Minute to Win It (Ice Cream Cake)

I baked. Finally. It felt good. Amazing. The best freaking chocolate cake EVER.

Seriously. Try this cake. Not only is it AMAZING, it's simple!

One of the best parts is that you can pick whatever kind of cake and ice cream you want. I used chocolate cake and mint chocolate chip ice cream. The ice cream flavor isn't very prominent so it might need some help. In this case, I brainstormed a chocolate ganache. I was missing heavy cream, so the ganache was more of a delicious melted fudge with the addition of Andes mint chips. Then, I sprinkled some Andes mint chips around the top ring to jazz it up. Let me repeat. AMAZING.

My mom tried it with Starbucks coffee ice cream and chocolate cake. She said the chocolate in the cake overwhelmed the coffee flavor. I suggested using white cake with coffee ice cream. If you still want the chocolate flavor, add cocoa powder or melted chocolate chips to the batter.

I baked it for a bbq at the Lyon's Farm. It went over well. I'm going to stop gushing and explain how simple this is.

Ice Cream Cake
originally from Omnomicon

1 box of cake mix (pick a flavor)
1 pint of ice cream (pick another flavor)
3 eggs
1 cup of water

Preheat the oven to 350. Grease a tube or bundt pan. Dust it with cocoa powder. (This will keep the chocolate cake from looking white from flour.)

Mix everything together for 4 minutes. Pour into the pan and bake for 50 minutes.
Serve with frosting, ganache, icing, whipped cream, or plain. Your pick.


Chocolate Chip Icing
originally from cdkitchen

1 cup sugar
3 tablespoons butter
1/3 cup milk
6 ounces chocolate chips

Combine all ingredients except chocolate in saucepan over medium high heat. Stir constantly until melted. Bring to a boil for 1 minute, still stirring. Remove from heat. Add in chips and stir until completely melted. Spread on cooled cake.

*I used 3 oz. chocolate chips + 3 oz. Andes mint chips*

Parks & Recreation

1. I am on Day 2 of rather boring tutorials about Microstation. I might have dozed off this morning. And yesterday afternoon. The tutorials are that riveting.

2. I'm rocking the 7:30-4:00 work schedule. There is something really nice about going in early and being done early as well. Today, I walked down to the post office after work to get my address changed. Everything is digital though so I walked down there for nothing. It's just another walk that I got to go on. At 10:00 and 3:00 we go for walks at work.

3. Parks & Recreation = great show

4. I need to follow the three color rule of food. If food doesn't have more than three colors in it, then it isn't allowed to be eaten. Tonight was a slight fail. Pasta with pesto and garlic bread. There were many shades of brown. Then green. I need more vegetables in my life. I never thought I would say that.

5. Finished book #2. My Name is Memory by Ann Brashares. Ayesha recommended it to me and I really enjoyed it. It was a little sad, but sweet.

Tuesday Things

1. I'm almost moved into my house. I've only got a few kitchen things, my bed and desk, and some clothes, then it's adios Ann Arbor and hello Brighton.

2. I start my new job tomorrow. I think I'm going to be sitting at a computer and doing program tutorials for a few days. That's better than sitting at home and doing nothing.

3. I read 32 books from the end of school until today. Not my typical 50, but yay! I just finished the 50 from last year. Now it's on to the next 50 books. I just finished the first one. Lamb by Christopher Moore.

4. None of this has anything to do with baking, but it will soon. Once I'm all moved in I'll be able to cook and such.

5. I had pad thai from No Thai for the first time. My friend Bernard was visiting this weekend to celebrate our friend's wedding. He got the last stamp on a No Thai card and then gave the card to me. Free dinner! Yay! It was pretty good. Next time I think I'll branch out a bit and get something more than just rice noodles with peanuts and sprouts.

6. I need to bake. Badly. It's an itch.

7. I'm moving in on Saturday/Sunday. Baking will resume at that point.