Princess surprise bombe
Serves 4–6
White coffee ice cream
50 g (1¾ oz) roasted coffee beans
600 ml (21 fl oz) thick (double) cream
50 g (1¾ oz) raw sugar
Filling & base
maraschino liqueur
Sauce (optional)
410 g (14½ oz) tin peaches, or fresh boiled peaches
1 teaspoon rosewater
1 tablespoon rum
1 teaspoon sugar
Meringue
4 egg whites, at room temperature
225 g (8 oz) raw sugar
Make the ice cream a minimum of 2 hours in advance. In a medium saucepan, bring the cream to a simmer with the coffee beans and the sugar, then remove from the heat and leave to infuse for at least 1 hour. Allow to cool completely, then strain out the coffee beans. Proceed to make ice cream as instructed here.
Meanwhile, place the mould you are going to use for the final freeze on the sponge cake and cut around it so you have a disc of cake the same size as the mould. Cut the remaining cake into chunks and soak them lightly in maraschino.
Transfer the ice cream to the mould, and set a small bowl into the ice cream so you will have a cavity in which to stuff the soaked cake.
Make the sauce, if using, by puréeing the peaches and adding the rosewater, rum and sugar. Keep cool until needed.
Remove the ice-cream mould from the freezer, take out the small bowl – this might stick – and stuff the cavity with the soaked pieces of cake, making sure it is filled up to the brim. Return to the freezer while you whisk up the meringue.
Put the egg whites into a large, ultraclean mixing bowl: it helps to clean it with some lemon juice, as any greasiness will ruin the meringue.
Beat the egg whites using an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, until the mixture stands up in stiff peaks, then continue whisking while you add the sugar, 1 teaspoon at a time. Set aside while you unmould the ice-cream pudding.
Dip the mould into warm water to make it easier to unmould, then place the disc of sponge cake on top of the mould followed by a plate. Turn over carefully to unmould. Take it easy: it might pop out at once, or it might take a little while.
When unmoulded, use a palette knife or piping (icing) bag to spread or pipe the meringue over the pudding as neatly as you can manage. Toast the outside of the meringue using a kitchen blowtorch, or if you have a salamander you can use that instead. Be quick, as the pudding will melt very quickly as you brown the meringue.
Serve at once, with the peach sauce, if using.
If you do not fancy maraschino liqueur, you can use amaretto or hazelnut liqueur instead. If you don’t like to use the coffee beans, 5 crushed amaretti biscuits used instead also makes a lovely ice cream. The coffee ice cream is very nice on its own without making it into this elaborate ice pudding.