Ice Cream Fake Out Cake

Anyone else dreaming of summer? Living in Vancouver, it’s been rain errryday and the Huz said that I’m not allowed to check the weather anymore. Well, for my friend’s birthday, I thought I’d bring her some summer. And since she has 2 adorable kiddies, I thought they’d like a fun whimsical cake.

My inspiration for this cake is Katherine Sabbath. Have you seen her work??? Mind blowing. Not only are her designs amazing, her flavor combinations are out of this world. I’m pretty much in awe of her. Check this out:

Here’s what I’ve done for my friend in the past:

Chocolate meringue cloud cake

Mint chocolate layer cake

Smartie cake

I always try to do something big and different for her. It keep me on my game keeps me flexing my muscles.

Here’s my technique for decorating this cake. I’m not including a recipe for the cake itself - I did a vanilla cake with raspberry jam - because I wanted to focus on the decor. And lucky for you, I’ve worked out the kinks (trust me, there were some tears, right Huz?).

Ice Cream Fake Out Cake Decor

Buttercream Frosting - for sprinkle layer and “ice cream”

Ingredients

1.5 cups butter, softened (add ¼ teaspoon salt if using unsalted butter)

5 cups icing sugar

½ cup heavy cream, room temperature (nuke in the microwave in a time pinch)

2 teaspoons vanilla

¼ teaspoon almond extract

¼ cup jimmies sprinkles

2 Tablespoons chopped chocolate

1 Tablespoon raspberry jam

Food colouring of choice (I used a mix of blue and green gel)

Ice Cream Cone

Ingredients

1 sugar cone

¼ cup white chocolate, or white chocolate discs, or candy melts

¼ cup sprinkles or nuts or anything you want to decorate the ice cream cone with

Drip Icing

Ingredients

½ cup icing sugar

3-4 teaspoons water

Food colouring of choice (I recommend gel colour)

Tools

Large and mini ice cream scoops

Metal spatula

Piping bag

Decorating instructions

1. Make buttercream frosting by whipping butter (and salt if using) with beater attachment in a stand mixer until fluffy. Add icing sugar and mix on a low speed. Gradually stream in cream as it’s mixing and beat until well incorporated and fluffy. Add vanilla and almond extract and beat until incorporated.
2. Stack and fill your cake layers. I baked a vanilla cake in 3, 6-in cake pans and sliced them in half. In between the layers, I used raspberry jam. But sky’s the limit here in terms of flavour combos.
3. Crumb coat the cake - apply a thin layer of frosting to the entire cake to seal in the crumbs. Scrape off any excess. Place in the fridge for 10 minutes.
4. At this point, you’ll need to estimate how much frosting you’ll need for the sprinkle layer and the “ice cream” portions. Scoop out the amount that you’ll need for the “ice cream” into a bowl and set aside.
5. With the portion of frosting you’ve portioned for the sprinkle layer, add sprinkles and fold in with a spatula. Feel free to add more if you want it extra sprinkl-y.
6. Frost the cake with your sprinkle frosting and scrape off excess. If you want it extra smooth, put it in the fridge for 10 minutes. Dip a metal spatula in hot water and wipe off, and smooth out the frosting. You can add more frosting and repeat this process of refrigerating and smoothing out with a hot spatula.
7. Next, colour the frosting that you will use as ice cream. In my design, I made a turquoise large scoop and smaller scoops of chocolate chip and raspberry ripple. For turquoise, I mixed blue and a small amount of green into the frosting. For chocolate chip, I chopped up chocolate and mixed it into the frosting. For raspberry ripple, I added 1 tablespoon of raspberry jam into the frosting and ran a few strokes through it with a spoon. And for the important part: Spread out the frosting on the bottom of their bowls and refrigerate for 10 minutes. This will give it the ice cream look when scooped out.
8. In the meantime, you can do 2 things: decorate your ice cream cone and make your drip. First the cone: melt your white chocolate in a double boiler or in 10 second intervals in the microwave, stirring between intervals. Dip your the outer 1-inch of your cone in the melted chocolate, then dip in sprinkles or nuts. Place on parchment/wax paper/foil and harden in the fridge.
9. Next the drip icing: Place icing sugar in a small bowl and add water 1 teaspoon at a time, stirring after each addition. Stop when you get a thick but fluid consistency. I recommend putting a drop of the icing on the lip of a cup to see how fast it drips down. If you’ve added too much water, you can add more icing sugar. Add food colouring and mix to incorporate (I recommend gel colour so that it doesn’t add more liquid to the drip).
10. Apply the drip icing: I’ve seen this done in a number of ways, but here’s what I did - I put some of the drip icing in a small pastry bag with a small round tip. I applied beads of drip icing on the edge of the cake and allowed it to drip down. I put the remaining drip on top of the cake and spread it out with an offset spatula.
11. Apply the “ice cream”: Scoop the ice cream frosting with an ice cream scoop and place on the cake. If the frosting is too hard, you can run the scoop under hot water (be sure to dry with towel before scooping). Place ice cream cone on the middle ice cream.
12. Keep cake in the fridge. Bring up to room temperature before eating - 2 hours prior.

