Here’s a dessert that’s about to shake up everything you thought you knew about flavour. This Norwegian caramel gelato sundae is an absolutely unapologetic showstopper, a mouthwatering collision of creamy, tangy, and crunchy that’s about to make all your dessert dreams come true!
This recipe is a love letter to Norwegian flavours with a contemporary twist, taking inspiration from none other that Heston Blumenthal, but grounded in good old Scandinavian know-how. The caramel gelato is whipped up in record time thanks to natural stabilizers, giving it a super smooth and creamy texture that makes traditional ice cream look like child’s play. Add in that honeyed mead cream, and you’ve got layers of flavour that dance between sweet, tart, and ever-so-slightly earthy.
These flavours come together so perfectly, you’ll be torn between slapping me for thinking of it first, or giving me a hug for introducing you to this magnificent creation. Either way, it’s a dessert that demands a spot in your culinary repertoire.
For an extra Christmasy twist to this dessert, serve it in a Krumkake shaped as a bowl instead of a cone! Simply let the freshly made Krumkake set over a small bowl or a glass, then fill the Krumkake-bowl with the sundae and munch away!
If you can’t make or buy caramel gelato or ice cream, a really good vanilla ice cream works great too!
Ingredients
Caramel gelato
- 700 ml whole milk
- 300 ml whipping cream
- 230 g sugar
- 2 g guar gum
- 1 g xanthan gum
- 1 g fine sea salt
Mead cream
- 150 g whipping cream
- 15 g icing sugar
- 2 tsp Viking Blod mead*
*Viking Blod is a fantastic Danish mead with a spicy, aromatic and floral taste. When properly aged, Viking Blod is a little like a good Madeira wine, so use same amout of Madeira + 1 tsp honey if you can’t get the real thing.
Crystallized walnuts
- 100 g walnuts, crushed
- 50 g sugar
- 1 tbsp water
Cloudberry coulis
- 250 g clourberries, fresh or frozen*
- 100 g sugar
*IKEA sometimes have clourberry jam. If they don’t they often have lingonberry jam. Lingonberries works BEAUTIFULLY!
Optional: My dad’s Krumkake recipe (makes 15-18)
- 2 eggs (100g)
- 100g sugar
- 100g melted butter
- 100g whole milk
- 100g wheat flour
- 1/4 tsp cardamom powder
- 1 g fine sea salt (just a tiny pinch!)
- 1tbsp water (if it gets too thick!)
Pro tip: weigh your eggs and use the same weight sugar, butter, milk, and flour for perfect consistency.
Method
If you go for the Krumkake-bowl, make the Krumkaker first. Mix the milk, melted butter and flour in a bowl to a thick, lump free batter. Next whisk the sugar and egg to a dense foam, then mix half of that into the batter. When well incorporated, add the remaining egg mixture. This ensures you keep as much air in the batter as possible, and they will become super crispy and light. Let sit for 15 minutes.
Use a Krumkake iron and make the Krumkaker. Instead of shaping them into a cone, gently place each over a upside-down glass or cup, and let it set. Lift each Krumkake-bowl to a wire rack to cool completely, then store in a lidded, sealed container until ready to use, weeks ahead if that suits your schedule best.
Else, let’s tackle those crystallized walnuts first. Grab your crushed walnuts, throw them into a pot with boiling water, bring to a boil again, then discard that water. Repeat once more. This will remove the bitterness from the walnuts.
Next, add sugar and a spoon of water, and bring to a boil again. Gently stir with a wooden spoon until the sugar dissolves, and the water evaporates. Keep stirring, and before you know it, magic will happen right in front of your eyes, creating a crunchy, sweet layer as it crystallizes.
Spread the walnuts out on some parchment paper to cool, and just like that, they’re good to go whenever you’re ready to serve. Can be stored in an airtight container for days, even weeks.
Now for the caramel gelato. Start by melting the sugar in a heavy-bottomed saucepan over medium heat (Do NOT use the same pot as you used for the nuts, unless you clean it out REALLY good!!).
Let the sugar caramelize into a light amber—don’t let it go too damn dark, or it’ll end up bitter. Once you’ve got that perfect colour, slooowly pour in about half the milk, while whisking like your life depends on it. Yeah, it’ll bubble and look like it’s gonna seize up, but keep stirring until it’s smooth. Set this caramel milk mix aside to cool a bit.
Now, here’s the part that’s stupidly easy: throw the remaining milk, cream, the cooled caramel mixture into an upright blender. As the blender is running at its lowest setting, add those miracle stabilizers—guar gum and xanthan gum.
These natural stabilizers do the job of egg yolks without all the hassle, kicking ice crystals to the curb and giving you the silkiest, creamiest gelato with zero effort. And don’t worry, these aren’t some weird-ass lab ingredients; you can buy them easily online in small amounts 50g of each will go a LOOOONG way. Blend it all at the lowest setting for 5 minutes
With lid on, this mix can be safely stored in your fridge for 3 days. When ready to use, pour it into your ice cream maker and churn until you’ve got pure magic.
Finally, the cloudberry coulis. Toss the cloudberries and sugar in a small saucepan over low heat, and let it simmer for at least 10 minutes until the berries soften and release their juice, then strain. Use a rubber spatula to squeeze out all the juice. This sauce is the perfect punch of freshness to balance out all that creamy sweetness.
Right before serving, whip the cream with icing sugar until you’ve got soft peaks, then fold in a splash of Vikingblod mead (or Madeira if you’re out of mead). The mead adds a honeyed warmth that’s just begging to be paired with that caramel gelato.
To serve, layer scoops of caramel gelato in a glass (or bowl of Krumkake!), drizzle over some cloudberry sauce, add a dollop of mead cream, and top it all off with those crunchy crystallized walnuts.
Thanks for the long recipe. Bet it is good.
Thanks Carolyn 🙂