Pies, puddings, jelly and ice cream – Ickworth House

As part of my birthday present last year Mr CC booked us to attend the above named event at Ickworth House. The house and grounds are spectacular enough to warrant a visit but when you add a historic jelly and ice cream masterclass from one of the country’s premier food historians – Ivan Day – you’ll agree that a good day out just became a great day out! Here’s Ivan making his ice cream:

During his fascinating talk and demonstration Ivan covered the history of jelly and ice cream, at the same time making ice cream using only an ice pail, freezing pot and spaddle (a spatula/paddle cross). Notice that the table has a slope on one side for the melting ice to run off:

In this photo you can actually see the melted ice dripping off the slope:

The ice cream was ginger and lemon; as a lemon hater I have to admit it was beautiful. The texture was so light and smooth ...probably helped by the ice cream being made with cream rather than a custard base!

We were all invited to approach the spaddle with a teaspoon and help ourselves to a taster. I would happily have walked off with the spaddle! Mr CC, as is his way, merely turned to me and said of the ice cream, "make it happen." I have since obtained the recipe from Ivan and will be making [it happen!] soon.

Ivan brought a beautiful collection of antique ice cream moulds for us to look at:

My favourite, by far, was the tiny Cleopatra’s needle/obelisk/pyramid shaped hinged mould that had minute hieroglyphs cast into it in relief, so when the ice cream was turned out it would have perfect markings all over it:

It was probably the jellies that proved to be the crowd pleasers! Ivan certainly deserves some sort of bravery award for turning out four complicated jellies in front of an audience of 50 people...of course, they all turned out perfectly! Sadly, because the tin lining of the moulds was no longer intact, the jellies could only be admired visually.

I’d never seen such complicated moulds before. This one has fitted spirals moulds within the mould so that a stunning two-tone jelly can be created:

The jelly produced by this mould actually drew gasps from the crowd:

Indulge me while I ogle it some more!

A slightly simpler insert mould produced an equally bold result. The white cross (as for the spirals in the previous jelly) is made from flummery which is an early forerunner of blancmange.

While it may not have had the technical dazzle of the previous two moulds, I loved the look of this star mould:

This ceramic mould relies on simplicity and clean lines for its appeal. Ivan explained that in Edwardian/Victorian times this dessert would have garnered giggles and blushes from the ladies present at the table...I wonder why?!

I’m really getting into my jelly making and am frustrated that no one is making modern food-safe jelly moulds like this anymore. Of course, I dream of owning vintage moulds but when Ivan told me that the more complicated moulds can sell for around the £1,000 mark I realised (much to Mr CC’s relief) that it would probably remain just a dream...unless my lottery ticket comes up trumps!

In case you’re wondering, the “pies and puddings” part of the course name related to the lunch we were given. Any menu card that lists the puddings (steamed chocolate sponge with chocolate custard, jam roly poly and apple crumble with custard) stating “please come back for as much pudding as you want” is a winner with me!

This was a wonderful experience (thanks Mr CC...you buy awesome pressies!) and I can thoroughly recommend attending any talks by Ivan Day. On his site there are details of various courses he runs...one of which is historic ice cream making...mmm, how long is it till my next birthday?