Ice Cream Cake

As is my custom when the kids' birthday's roll around I asked Jake this year what kind of birthday cake he wanted.  He was very specific:  "Mint chocolate chip ice cream cake" he said.  I must confess that I don't always make my kid's cake's from scratch.  There's been many a year where we've done store bought.  Although I enjoy baking I don't really care about the elaborate cakes that are shaped like hot air balloons and the like.  That said - this year I decided to find a recipe and attempt to make Jake's cake on my own. 

After a quick google search I came upon a recipe that seemed doable.  I decided rather than spend my time making the cake itself from scratch, I would concentrate on the overall assembly and use boxed cake mix.  I've learned that it's pretty difficult to beat a box mix and the time and energy saved can be well spent embellishing fillings and frostings on your cake.  This is what I did to make my cake:

1.  Used one box of chocolate cake mix  - baked this in two round cake pans.

2.  Sprayed a sheet of saran wrap with pam and put this pam side up into a third cake pan (same size as the previous two), then spread 1 gallon of softened mint cookie ice cream into pan packing it down to make it smooth and level on top.  Put this in freezer for at least 6hrs.

3.  Wrapped cooled cake layers in parchment paper and put in freezer.

4.  Made frosting as follows:

(recipe from baking bites blog)

Real Vanilla Bean Buttercream
1 lb (2 cups) unsalted butter, soft and cut into one inch pieces
3/4 cup plus 1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup water
5 large egg whites
1/4 tsp cream of tartar
1/2 vanilla bean

In the bowl of a stand mixer, place egg whites, with cream of tartar and 1/4 cup sugar nearby.
Heat 3/4 cup sugar and 1/4 cup water in a small saucepan. Heat over medium high heat until sugar is dissolved. When sugar reaches 230F on a candy thermometer, turn mixer on medium high. When egg whites are frothy, add cream of tartar. Gradually add the 1/4 cup sugar. When egg whites begin to form soft peaks, turn the mixer down to medium low and begin to drizzle in the boiling sugar mixture (which should be at approximately 245-250F, firm ball stage). When all of the hot sugar is added, turn the mixer up to medium high and beat until the bowl is no longer warm to the touch. Add the butter one lump at a time and continue beating until mixture is smooth and fluffy, approximately 12-20 minutes. It will look rather like ricotta cheese for a while – just keep beating!
Once it is smooth, scrape vanilla bean and mix in the vanilla specks (or use 1-2 tsp vanilla extract).
Keep at room temperature – do not refrigerate before it has been spread on a cake or cupcakes.

 



5.  Assembled frozen cake layers - 1 layer cake, 1 layer ice cream, 1 layer cake. 

6.  Frosted cake with buttercream frosting (you have to work fairly quick before the ice cream starts to melt)

7.  Crushed up some mint oreos to sprinkle on outside of cake

8.  Wrap and store the entire cake in the freezer.  Remove from freezer about 30 minutes before you're ready to serve.

This cake turned out amazing!  It was really easy and the frosting was incredible - definitely worth the extra time.  Jake loved it and so did everyone else.  I will definitely be coming back to this recipe and trying different variations of it.  The possibilities are endless!

Have a marvelous Monday!!  Only 2 weeks until Christmas - eeek!!:)