| Level: | Intermediate |
| Total: | 9 hr |
| Prep: | 30 min |
| Inactive: | 8 hr |
| Cook: | 30 min |
| Yield: | 1 (8 or 9-inch) cake |
Ingredients
- Wooden skewers, optional
- 3 roasted habanero peppers
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- Vanilla ice cream, softened
- Baked chocolate cake, sliced horizontally in 3 layers
- Lime sorbet
- Powdered sugar, whipped cream or sprinkles, for garnish
Instructions
- The habanero peppers can be roasted on a gas stove top or in an oven. Before roasting the peppers, turn on the kitchen or stove exhaust fan.
- To roast the peppers on a gas stove top, soak 3 wooden skewers in water until saturated. Skewer 1 pepper and hold over a medium-high flame. Slowly rotate the pepper over the flame until the skin is blackened and blistered. Repeat with the remaining peppers and skewers. After each pepper is roasted place in plastic bag covered with a dish towel to steam, which will help to remove the skins.
- To roast the peppers in the oven, place an oven rack in the highest position and preheat the broiler. Put the peppers on a cookie sheet and place under the broiler. Using long handled metal tongs to rotate the peppers and broil until the skin is blackened and blistered. After each pepper is roasted place in plastic bag covered with a dish towel to steam, which will help to remove the skins.
- Wearing gloves, remove skin, the veins, and the seeds from the habaneros. (When removing the skins, it’s important to wear double layer of latex gloves or else your hands burn.)
- To make the paste, blend the habaneros with the sugar using a mortar and pestle or a food processor (the latter is much faster).
- Combine the habanero paste into the softened vanilla ice cream and refreeze until firm but still spreadable
- Assemble cake in springform pan by alternating cake, lime sorbet, cake, habanero ice cream, cake and freeze until firm (8 hours or overnight).
- Garnish with powered sugar or whipped cream and sprinkles.
Reviews
Made this for an Oscar party (they mentioned it in one of the movies) and it was a show stopper! The solution to it looking so bare is Cool Whip. I happened to have some extra on the day I assembled it and covered the top (only so people can see the layers). Made pointy peaks with the Cool Whip so that when it froze, it looked really cool.
I recommend putting a ton of lime sorbet to help cut the heat. It is quite an interesting desert. Many people asked to bring it home to their kid that likes spicy food. We also lit sparklers as we brought the cake out for effect. Quite a spectacle!
I tasted a small little bowl of this dessert as I put it together and it tastes AWESOME!! I used 3 jalapenos instead of habaneros and it is plenty hot. What I can’t figure out is how to garnish it so that it looks as amazing as it tastes. Right now I have it in a trifle bowl but with a chocolate cake on the top and no icing it looks quite bare and having powdered sugar on top doesn’t seem to look quite right. Hmmmmm….
Everybody loved this cake. The combination of flavours was great, You are sure to get rave reviews even from people who do not like hot food. Watchout if you have left overs though….it’s even hotter on the 2nd day!
Take this to a party–it is a showstopper and creates quite a buzz! The combination of Habanero ice cream and the cool green lime sherbet is a perfect hot/cold pairing and looks amazing. I followed the recipe’s amount of habaneros–I think one would have been PLENTY–my husband loves the heat though.
Wow! This is a fantastic recipie! I just can’t wait to try it for my sister’s birthday in August. I am dying to try different variations such as a flaming merange topping and orange as well as lime sorbets! Great Cake! Keep ’em Comin’!