Recently, in honour of the upcoming 51st National Day (tomorrow), McDonald's released the Gula Melaka McFlurry in Singapore. I had one, one overcast Saturday afternoon. Light vanilla soft-serve ice cream, very delicately flavoured with gula melaka syrup, complemented by the startling crunch of kueh lapis croutons, it was possibly the most perfect ice cream dessert I had ever tasted, certainly the one of the best desserts to ever come out of a fast food restaurant.
But by the next week, it was gone, replaced by the vastly inferior Dinosaur McFlurry. My mother, even more fond of all things gula melaka than I am, was positively heartbroken. She hadn't managed to try it even once.
Until our local McDonald's decides to bring back ice cream perfection, I created the following DIY version. It is not nearly as fluffy as a McFlurry—apparently, soft-serve ice cream is really difficult to make without expensive equipment—and the low-calorie ingredients do affect the creaminess (more on that in the Notes section below). Alternatively, use store-bought vanilla ice-cream, or bring along a cup and the appropriate toppings to IKEA, and take advantage of their $0.50 soft-serve cones. Almost anything can be achieved with determination!
Gula Melaka Ice Cream Dessert with Kueh Lapis Chunks
Vanilla ice cream (makes about 650 ml)
150 g raw cashew nuts
125–150 ml water
1/4 tsp salt
285 ml milk
75 g caster sugar
50 g silken tofu
1 tsp vanilla extract
Rinse cashews well. Cover with water and let stand at room temperature for 3 hours. Drain well, and transfer to a blender or wet grinder. Stir in salt and 125 ml water. Blend at high speed, scraping down sides as required, until smooth. Blend in a little more water, adjusting the consistency to resemble that of thick dairy cream. Once adjusted, the cashew cream should weigh about 290–300 g.
Set up a large heatproof bowl over a pot of simmering water to use as a double-boiler. Whisk together cashew cream, milk, and 30 g caster sugar. Stir gently over heat until almost boiling, when small bubbles appear at the edges of the bowl and steam starts rising from the top. Remove from heat.
Whisk together the tofu and the remaining caster sugar until smooth and thickened. Whisk in 125 ml of the warm milk mixture.
Reheat the milk mixture until almost boiling again. Whisk in the tofu mixture until well-combined. Simmer for about 10 minutes over low heat. The ice cream base should be thick enough to coat the back of a spoon.
Set the bowl over a dish filled with ice. Stir in vanilla extract. Cover with a piece of cling wrap pressed against the surface of the fluid, to prevent a film from forming. Stand for 20 minutes.
Refrigerate the ice cream base for at least 3 hours to overnight, until well-chilled. Churn using an ice-cream maker, or by hand by placing the ice cream in the freezer and whisking it every 45 minutes as it solidifies. Soften the ice cream in the refrigerator for 15–20 minutes before scooping.
Kueh lapis croutons (makes about 80–100 cake croutons)
75 g butter, softened but still chilled
30 g condensed milk
3/4 tsp rum, or 1/4 tsp rum essence
20 g all-purpose flour
1 tsp cornstarch
1/16 tsp (generous pinch) rempah kueh or allspice
50 g silken tofu
30 g caster sugar
45 ml aquafaba
1/16 tsp cream of tartar
Preheat oven to 200°C. Very lightly grease an 8-inch square baking tin using a paper towel. Line with parchment paper; grease the paper, and dust lightly with flour.
Place butter, condensed milk and rum in a medium mixing bowl. Cream using an electric mixer until fluffy, about 5 minutes. Place in refrigerator while not in use.
Sift flour and cornstarch together 5 times. Whisk in spice. Gently fold into butter mixture.
Whisk tofu and 15 g caster sugar at high speed until thick and smooth. Gradually fold into butter mixture.
Clean mixer blades well, and chill them briefly in the freezer. Prepare a chilled mixing bowl, preferably stainless steel, and place over a plate or bowl filled with ice. Place aquafaba in bowl, and sprinkle cream of tartar on top. Using chilled mixer blades, whip at low speed until foamy. Slowly pour in remaining 15 g caster sugar along the side of the bowl, and continue whipping until stiff, glossy peaks form, and the bowl can be overturned without the contents falling out.
Gently fold 1/3 of whipped aquafaba into the batter. Carefully fold in the remaining aquafaba, leaving some unmixed streaks. Refrigerate while not in use.
Preheat prepared baking tin until butter starts to sizzle. Transfer 1/3 of batter (about 90 g) and spread evenly around the base of the baking tin. Bake 5–10 minutes until golden-brown. Remove from oven.
Increase the oven temperature to 220°C; place an oven-proof tray filled with water at the base of the oven (alternatively, switch the oven to use only the top heating element). Add another layer of batter to the baking tin and spread evenly; give it a sharp rap against the table before placing it in the oven. Bake for 5–10 minutes until golden-brown.
Retrieve the tin from the oven. Press down gently using a buttered kueh lapis press or the back of a spoon. Add the final layer of batter. As before, spread batter evenly, and rap the tin against the table before transferring to the oven. Bake another 3–5 minutes until light golden, but not as fully-browned as the previous two layers.
Allow the cake to cool in the tin for 5–10 minutes, until it can be handled but is still warm. Use a serrated knife to cut the cake into four even squares, and carefully stack them up on top of each other. Cover the topmost layer with a greased piece of parchment paper, and place a broad-based weight on top (I used an airtight lunchbox filled with water, with a ceramic teapot placed on top). Allow to sit for 30–60 minutes until compressed.
Using a serrated knife, cut the cake into 1.0–1.5 cm cubes. Carefully transfer cake cubes to a lined and greased baking tray, spacing them out. Bake at 180°C for 15–20 minutes or longer, to desired crispness. For longer baking times, cover loosely with a piece of aluminium foil to prevent charring.
Dessert assembly
Scoop ice cream into a chilled glass or ramekin. Scatter a few kueh lapis croutons on top and drizzle with gula melaka syrup.
Notes
What's with all the bizarre ingredients? Well, I am calorie and cholesterol-conscious these days. For less healthy but creamier alternatives, substitute as follows:
45 ml aquafaba: 45 ml egg whites, from 1–2 eggs
300 g cashew cream: 300 ml heavy cream (at least 45% milk fat)
50 g silken tofu: 50 g egg yolks, about 3
Going in the opposite direction, it probably is possible to make a fully-vegan version of this recipe, by replacing the butter, milk, and perhaps sugar as well (if bone char refining is a problem). I... haven't tried.
For the kueh lapis, the all-purpose flour and cornstarch can be replaced by 22.5 g cake flour. If using cake flour, it only needs to be sifted once.
References
