Semifreddo With Berries and Honey

Semifreddo means half - cold in Italian. It is made up of three main ingredients, eggs, sugar and cream and has endless variations. In addition to the ingredients mentioned above I used vanilla and a pinch of salt, and changed sugar to honey to give it a twist. Since it was meant to be a festive summer cake, I made berry coulis that I put inside the semifreddo as well as on the top of it. If you want to keep it simple, you may just top it with fresh fruits.

In most recipes, semifreddo is made using raw eggs, but I do not really like eating raw eggs myself, due to food safety reasons. In this recipe, however, eggs are heat-treated and absolutely safe.

Ingredients of the semifreddo:

6 eggs

100 g honey

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

500 g heavy cream

a large pinch of salt

Ingredients of the coulis:

500 g berries (any: rasp-, black-, strawberries, etc.)

30 g honey

1 tablespoon rose water

1 leaf gelatine

Other equipment:

24x10cm silicone loaf form

silicone spatula

sugar thermometer

stand mixer

plastic wrap

Line a loaf form with plastic wrap. This will help you to remove your semifreddo in the end.

Prepare a hot water bath. Try to find a pot on which the stand mixer bowl sits well. I used aluminium foil to cover the gap between the not perfectly matching dishes and thereby stop the steam from escaping. Make sure that there is enough space between the bottom of the mixer bowl and the water level in the pot. The mixer should not touch the water.

Clean and wash the berries. I saved about 1/4 for decoration purposes. Put 3/4 of the berries into a saucepan, add rose water and honey. Soak the gelatin in cold water. Bring the berries to boil and pull of the heat. It does not have to cook properly. let it cool a bit. press gelatin between your fingers to get rid of excess water, then add it to the coulis while still warm and stir.

Put the eggs, honey, salt and vanilla into the mixer bowl. Pour water into the pot underneath and start heating it. Mix the eggs thoroughly (it easy with an electric whisk. Heat the mixture, stirring constantly and scraping down the sides, using a silicone spatula. The temperature of the mixture should reach 70-72 Celsius. Pay a close attention though, as there is a very thin line between a starter for a proper semifreddo base and unexpected sweet scrambled eggs.

Once your mixture reaches 70-72 Celsius, quickly transfer the bowl directly to the stand mixer and start whipping it on high speed. Whip until the eggs get foamy and the mixture cools. It is a good hint to place your palms on the outside of the mixer bowl, that should also feel pleasantly cool to touch.

Whip the cream until it forms stiff peaks.

Combine the whipped eggs and the cream very gently. transfer 1/3 of the mixture into the lined form and put it into the freezer for about 30 minutes.

Remove it from the freezer add a few spoons of the berry coulis then add the rest of the mixture. Cover with foil and put it back into the freezer for at least 8 hours.

About an hour before serving, place a plate in the freezer. Invert the semifreddo on the chilled plate, decorate with the remaining coulis, fresh berries and edible flowers. you may also add nuts.