Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream Cake

Welp, since my last post, I found out I was pregnant. That kinda put a downer on the whole cooking thing because when you don't feel like eating, you surely do not feel inspired to cook, let alone try new recipes. I've been slowly trying to get back to cooking and experimenting with new recipes. To try to jump start my creative juices, Jimmy (the hubby) asked for a homemade ice-cream cake for his birthday. Talk about a tall order!

So, he decided on a mint chocolate chip ice-cream cake with devil's food cake as the real cake. Yum! I did a little research, and decided to combine recipes and make it up as I go along. So this is what I came up with...

Ingredients:

1        Package of Devil's Food Cake Mix with all the fixings

1        Carton of Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream (softened, but not too much!)

1        Package of Andes Mints (or you can use the chocolate chips)

11/2   Cups of heavy whipping cream

2        Tablespoons of powdered sugar

Cake:

Bake the cake in two 9in. spring form cake pans as directed on the box. Let cool 10 min after baking. Take out of pans and let cool completely!

Assemble cake:

Line the sides of one of the 9in cake pans with wax paper on the bottom and aluminum foil around the sides. Place one of the 9in cake circles in the bottom of the pan. Spread 1/3 of crushed up Andes mints on top of the cake. Empty the carton of ice cream on top of the cake. Make sure to spread it out evenly. I found that the ice cream will come up to the top of the cake pan. Spread another 1/3 of Andes mints on top of the ice cream. Gently place the last cake on top. Cover and freeze overnight. 

Frosting:

Whip together the whipping cream and powered sugar. If you want a sweeter icing, just add a little more powdered sugar. Make sure to whip it until it is a thick and can make tall fluffy caps when whipping. 

Take cake out of freezer and work quickly. Take the cake out of the cake pan (it may take two people to get it out) and take off aluminum foil. Spread icing around cake, adding the last 1/3 of your crushed Andes mints on top for garnish. Put it back into the freezer for at least another 2 hours. 

Take out and enjoy!!

As you can see, I had a little difficulty with the cake melting after I had frosted the cake when it was out of the cake pan. I had only let it freeze for about 4 hours before icing, thus my recommendation to freeze overnight at a minimum. However, it was a very tasty cake! I would also add a little more powdered sugar to my icing next time, but I do like a sweeter icing. Jimmy loved the cake and ended up having two slices, even after having gone to the Japanese Steakhouse for dinner! 

Hopefully, this is my welcome back to creative baking and cooking and sharing my lessons learned. Stay tuned!!