Ice Cream Cake

A very special friend's 21st birthday is just a few days away so I went right on Pinterest for cake ideas and found this wacky barbie doll cake. Since winter is about to end, I've decided to make an ice cream cake instead.

Here's the inspiration:

 

Here's what I came up with:

The dollar-store barbie just look a little less drunken here... other than than it was quite on the point! Mine is a little messy and less polished since I only started making it at 11:00 PM the night before the dinner. Also, because the theme is "Barbie's Drunken Stupor", a neatly frosted cake only contradicts it. One thing for sure though, I had a lot of fun making it!

This is a lazy-woman's ice cream cake version or busy-woman's ice cream cake recipe if the word "lazy" is too offensive, lol.

Ice Cream Cake Recipe

Ingredients: 

Ice Cream Cake:
Cake Mix Box (I used Betty Crocker Strawberry Flavor)
      -baked according to box instructions
Tub of Ice Cream (I bought the generic tub of Neopolitan Ice Cream
      -left in the counter for no more than 2 hours to soften; not runny just soft enough to spread

Frosting:
12 oz Whipped Cream
       -defrosted; either left in the counter for 1-2 hours or left in the refrigerator overnight
Box of Jello Instant Pudding
Pre-made Ganache (I used dark chocolate ganache and it enhanced the flavor)
Oil or butter (Used as an adhesive for the parchment paper to the pan)

You will need:
Deep Baking Pan/ Dish
Spatula
Leveler
Parchment Paper
Plastic Wrap

Decoration:
Confetti Sprinkles
Barbie Doll (bought mine from the dollar store)
      -Make sure its washed thoroughly since it touches the frosting
Shot Bottle of Vodka
Candles

Bake the cake as instructed on the box and let cool for an hour on an oven rack. We want the cake to fully release the hot steam. As soon as its cooled completely, use a leveler to cut about an inch of the cake. Depending on how many layers of cake and ice cream stack you want, you may cut the cake thinner or thicker. For mine, I simply just have one layer of cake and ice cream. Use the same pan with both the cake and ice cream to stay consistent with the sizing. This will help in frosting later on.  This will likely serve 10 people.

Prepare a deep baking pan. With mine, I used a 9-inch round pan and about 4 inches high. Drizzle some oil into the pan and carefully cover it with parchment paper. Make sure that the parchment paper is long enough that it extends on the side. This will make it easier to take the ice cream out of the pan later on.

Flatten the parchment paper, the oil should help it stick to the pan. I've had a tough time getting a smooth side with the parchment paper. Because its round, the paper wrinkled. The ice cream will take on to the shape of its mold so do the best that you can to minimize the wrinkles/ crease.

Then do the same thing with a plastic wrap. Just like the parchment paper, get a good length extended to the side for easier handling.

After thawing the ice cream for up to 2 hours, it should already be soft. DO NOT microwave at all. Level out the amount of ice cream you desire onto the prepared pan with a spatula. I filled mine just half an inch from the brim.

Cover the top with plastic wrap fully. Place in the freezer for at least 3 hours or overnight. I left mine overnight.

When completely frozen, spread ganache on top of the ice cream if you have it already pre-made. This will help the cake stick to the ice cream. If you don't have any ganache or buttercream at hand, you can skip this. There is no need to make a batch. Simply place the leveled cake on top of the frozen ice cream evenly.

Place the pan back in the freezer as you prepare the frosting.

Like I mentioned earlier, this is a lazy woman's recipe so everything is either boxed or pre-made. For the frosting, I simply combined a banana-flavored jello pudding and thawed whipped cream.

Boil the pudding on a milk that is half the portion size recommended in the box for a stronger flavor. For this box, it required 3 cups of milk, I only used 1 1/2 cups.

Boil until it thickens. Set aside to cool. It may take 15-20 minutes to fully cool. Do not refrigerate. We want the pudding cool and fluffy; not with the jello-like consistency if you refrigerate it.

Once cool, fold in 12 oz whipped cream until the lumps are gone.

I've seen this frosting recipe on Pinterest and gave it a try for the first time. It tasted delicious with the pudding flavor but the frosting didn't hold its shape very well. And since its whipped cream, it tends to melt. For this ice cream cake, its an excellent frosting since the cake needs to stay frozen. I would not recommend the use of this recipe for regular cakes.

Take the cake out of the freezer for frosting time! First Add a cardboard on top of the cake itself. Place one palm on the cardboard and invert the cake with the ice cream on top and cake on the bottom. It should come out of the pan easily. Carefully remove the parchment paper and plastic wrap from the ice cream. 

 You can see just how crucial it is to have a perfectly layed out parchment paper and plastic wrap at the bottom of the pan. Mine isn't and you will see traces of the creases all around. Because of my "Barbie's Drunken Stupor" theme, it doesn't matter so much. However, for the more formal cake types, it is inherent to get as little crease and wrinkles as possible. 

Frost the cake and place back in the freezer for an hour. Place the left-over frosting in the freezer as well.

Frost the cake again for the second and final coating. I did not work myself too much into frosting it perfectly because the idea of the cake is that its messy. And for once, today is my lazy baking day so I excused myself with the hassle. For the more professional look, this is the best time to smooth the frosting. I use a flat spatula and a round turner.

After the final frosting, sprinkle with colorful confetti all around the cake and freeze again. I added the design just before serving. By the way, don't forget the vodka- it is the best part of the cake! lol.

So here it is, the lazy woman's ice cream cake!

The pudding really made the frosting delicious! It will now be a staple for me with my frostings. This is my first experience in making ice cream cake and needed plenty of tweaking to perfect the craft but overall, I am very pleased! Happy cake eating!

Troubleshooting

The frosting was delicious! It complimented the ice cream cake really well because the whipped cream is bland but enhanced with the pudding flavor. For next time, I will play a little with the ratio of the frosting and whipped cream to make it more sturdy. I'll have to get back to my obsessive scatter plotting to get to the right consistency. Maybe, making my own whipped cream is the answer.