It’s Celebration Time!!

My Dad’s Birthday was last week and Ice Cream Cake (the kind with real cake and without those little crunchy things) is one of his favorites – that and the Chocolate Mocha Cake that I  made for his retirement.

Dad’s birthday should (and is) reason enough to celebrate – but we have another reason to celebrate here at Teacher by Day – Chef by Night!

One year ago: August 17, 2010 I posted my very first blog post. I have come so far in this year… taking the plunge getting pictures posted on FoodGawker, gaining readers, being willing to experiment more, and the list goes on.

Now I have to look to the next year! In the next year I hope to continue to get images posted on FoodGawker, increase my readership, gain sponsors, get my own URL, and most of all continue to experiment & have fun in my kitchen!

While we reflect on my goals and look forward to the year ahead, I give you:

Ice Cream Cake

Chocolate Cake

cake from my Chocolate Peanut Butter Layer Celebration cake, originally found on Sugar Cooking.

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 1/2 cups sugar
• 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup neutral vegetable oil
• 1 cup sour cream
• 1 1/2 cups water
• 2 tablespoons distilled white vinegar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 eggs

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter the bottoms and sides of three 8-inch round cake pans. Line the bottom of each pan with a round of parchment or waxed paper and butter the paper (do not skip the paper on the pans).

Sift the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt into a large bowl. Whisk to combine them well. Add the oil and sour cream and whisk to blend. Gradually beat in the water. Blend in the vinegar and vanilla. Whisk in the eggs and beat until well blended. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and be sure the batter is well mixed. Divide among the 3 prepared cake pans.

Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, or until a cake tester or wooden toothpick inserted in the center comes out almost clean. Let cool in the pans for about 20 minutes. Invert onto wire racks, carefully peel off the paper liners, and let cool completely & then freeze overnight or at least 2 hours to proceed with the cake.

Ice Cream

I just used Store-Bought, you could make you own if you were feeling up to it! I used about 1/2 of a gallon – it was not quite enough, you should should at least 3/4 of a gallon or go all out and use the whole gallon! The better the quality Ice Cream you use the better your cake will be (look for the full-fat ones without additives like gum – the best ice cream is either homemade or made with just cream/sugar/eggs)

We were going for Mocha Cake so I used a layer of Coffee and a layer of Vanilla Ice Cream (so Mom could sleep and she just skipped on the Coffee). This would be awesome with whatever flavor Ice Cream you love (chocolate, mint chocolate chip, vanilla banana, etc)

Frosting

Mocha Whipped Cream Frosting

• 1 pint Whipping Cream
• 2 Tablespoons Instant Coffee (I used Decaf)
• 2 Tablespoons Cocoa Powder
• 3 Tablespoons (?) Sugar

Put your heavy cream into your mixer. Allow to get thick, then add your coffee/cocoa. Combine that fully. Once your Whipped Cream is almost thick – add your sugar. TASTE at this point and see what you think – add more sugar if you want it sweeter. Allow your whipped cream to get nice and thick with stiff peaks.

Assembly

Bake Layers, Allow to Cool (completely – freeze for at 2 hours after they are cooled to help them firm up as well). When you put your layers in the freezer, wrapping each one in saran individually will allow for assembly to be the easiest. Also – make sure you have room in the freezer to stack all of these with a little wiggle room all around so there is a ‘safety zone’ once it is frosted!

Take your ice cream out of the freezer about 10 minute before you are ready to start. You want to put it into a seperate bowl so you can smoosh it around to make it smooth and ready to spread. Once you have a thick/spreadable Ice Cream take out your layers and place one on your cake platter (or your cardboard cake thing or whatever you make your cake on – I personally love to use the bottom of my springform pan!). Spread your ice cream onto the cake & top with another layer, pushing down to make it flat. Return to the freezer

About an hour later – repeat with the next layer of ice cream and top with your 3rd cake layer. Return this to the Freezer again. (now is a good time to make the whipped cream)

Take out your cake & ice it (haha – you are icing and ice cream cake!). I iced my cake in two steps, about 1/3 of the icing in a “crumb coat” but since it was frozen it didn’t really need it. Allowing the icing to set up for about 20 minutes in the freezer allowed me to get a much smoother top coat of my whipped cream on the cake. I top with some shaved chocolate, allowed to set again and then finally just piped some more whipped cream around the edge.

This cake is worth the time/effort that goes into it!

I hope that you have enjoyed my first year of blogging as much as I have – and if you are just visiting for the first time, I hope that you stick around and help me see where the next year will take us!

And I leave you with a Question… What suggestions/advice do you have for me as I enter my 2nd year with this blog?