sorbet, after the final beating of the sorbet mixture, ladle some of the mix into the freezer container then spoon on some ribbons of caramel sauce. Repeat with the rest of the sorbet mixture and caramel sauce.

Mmm, I want chocolate sorbet now. But I think JF just ate the last of my most recent batch…