Baking Blunder Makeover (aka bad cupcakes make good ice cream cake)!

easy ice cream cake with 'scruffy cupcake' base!

The last two months I've been in a spin.  Finishing final recipe test-runs for the book, cluing up writing and edits, and doing so while having my mother visit for 5 weeks followed by my parents-in-law visiting for 2 weeks.  Throw in activities with the kids and end-of-year recitals, concerts, performances, and hubby on a work trip, and you have one pooped mama.

This kind of chaos brings on recipe testing insanity.  You see, when I'm busy and stressed I tend to create - but not always in effective ways.  My mind gets overactive and rather than properly sort out a recipe, I instead go full-steam-ahead, blazing through my pantry, whipping out ingredients and pans and getting into tweaking recipes or designing new ones altogether.

baaaad cupcakes!

So, here I was with a manuscript due in 4 days, and I was baking cake after cupcake.  I was also preparing food for lunches and dinners for visiting grandparents, but instead of scaling back I decided to... "once again" test my gluten-free banana scented cake with one minor modification ("once again" happened 4 or 5 times)... try an altogether new raw chocolate mousse pie, which turned out fabulous but nevertheless required repeated tests for accuracy... and then test completely new variations on an orange-vanilla cake and chocolate cake/cupcake recipe.  The orange cake was a success.  The cupcakes, not so much.

At least I could push off all the 'good' cake tests on visiting family.  A friend also got a whole cake and the kids were toting cupcakes to share for a full week!  But, those chocolate cupcakes and cakes, I didn't want to give those away, not 'worthy', and I was fed up with running tests.  So, I scratched the recipe from the book, and moved on!  To ice cream.

See, when all else fails with baking, you can turn to your old friend ice cream.  Because it will solve your problem.  It is just waiting to make everything right in your day and with your baking.  If you treat it well - and I do! Yes, ice cream knows its place in my home.

pressing cake into pan

first layer of ice cream goes on!

I took my scruffy cupcakes and emptied them into a springform pan (which I first lightly coated with some coconut oil to make for easier slicing/removal of the cake).  Press that cake into the bottom and around the sides (partially) of the pan.  Easy breezy.  While doing that, you let a quart of ice cream soften at room temperature.  Then, scoop the ice cream on to the cake layer, and gently smooth/distribute without breaking up the cake layer too much (you can first freeze the cake layer to make this step easier if you like).  Once smoothed out, cover the pan with aluminum foil and pop this into the freezer to firm up that layer of ice cream.

and now the second layer!

You can stop right there... or, make it a little prettier by adding another different layer of ice cream.  This time you don't need as much, just a pint or less than a pint (alternatively, you can use 2 or three pints of different ice creams, freezing each layer before the next).  I chose chocolate, and again, softened that chocolate ice cream to layer on the frozen vanilla.  Smooth out, then back to the freezer.  Now, I could have sprinkled some toppings on this chocolate layer, like cookie crumbles, nuts, or a chocolate syrup drizzle - do so if you want!  But, I had other plans...

YUMMY!  Ice cream cake with fresh strawberry sauce.

Some fresh strawberries were sitting in my fridge.  A simple, fresh strawberry sauce was on its way.

This became our Father's Day dessert, and it was so simple.  This kind of dessert makes life a little easier during crazy times, because the prep is all ahead of time, and on the day all you have to do is sit and enjoy.  That I did - and so did everyone else.  Ice cream cakes are a snap to pull together, and yet never fail to impress.

There you have it.  Next time you have some botched baking (or, a half-dozen cupcakes hanging about the house) you're in business!

Get Your Sweet Tooth Ready!

Recipe Testing Update: Thank you to everyone that e-mailed with interest in testing the Gingerbread Folks. The requests came in quickly, and so I no longer need any testers. There'll be other goodies to test out in the future though!

It's time for the sweetest thing about being vegan - desserts! As I say in ed&bv, "sugar and spice and all things nice... that's what vegan desserts are made of". Vegan desserts... and girls, of course! :)

Starting with the topic of girls, I made a batch of my Homestyle Chocolate Chip Cookies this past week for a drive and outing that we had with the girls. I knew they would become fidgety in the car, so at the right time I pulled out a cookie for them to enjoy. Our 4-year old (who has her mom's sweet tooth), said "mommy, you are really kind", with a big chocolate-coated smile. Melted my heart. I love baking for the smiles it brings to people - especially the ones I love the most!

And, do you notice these cookies look rounder than most of my chipper posts? I used a cookie scoop... for the very 1st time! I've been wanting a cookie scoop for a while, so I bought myself a good stainless steel one. Fun to use, because all the cookie dough looks like miniature scoops of ice cream (mmmm). And, of course, all the cookies are uniform. I didn't press these down before baking at all, just for an experiment. Next time I will just a little, since I prefer the taste and texture of the cookies when flattened slightly. I love using the scoop though, and if you decide to buy one, be sure observe for the right size. Some are too tiny for my use, and others too large. But, you may want smaller/larger ones for your own use.

And, did you get a peek of the plate beneath the cookies? My mom had these plates done for our family years ago. One for every member in the family. I have five sisters, and we all have one with our name and with a slightly different looking girl. Don't forget you can get this chipper recipe here.

On to chocolate bark. If you are fairly new to my blog, you need to know that making Sublime Chocolate Bark is my Christmas tradition. I made a large batch this week and have it all ready for packaging and gifting! I sometimes make a couple of batches to vary flavors, but for sure I always make my signature flavor, which is almond-cranberry-ginger. It is outstanding when you use a high-quality chocolate. The recipe is here. It's easy, go make it and gift it (if you manage to keep it long enough to give away)!

Next, I received an e-mail from Christine, who sent this adorable photo to me. That's right, folks, you're looking at cupcake veggie burgers! You knew they were veg burgers, didn't you? :) She mentioned that she baked my vanilla and chocolate cupcake recipes, and her sister D'Anne decorated, following an idea they found in a book called "Hey There Cupcake!". (anyone familiar with this book?) This photo was just too darn cute to keep to myself! Thanks for sharing, Christine!

Finally, like many of you, I've been doing some holiday baking. Though, admittedly, I've been eating most of these so far... a new recipe for (wheat-free) Gingerbread Folks.

Not only wheat-free, they also don't have margarine. I really love these, though the decorating portion is not my passion, so I'm not winning any awards with my decorating skills here! Nevertheless, simple is always good, and these folks are no exception, imo. They are especially delicious dunked into soy nog!
You can see I've used my KitchenAid mixer for this batter, and the batter is just ready here in this photo. See how it's come together and moved cleanly away from bowl? It's now ready to roll out, cut, and bake! Now, I've *just* finished tweaking the recipe, and I really need to run through it once more myself. But, if any of you have a desperate need for a wheat-free or margarine-free gingerbread, e-mail me and I'll set you up as an official tester! I may only need a couple of testers, so get your e-mail in soon to dreena@everydayvegan.com.


If you're wondering about some other cookies for holiday baking, don't forget that my Chocolate Mint Melties, Coconut Raspberry Squares, and Oatmeal Raisin Cookies are all great choices that won't having you slaving away at the stove for hours. Skedaddle... get baking!