Panda Ice Cream Cake

Flavor: Sweet; Technique: Baking; Time: 45 minutes; Difficulty: Moderate.

Steps to Make Panda Ice Cream Cake

Prepare all ingredients, sift the low-gluten flour and preheat the oven to 165 degrees Celsius with both top and bottom heat for 10 minutes.

Crack the eggs into a mixing bowl, add granulated sugar in two portions, attach the whisk attachment, and beat on medium speed for about three minutes. Room temperature eggs are easier to beat than chilled ones and result in a more stable foam. I used a Bear PE4800 stand mixer, adjust the program and time accordingly if using a different machine.

While beating the eggs, lightly grease the inside of the Bear Meck mold with a little softened butter (in addition to the measured amount) and set aside. Greasing the mold makes it easier to demold. If you don’t have this cup-shaped mold, you can also make regular cupcakes and fill them with jam after baking.

Beat the eggs until they turn pale in color, double in volume, have a fine and even texture, and when you lift the whisk, the drips do not disappear quickly.

Sift in the low-gluten flour in two portions.

Gently fold the batter from the bottom a few times with a spatula until there are no dry flour particles on the surface.

Pour the batter into a piping bag with a nozzle, squeeze it evenly into the mold, filling it about seven-eighths full, and gently shake it a few times to remove air bubbles.

Place the filled cake mold on a baking sheet, place it on the middle rack of the oven, and bake at 165 degrees Celsius for about 20 minutes.

While the cake is baking, pour the chilled whipping cream into a clean, oil-free mixing bowl. Add the granulated sugar in two portions and beat on low speed (speed 2) until just whipped. Since the stand mixer whips quickly, be sure to use low speed to avoid over-whipping and causing separation of water and oil. I used a Bear PE4800 stand mixer, adjust the program and time accordingly if using a different machine.

After about 1 minute, whip the whipping cream until it reaches a slow-flowing consistency. This kind of whipped cream, when frozen, has a light texture without ice crystals and does not need to be stirred midway, making it very delicious.

Pour the whipped cream into a semicircular mold, tap a few times to remove air bubbles, smooth the surface with a scraper, and freeze. If you don’t have a semicircular mold, you can also pour it into a container that is freezer-safe, freeze it, scoop out spherical shapes, and use them as the heads of the pandas.

Remove the baked cake from the oven and place it on a cooling rack.

Let it cool slightly until it’s not too hot to handle, then invert the mold, gently tap the bottom of the mold, and demold the cake onto a cooling rack to cool completely.

Fill the indentation in the center of the cake with strawberry jam, melt the chocolate into a liquid using a microwave. You can also use fruit pieces that don’t release juice when cut instead of strawberry jam.

After freezing for about 2 hours, remove the semicircular mold, rinse the outer layer of the mold with cold water, gently push on the solidified side, and the ice cream part will come out perfectly.

Place the ice cream on the cake, use melted chocolate in a piping bag to draw the features of the panda, use Want Want Mini Mantou or half a mini Oreo cookie as ears, sprinkle with a few colored sugar sprinkles for decoration, and you’re done!