2-in-1 chocolate ice cream and custard recipe

Have your ice-cream and eat custard too.

ice-cream-close-up

I’m a custard connoisseur. Nothing beats warm custard poured over freshly baked apple crumble or my favourite childhood concoction of custard topped with a TON of hundreds and thousands (the crunch of the sprinkles paired with the smooth custard was just *chef’s kiss*).

But some nights when it’s a little warmer (or not: ice-cream is for every weather), you’ll find me with a generous scoop of ice-cream to satisfy my sweet tooth after dinner.

Sometimes I have trouble picking if it’ll be custard or ice-cream for dessert. So if you’re like me and love custard but agree that ice-cream is in the top five foods ever invented, then what if I told you can have your ice-cream and eat custard too?

The best 5-ingredient chocolate ice-cream

If you only have one chocolate ice-cream recipe on hand, then this is the one. Made up of just five ingredients – cream, chocolate, cocoa powder, egg yolks and caster sugar – this ice-cream is decadent and the perfect accompaniment to any dessert (we recommend our classic chewy brownie). We’ve included a moreish chocolate sauce in this recipe that’s perfect for topping this ice-cream… but it’s optional.  

If you’re not convinced yet, here’s what our taste.com.au community had to say: 

“Absolutely divine. Had to hide it from the kids! Highly recommended”  – Annebegg

“Did not last very long in our house so has become a regularly requested family favourite.⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️” – Sheldonsheldon

But in my opinion, what makes this recipe so special is the fact that it can be used to make chocolate custard too!

How can one recipe make two desserts?

The proof is in the ingredients.

Artisan or homemade ice-creams tend to use a base of sugar, cream and/or milk and egg – which is what we use in this recipe. Coincidentally, these ingredients are the same ingredients needed to make a classic custard. 

How can I just make custard using this recipe?

To make chocolate custard, you would only complete steps 1 and 2 of the recipe. This would mean heating the cream, cocoa and chocolate together, whisking together the egg yolks and sugar, then slowly whisking the cream mixture into the egg yolk mixture. After this, you return the combined mixture to the stove to thicken. 

Serve straight away for warm custard or refrigerate it overnight to let it cool down and thicken even more. 

And, if the ice-cream craving is there after you’ve made the custard, simply chuck the cooled custard into an ice-cream churner and voilà!

Recipes we’d serve this custard with: 

• Cookies and cream mixed berry crumbles
• Caramelised banana French toast bake
• Chocolate puddings with salted caramel filling   

Originally published as 2-in-1 chocolate ice cream and custard recipe