Sherbet and Cheesecake Bombe

I was having a BBQ for my house warming party for which I wanted to make an eye catching, esthetically wowing dessert.  I’d seen bombes around the blogosphere and I wanted to try making one.  A dessert in the shape of a half-sphere? Awesome! 

When creating the concept of this particular bombe, I was overwhelmed with the choices as I could make it out of pretty much anything as long as there was a cake component and a filling component.  Yes in the dessert/pastry world, desserts in the shape of a sphere have different names and different criteria: Some bombes skip out on the cake bit (Bombe Glace), while others (Charlotte Royale) are filled with mousse.  I was itching to break in my new ice cream maker, so I knew that something icy had to be a part of mine.  It was really hard to decide on the flavor combination (cake and jam flavour, vanilla or chocolate or fruit? Ice cream or sherbet? Ganache, cheesecake, or mousse?) but I managed to decide on a vanilla cake with raspberry jam, 2 fruit sherbets, and a cheesecake.

Check out the verdict at the end of the post!

Sherbet and Cheesecake Bombe

Jelly Roll (day 1)

Adapted from here. 

Ingredients

5 eggs
3/4 cup + 2 Tablespoons granulated sugar
1 ½ Tablespoons oil
3 Tablespoons buttermilk
1 + ¼ teaspoon cider vinegar
1 ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
Food colouring (I used blue gel)
1 ¼ cup all purpose flour
1 ¼ teaspoon baking powder
¾  teaspoon salt

Jam (I used raspberry)

Directions

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a jelly roll pan (I used a cookie sheet) with oil and line bottom with parchment paper.  Grease and line a cake pan with the same circumference as the bowl you will use to assemble the bombe (or one that’s slightly bigger).  This will become the base of the bombe when you fill it out.

2.  Sift flour, baking powder, and salt in a bowl. Set aside.

3.  In a bowl, beat eggs for 5 minutes. 

4.  Gradually add sugar and oil and continue beating.

5.  Add buttermilk, vinegar, and vanilla.

6.  Gradually add flour mixture to wet ingredients and beat only until mixed.

7.  Pour a thin layer of batter in the round cake pan.

8.  Divide the rest if the batter in half and colour one half with food colouring.

9.  Pour batters on each side of the jelly roll pan and spread smooth.

10. Bake jelly roll pan for 11 minutes; the round cake pan for about 7 (keep watch and test with skewer/toothpick when you think it’s done).

11. Immediately flip jelly roll out onto a piece of parchment or silicone baking mat dusted with icing sugar.  Peel parchment off cake. Cut cake in half perpendicular to the line dividing the cake colours.

12. Place each cake on a parchment (I reused the one from the cake) or silicone mat and roll tight. Put seam side down and let cool completely.

13. Open up the rolls and spread jam of your choice.  Tightly roll back up (without the parchment).

14. Wrap in plastic wrap and chill in fridge.  The chilling will make it easier to slice.

15. Wrap the round cake layer and freeze until needed.

Rolled and cooling.

Plastic wrapped and ready for the fridge.

Raspberry Sherbet (day 2)

From here.

Ingredients

3 cups frozen raspberries
1 ½ cup homogenized milk
¾ cup sugar
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice

Directions

1.  Thaw raspberries until a bit soft and blend in a blender with milk and sugar.

2.  Add lemon juice and mix.

3.  Churn in ice cream maker according to directions.

4.  Pour into bowl with jelly roll and freeze.

Liquid Cheesecake (day 3)

From Milk Bar cookbook.

Ingredients

1 brick of cream cheese (8 oz/225 g, although my brick was more like 10 oz)

¾ cup sugar

1 Tablespoon corn starch

½ teaspoon salt

2 Tablespoons milk

1 egg

Directions

1.  Pre-heat oven to 300 degrees F.

2.  Beat cream cheese for 2 minutes.  Add sugar and beat for another minute or until incorporated.

3.  In a small bowl, mix cornstarch and salt.  Beat in milk, then egg until thoroughly mixed.

4.  Gradually add the egg mixture to cream cheese mixture as you beat on medium speed.  Beat for 3 minutes.

5.  Pour batter into a baking pan (mine was 6 inch x 6 inch) and bake for 15 minute or until the edges are set but the middle is still jiggly.

6.  Cool completely before pouring into the bombe.

Not much different - more in the consistency.

Lemon Sherbet (day 4)

From here.

Ingredients

2 cups homogenized milk

½ cups sugar
zest of 2 lemons

½ cup lemon juice (about 2-3 lemons)

Directions

1.  In a saucepan over medium low heat, heat 1 cup of milk with sugar and zest until sugar has dissolved.

2.  Pour into a container with the remaining cup of milk and cool completely in the fridge.

3.  Churn in an ice cream maker according to directions.

 

Assembly

1.  Day 1: Bake and fill jelly roll and round cake layer for the bottom of the bombe.

2.  Day 2: Lay plastic wrap inside the bowl that will form your bombe.  Slice jelly roll and arrange slices to cover the inside of the bowl.

3.  Day 2: Make raspberry sherbet and fill the bombe.  Freeze overnight.

4.  Day 3: Make liquid cheesecake and add to the bombe. Freeze overnight.

5.  Day 4: Make lemon sherbet and add to the bombe.  Spread jam on round cake (you may need to trim the cake if you used a bigger cake pan) and place jam side down onto the sherbet, sealing the bombe. Freeze overnight.

6.  Day 5: Let thaw for 5-10 minutes before inverting and slicing.

*Note:  I left the jelly roll in the fridge overnight, but you can slice and arrange in the bowl if you want to move onto the first layer of the filling (raspberry sherbet) after a hour or so of chilling.  You may be able to add the other layers of the filling all in 1 day, if you’re ambitious!

*Note: Once the sherbet if done churning, immediately fill the bombe and freeze.  The soft sherbet will be easy to spread.

Spread jam on round cake layer and place on bombe.

Verdict: This was definitely a showstopper! The jelly roll and sherbets were tasty, but the liquid cheesecake was everyone’s favorite.  It was rich and smooth even though it was frozen.  The raspberry sherbet was soft and bursting with flavor, while the lemon sherbet was a bit icy for my liking.  I had a lot of fun making this bombe – it gave me something to do everyday of the week!