Glace Dora

Glace Dora (moulded vanilla ice cream with kirsch whipped cream) teaches one true thing: a frozen dessert stands or collapses by the firmness of its layers. The vanilla shell must be frozen hard before the Chantilly enters. Rush that point and the filling presses through; wait, and the narrow scallop turns out cleanly with its ivory ridges intact.

The original assumed a pastry section with vanilla ice cream ready, a large metal Madeleine-mould, and freezing equipment close at hand. At home, use a dense prepared vanilla ice cream, because the source itself treats the ice cream as a finished component, and a 1.25-litre scalloped or fluted metal mould. A narrow metal loaf tin is the honest equivalent when the old mould can't be found; only the silhouette changes. Making the ice cream during assembly is brigade scaffolding and can go. Clothing the mould evenly, whipping a kirsch-scented Chantilly, and folding in pineapple and Bar-le-Duc preserve are the dish, and they stay.

This quantity gives six generous portions, manageable by one cook and a household freezer. Cut it open and the pale vanilla shell reveals cream-white Chantilly, gold pineapple dice, and garnet currants. Before you begin, clear a level freezer shelf and chill the mould thoroughly. That cold shell is the step that decides everything.