Coca Cola Marshmallow Ice Cream

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You are not mistaken. Yes, I have used coca cola and marshmallows to make ice cream. Now before you start gagging or click away thinking I am mad, I just want to say 1) it's actually quite nice and 2) it wasn't my idea.

A month or so ago I saw this recipe in the Canberra Times newspaper. It's the recipe of a lady called Lee Miller, a famous American model, war photographer and cordon bleu cook from the early part of the last century. I admit I had never heard of her, but anyone who wins a Norweigan sandwich competition sounds alright to me. Apparently, she came up with this recipe after guest criticised the American taste for coke and marshmallows.

I simply had to try this. I love trying odd things. And it seemed perfect for this month's Monthly Mingle challenge posed by Meeta - 'Scream for Ice Cream'.

On the first attempt I followed the printed recipe exactly. The taste was good. The excellent thing about it is that you can taste the different ingredients - the spikiness of the coke, the fruitiness of the lemon and the smoothness of the rum. The marshmallows didn't make much of an impression though.

I was not, however, happy with the texture. The final product was very icy. And adding cream to a frozen mixture was a disaster as the cream curdled into little frozen lumps. It was less than appetising.

So I set about trying to make the most of this recipe's potential. I increased the amount of coke and the number of marshmallows. I then simmered this mix over a low heat until it was reduced by a bit more than half. I then allowed it to cool to room temperature and then added cream.

After a number of attempts I am approaching success!!!! I can now produce a smooth, creamy ice cream with a distinct coke/lemon/rum flavour. It still needs some tweaking to ramp up the coke taste some more, but it's pretty good I think.

So here it is.

Coca Cola Marshmallow Ice Cream
(adapted from The Canberra Times and The Age Newspaper)

Place 500ml of full strength coca cola and 32 mashmallows (flavour doesn't matter) into a saucepan with a small pinch of salt. Heat gently and whisk until marshmallows are incorporated. Simmer until the mix has reduced by a bit more than half, it should be turning quite syrupy.

Remove from heat and add the juice of one large lemon and 21/2 tbspn of rum (or more to taste). Cool to room temperature. Add two cups of thickened cream and stir in.

Refrigerate, churn in an ice cream maker and freeze.