*What to do with extra frosting and cake: If you’ve found yourself with extra cake scraps from cutting off the dome of the cakes and frosting, why not make cake pops or cake truffles! You can keep both the cake scraps and frosting in the freezer until you’re ready to make these. I’ll do a post on this next!

Verdict: This cake was an absolute show stopper! I was really happy with the way it turned out and how much it resembled ice cream! Such a whimsical cake. I have so many ideas of how this ice cream technique can be used!

Ps. Does this remind of you Baskin Robins of the 90’s? I got a few of those comments.

Vanilla Strawberry Ice Cream Cake

As I mentioned in one of my previous posts, I recently bought a townhouse. To celebrate, I threw a housewarming party and decided to make an ice cream cake for dessert.

Dairy Queen ice cream cakes – yay or nay? I pretty much only like the cookie fudge middle. My plate is always left with sad looking vanilla and chocolate soft serve because I just eat the middle. But I think my problem with that cake is that it’s soft serve. If it was real ice cream, I think I’d love it.

So, my ice cream cake was going to be made with real ice cream. And not that stuff from the store that has a bunch of ingredients that I can’t pronounce, meaning they really shouldn’t be in my ice cream. I’m talking about the home make stuff – with egg yolks, and real vanilla, and only ingredients you’re familiar with! And you know what? It’s going to have cake too – because ice cream cake without the cake part, is just ice cream shaped like a cake if you ask me.

The great thing about this type of cake is that the options are endless! I went simple, but you can mix and match ice cream and cake flavours and add extras like cookies, crumbles, nuts, fruit, and sundae syrup between the layers. And multiple ice cream flavours!

Vanilla Strawberry Ice Cream Cake

Parts:

Vanilla cake

Vanilla ice cream

Strawberry jam

Whipped cream frosting

*Note, this cake takes 3 days to make

Vanilla Cake (Make on day 1)

Use your favorite vanilla cake recipe. I halved this one and baked it in a 6-inch pan. Feel free to use whatever size you like!

After baking and cooling the cake, cut into two layers. Wrap in plastic wrap and freeze overnight.

Alternatively, you can buy a pre-made pound cake.

Vanilla Ice Cream (Make on day 1 or 2)

You can use your favorite store bought ice cream. Or make it from scratch! I used this recipe by David Lebovitz. 

If making from scratch and refrigerating the base overnight, make on day 1. If not refrigerating base overnight, make on day 2 (same day as assembly).

