Ice cream to go with chocolate Guinness cake?

[katecm]

All,
I'm making a chocolate Guinness cake for the first time tonight. I've just heard such wonderful things about it, and even though I'm not a huge chocolate cake fan, most other people are. But I'm at a loss as to what to serve with it. Normally I'd do a fresh whipped cream to cut the heaviness of it, but I feel like being a bit more creative. I've been long considering buying David Lebovitz's Perfect Scoop cookbook, but still haven't. So, what ice cream should I serve with the cake, then? I do have his vanilla yogurt and vanilla ice cream recipes, and may pick one of them. But should I be a bit more creative? Like should I hunt down his chocolate peanut butter one? Any great ideas would be welcome.

[Emme]

Vanilla... Country Buttery Vanilla... not so much vanilla bean. At least, that's my favorite to serve w/ the Gramercy Tavern Gingerbread, which is quite close to the cake.

[wildfire]

That sounds delicious! I might personally go with a mint chocolate chip or a caramel (although vanilla would definitely work well too).

[Vetter]

I'd go for sour cream ice cream, or burnt sugar, that sort of thing.

[breadfan]

Sounds yummy, how about doing Guinness Floats on the side. A pint of Guinness with a scoop of coffee ice cream in it.

[foodseek]

I envy your guests whichever ice cream you decide to try. I would love the Guinness float-haven't made the cake for tonight but husband and I are going to try the Guinness Float solo.

[BarmyFotheringayPhipps]

Well, Guinness...obviously a malted vanilla ice cream would tie in with that.

[Candy]

Ginger ice cream would be perfect.

[piccola]

That's the first thing I thought of, too. That, or cinnamon. Maybe maple.

[leanneabe]

I would go with a good vanilla ice cream with Guinness cake. If I was going to do something non-vanilla, though, I'd do a burnt caramel ice cream (or maybe the salted caramel from David Lebovitz's website). If you do his vanilla, opt for the eggless version so it's not so rich.

[Bunnyfood]

I second caramel and also think that cinnamon would be good...I make an cinnamon based ice cream with chocolate cake chunks and serve with caramel sauce and my friend's go crazy for it....

[MMRuth]

I agree about vanilla - somehow I find that vanilla ice cream helps "lighten" a rich chocolate cake, whereas I often feel as if my tastebuds are overwhelmed by chocolate + other ice cream flavors.

[Pampatz]

Dulce de Leche would be my first choice.

[maria lorraine]

Me, too. And this comes from tasting caramel with Guinness Stout -- after having my arm twisted by a world-recognized beer and food pairing expert. I was TOTALLY skeptical, but the combo truly, oddly, won me over. Perhaps it's the roasted grains (almost caramelized?) in the Guinness that pair with the caramel.

[LAcupcake]

I've made that cake several times (as cupcakes) and it's a really great recipe. The Guiness lends it a really deep coffeeish/bittersweet/nutty depth. I think a nice coffee ice cream would go very well. A peanut butter or chocolate might be a little too sweet with such a rich cake IMHO. Enjoy your dessert!

[Allstonian]

Coffee ice cream might be okay, but I'd stick with vanilla if it were me.

[Adrienne]

I love the flavor of coffee with guinness and chocolate. I would go with either a coffee or a chocolate ice cream, you already have enough flavors in the cake that going with the flavors instead of in a new direction will, in my opinion, stop being worth the effort.

[waitress]

Coffee ice cream sounds delish, funny, one of my friends is serving this tonight and he made homemade banana ice cream, very curious if this matches..