Sunday Sweets - Giant Ice-Cream Sandwich cake

The weekends are when I get a chance to experiment with recipes and put aside ideas that I want to try for the next special occasion. I loved this recipe I saw for a giant ice cream sandwich cake via Oh Happy Day. I think it would be perfect for all the summer entertaining we do.

Take a look.....

For the Ice Cream:

3.5 quarts (from 2 1.75qt containers) vanilla ice cream, softened

Line a 9×13″ baking pan with cling wrap and scoop out the ice cream into the pan. This helps it out with softening more if needed and makes it easier to spread out. If the ice cream still needs to soften let it sit for about 5 minutes then use an offset spatula to smooth it out evenly in the pan. Fold in the edges of the cling wrap and top with one more piece of cling wrap. Freeze for at least 3 hours, preferably 6 or overnight just to make it as frozen as possible, and easiest for you to work with.

For the Cake:

2 1/4 cups all purpose flour

1 3/4 cup white granulated sugar

1 cup cocoa powder, sifted

1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1 teaspoon instant espresso powder

1 cup well shaken buttermilk

2/3 cup vegetable oil

3 large eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 350F and prep a 9×13″ baking sheet with non-stick cooking spray and a strip of parchment with overhang so you can lift the cake out of the pan easily.

In a large bowl whisk together the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, salt, and espresso powder until it’s nice and combined. In a large measuring cup, 3-4 cups is perfect, measure out the buttermilk, then the oil, then add the eggs and vanilla and beat with a fork until combined.

Add the wet ingredients to the dry and use a silicone spatula to mix everything together. Add half the batter to the prepared pan, sooth it out with an offset spatula, and bake for 18-20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. If you have two pans then by all means bake up both pans, but if you’re like me and only have one then cover the second half of cake batter with plastic wrap while the first cake is baking. Once that cake is baked let it cool for 10 minutes, transfer to a cooling rack, then prep the pan with the parchment and non-stick spray and bake the second half of the batter.

When that one’s baked let it sit in the pan for 10 minutes before using the parchment handles to transfer it to a cooling rack and let the cakes cool completely.

When you’re ready to assemble the cake, pick the prettier of the two and use the fatter end of a chopstick or a paintbrush handle, something along that size and poke holes in the cake, alternating rows of 4 then 3 holes with each row spaced about 1″ apart. It helps if your cake has been peeled away from the parchment then placed back on there. Once you have all the holes poked place an upside down white chocolate chip in each hole and gently push it into the cake.

Place the other cake onto whatever you’re serving it on (I use the baking sheet flipped over) top down then carefully unwrap your ice cream and place that on top of the cake. If the edges need to be cleaned up use an offset spatula to smooth them out. To finish up the cake place the other layer of cake on top with the chocolate chips facing up and serve! If your ice cream is too soft or you still have time to kill then just place the cake in the freezer until you’re ready to serve.

What do you think? It reminds me of the good old Monaco Bar. Yum!

You can find so many more great ideas and recipes on their site here

Recipe and photos via Oh Happy Day

Another celebration - Finn turns 14.

Finn turned 14 on the weekend and we had a family dinner to celebrate.

Finn loves burritos so we cooked up a batch of shredded mexican chicken in the slow cooker, a dish of rice and beans and had bowls of lettuce, jalapenos, cheese, sour cream, corn and salsa, so everyone could make up their own burritos. Delish! 

I didn't get any photos of the food but you'll have to take my word for it ;)

I always like to make the table festive for birthday dinners so I had a dig through the party box and hung up a banner and some balloons. A roll of brown paper acted as a runner and I popped some of the planters I used for Simon's party down the middle.

All of the little kids sat up at the kitchen bench and we had all of the adults and teens at a table for 10.

Finn is not a huge fan of traditional cake so I decided to make an ice cream cake instead for his birthday cake. I lined a spring form pan with baking paper and layered in chocolate, vanilla and rocky road ice cream. I froze it overnight and served it with a sprinkling of mini marshmallows. Yum!

I can't believe our first born is 14! Where do those years go?

We are so proud of Finn and the man he is becoming.  He has handled everything that has happened to him (his eye injury) throughout the last year so well and so bravely. 

His attitude has been amazing! He is so loved x

We finished up the weekend with seeing a movie, the new Jason Bourne. It was action packed and really good. Finn will celebrate with his friends next weekend with a little party/sleepover, so the festivities will go on! 

Here are a few more photos from the weekend -

This photo popped up in my Facebook memories today.

Finn on his birthday 7 years ago. Awwww :)

How was your weekend? Any birthdays happening?

Mum's birthday and a Malteser/Raspberry Ice-cream cake.

It was my mum's birthday yesterday and we celebrated it with dinner at our place once she had finished work. 

I decided to make an ice-cream cake using some of her favourite things.

2 litres of Cadbury chocolate ice-cream (you can also use vanilla ice-cream if you prefer)

Frozen raspberries

Maltesers 

A block of chocolate to melt over the cake just before serving.

I don't have a recipe as such but you can adjust the ingredients depending on the crowd you are feeding!

I let the ice-cream soften in a large mixing bowl, added in the raspberries and Maltesers and stirred it all together until it was combined. I then spooned the ice-cream mixture into a springform baking tin lined with baking paper and popped it in the freezer. 

Usually its best to leave it overnight to freeze but as I had left the cake to the last minute I had it in the freezer for about 5 hours.

When you are ready to serve, remove the cake from the tin and place on a plate or cake stand.

Drizzle melted chocolate over the top and serve immediately.

Use a knife dipped in hot water to slice if needed.

A photo of the cake before the melted chocolate drizzle

A quick photo before it started to melt!

I've made something similar before with the same ingredients. They are the perfect combo!

The recipe is

200g butter, 1 1/2 cups pure icing sugar, 5 eggs, 400g dark chocolate, 3ltrs of icecream, 300g frozen raspberries, 500g maltesers.

Beat the butter and sugar until pale and creamy. Add eggs.

Melt the chocolate and add to the butter mixture.

Spoon icecream into a bowl, stand until softened and mash the rasperries in with a fork.

Line the base of a baking dish  or cake tin with baking paper.

Place half the maltesers in a bag and crush them.Spread over base of the dish.

Pour half the chocolate mixture over the maltesers.

Spoon over the icecream.

Top with the remaining chocolate mixture.

Crush in remaing maltesers.

Cover and freeze overnight.

Do you love an ice cream cake?