Whipped Cream Frosting (Make on day 3)

Ingredients

2 cups whipping cream

1/3 cup icing sugar

½ teaspoon vanilla

Gel food colouring

Directions

1.  Chill metal bowl before whipping. Beat whipping cream until soft peaks.

2.  Sift icing sugar and add vanilla. Beat to stiff peaks.

3.  Add food colouring to your desired shade and beat to blend.

*I added a stabilizer (like Whip It http://www.amazon.com/Dr-Oetker-Stabilizer-Whipping-Packets/dp/B000NY8OLU), but since it’s going to be frozen, I don’t think it’s necessary in retrospect.

Assembly

Day 2:

1.  If using store bought ice cream, take out and soften for about 10-15 minutes before proceeding. If using scratch ice cream, it should be in soft-serve consistency (feel free to stick in the freezer until ready).

2.  Smear a little jam on the cake plate. Place frozen cake layer on top. Spread jam on top.

3.  Wrap stiff acetate tightly around the cake and tape to secure.

4.  Spread ice cream over the cake – up to you on how much and how tall you want the cake!

5.  Spread jam on the other cake layer. Carefully place it on top of the ice cream, jam side down.

6.  Freeze overnight.

Day 3:

7.  Make whipped cream frosting.

8.  Take acetate off cake. Frost cake with whipped cream and decorate to your preference. Freeze until ready to serve.

 

Acetate around the cake.

 

Verdict: This ice cream recipe was A-MAAAzing! So creamy, rich, and flavourful! I only used ¾ of it in the cake, so I had a bit left over. And good thing too because my friends requested it and devoured it! I’m dreaming up new flavour combos!

Chocolate Sable Sandwich Cookies

Today is the one year anniversary of when I received my gorgeous Tiffany blue KitchenAid stand mixer. It’s been one hell-of-a year as I put my hand mixer away and let the big boss go to town, mixing cookie dough, whipping Swiss meringue buttercream for 20 minutes until it comes together, etc., etc., (see blog for more details). It’s my favorite tool in the kitchen (next to my bamboo cutting board, ice cream scoops, and nicely weighted knives), and I’ll even go so far as to say that I’m in love(and I’m pretty sure it feels the same way)! I guess I have to say a big thank you to that cute guy that got it for me last Valentine’s Day.

For our anniversary bake, I decided to give sable cookies a go - super easy, prettily piped, topped with sprinkles, and sandwiching buttercream.

Chocolate Sable Cookies

Adapted from here.

Ingredients

1/3 cup cocoa powder

1 ¾ cup + 1 Tablespoon all purpose flour

1 teaspoon instant espresso powder

½ teaspoon salt

1 cup butter, room temperature

½ cup + 3 Tablespoons icing sugar

3 Tablespoon egg whites, room temperature

1 teaspoon vanilla

Directions

1.  Preheat oven to 355 degrees F.

2.  Sift cocoa, flour, espresso, and salt into a bowl and mix. Set aside.

3.  In a different bowl, or stand mixer, beat butter until soft. Add icing sugar and beat until light and fluffy.

4.  Add egg whites and beat until thoroughly mixed. Add vanilla and beat to combine.

5.  Add flour mixture and mix until just combined.

6.  Fill a piping bag with a wide tip (I used 1M). Pipe designs onto a cookie sheet and bake for 10-11 minutes. Cool for 10 minutes on sheet before moving to a rack.

Buttercream of your choice. I actually used leftover frosting from my freezer – chocolate and raspberry. Pipe or spread buttercream on one cookie and top with another. Enjoy!

Verdict: The sables are great because they are chocolate-y and but only a little sweet. The filling gives it more sweetness and richness, so it’s up to you whether you want to take it to that level (they are good on their own). Tip: make sure the dough is really soft before piping. I kneaded it a bit in the piping bag to soften it to a pipe-able consistency. All in all, it was a great anniversary!

Funfetti Art Birthday Butter Cookies

My good friend who lives in Toronto was approaching her birthday and I wanted to send over some cookies.  I made her these pretzel banana chip cookies last year, but wanted to send her a new spin on her favorite – the butter cookie!  What says celebration more than sprinkles and a cake?  I decided to add sprinkles in the batter and use a tiered cake cookie cutter for the shape.  These should ship well, plus the cookies taste better after a few days.  It’s fun sending her little packages.  I hope she’s surprised!

