Lemon and pink grapefruit syrup cakes with vanilla bean ice-cream

1.For vanilla bean ice-cream, place one third of the cream in a bowl placed over a bowl of ice and set aside. Combine milk, remaining cream, one third of the sugar and vanilla bean and seeds in a saucepan, stir over medium-high heat to dissolve sugar and bring just to the boil. Meanwhile, whisk egg yolks and remaining sugar in a heatproof bowl until pale (4-5 minutes). Pour over cream mixture and whisk to combine. Return to pan and cook, stirring continuously until mixture thickly coats the back of a wooden spoon (6-7 minutes). Strain into reserved cream, cool completely, then freeze in an ice-cream machine according to manufacturer’s instructions. Makes about 1 litre. Will keep frozen in an airtight container for 1 week.

2.For lemon and pink grapefruit syrup, using a small knife, remove as much pith as possible from rinds and discard. Tear rind into thin strips, blanch in boiling water, drain, combine with remaining ingredients in a saucepan, bring to the boil and cook over high heat until rind is translucent (1-2 minutes). Cool.

3.Preheat oven to 170C. Beat butter, sugar and lemon rind in an electric mixer until pale and creamy. Add eggs one at a time, beating after each addition, then add flour and milk and beat until smooth. Divide among 8 buttered and floured 1 cup-capacity dariole moulds. Bake until golden and centre springs back when lightly pressed (25-30 minutes). Cool for 10 minutes in moulds, then turn onto a wire rack placed over a tray. Using a skewer, pierce a few holes in tops of cakes. Drizzle with syrup while still warm, dust snow sugar over, decorate with strips of rind and serve immediately with vanilla bean ice-cream.