This time, I am going to help out Baker J a bit! Did you know that one of our newest menu items, Mint Chocolate Igloo, is also Baker J’s creation? Wicked Cafe & Bakery had Igloo on its menu a long time ago. This time, we revived the menu with Baker J’s new recipe! He explained to me that an igloo had an image of being icy and white–just as ice and snow, the ingredients for the type of house. Such concepts made him make this dessert a mint-flavoured one, chilly!
And the idea about chocolate, he explained, was about the ever-lasting debate in Korea, where Baker J came from: is chocolate mint something acceptable or not? Interestingly enough, he was a strong advocate for the against faction, arguing that chocolate-mint mix should not even exist! But when he tried to think of a recipe that would fit the igloo mould, Baker J concluded that nothing else would be more appropriate than icy mint.
When creating this dish, Baker J’s goal was simple: a chocolate mint dessert that even the haters of the pairing would love to eat. It was a fitting task for him because if he liked it, the chocolate mint haters would like it too!
Chocolate Mint is, in fact, a creation from the earliest days of chocolate in the Old World. However, it reached universal fame when an English culinary student created the first Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream in 1973.
History aside, let’s talk about what we make! The most important part of the menu is the Igloo, of course. The Igloo is a rare cheesecake flavoured with mint. We start by softening up room-temperature cream cheese in a mixer. Adding sugar to it makes it even more soft, making it easier to handle in the later stages. Then we add yogurt, vanilla essence and lemon juice to give it the distinct cheesecake flavour.
In the meantime, we bloom sheets of gelatine. Since we do not bake or add any flour or starch to make this cheesecake, those would make the soft and liquid mix into an actual cake. We heat the gelatine into liquid, then mix well with the cream cheese mixture.
Next, we lightly whip heavy cream, which would also enhance the cake’s texture. Then we add peppermint syrup to give it the mint flavour. The outcome is a white and liquid mixture, which we put into igloo-shaped moulds and freeze overnight.
The next day, we spread our signature chocolate custard on tart shells and top it up with shards of dark chocolate. We then de-mould the frozen cheesecakes and gently put them on top of the chocolate tarts. We defrost them whenever we need them afterwards! We garnish them with milk powder snow and white and blue candy snowflakes.
When I tasted it, the Mint Chocolate Igloo reminded me of the days I was selling mint chocolate candy bars as a scout. Ah, those days. It has distinct flavours of both mint and chocolate. But it seems it tastes well even for Baker J, who was against mint chocolate! Please give the Igloo a try to see if you agree with Baker J’s conclusion or not!