Check out the verdict at the end of the post!

Funfetti Art Birthday Butter Cookies

Small batch

Ingredients

½ cup salted butter, softened

½ cup + 2 Tablespoons sifted icing sugar

1 Tablespoon vanilla syrup

½ an egg

1¼ cups flour

¼ teaspoon baking soda

1 Tablespoon sprinkles

Directions

1.    With a stand mixer, cream butter and sugar until fluffy.

2.  Beat in vanilla syrup and eggs.

3.  Whisk flour and baking soda in a bowl.  Gradually add into butter mixture.

4.  Mix in sprinkles (10 seconds).

5.  Wrap dough in plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator for 3 hours or overnight.

Dough chilled and ready to roll.

To bake, preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

6.  Take a small portion of the dough and roll out to 1/8 inch thick and cut out using cookie cutters.  Only roll out small portions of the dough at a time as re-working the dough will make the colours of the sprinkles bleed and turn the dough grey.

8.  Place on a baking sheet and bake for about 8 minutes, or until the edges are slightly golden.  Cool on rack.

Before baking.

After baking.

Verdict: I super liked how the sprinkles created streaks in the dough when I rolled it out!  It reminded me of ’80’s designs!  Kind of art-y.  These are my all-time favorite cookies, and they did not disappoint as usual.  Buttery with nice vanilla aroma. My friend was surprised by and enjoyed the package! Success!

Fortune Cookies with Sprinkles

 

My friends and I were going to Las Vegas for a double bachelorette party and I wanted to make us something fun to snack on during the ride to the airport. I decided on fortune cookies since I could write fun “fortunes” for all the gals. I also wanted them to be pretty, so I experimented with sprinkles. They were fun cookies that hyped-up the anticipation for the upcoming weekend of partying!

Fortune Cookies with Sprinkles

Makes 24 cookies
Adapted from here.

Ingredients

¼ cup + 1 teaspoon butter

3.5 egg whites

¾ cup + 1 Tablespoon + 2 teaspoon sugar

¾ cup + 1 Tablespoon + 2 teaspoon sifted all-purpose flour

Pinch of salt

2 Tablespoons + 1.5 teaspoon cream

3-4 Tablespoons water

¾ teaspoon vanilla extract

Sprinkles

Directions

Write “fortunes” on small slips of paper (6.5 cm x 1 cm ish)

1.       Preheat oven at 380 degrees Fahrenheit.

2.       Grease baking sheet with oil.

3.       Melt butter in the microwave.

4.       In a bowl, beat egg whites and sugar on medium speed for 30 seconds.

5.       Beat in four and salt.

6.       Beat in the melted butter, cream, and vanilla extract.

7.       Beat in 3-4 Tablespoons of water to thin out batter.

8.       Pour 1 tablespoon of the batter onto the baking sheet (4 in total max.  I found that 3 was better).  With a spoon, spread batter into a thin circle.

9.       Sprinkle decorative sprinkles onto the circles.

10.   Bake for about 5 minutes (until edges are golden).

11.   Slide a spatula under a cookie and flip onto a tea towel or cutting board. Place a “fortune” in the middle of the cookie.

12.   Fold one end over and press onto the other end (covering the “fortune”).

13.   Press ends together over the edge of a cup to make the classic Fortune Cookie shape.

14.   Place in a muffin tin to keep its shape as it cools.

Note: Forming the cookie (step 11-13) should be done quickly, before the cookie hardens.

     Using cotton gloves will ensure that your fingers do not get burned!

Cotton gloves and pre-written "fortunes"

Before baking

Step 1: Place fortune in the middle of cookie

Step 2: Fold cookie over fortune

Step 3: Fold cookie over cup rim to make classic shape



Step 4: Place cookie in muffin pan to cool

The brides-to-be!