It feels like everyone and their mom was born between mid-May and early June. Not even kidding. There were like fifteen consecutive birthdays, some happening concurrently, the past few weeks.
So I made cake.
Photo credit: Alice Cheng
Bobby had requested a triple-layered ice cream cake for his birthday. I’m not entirely sure what the naming convention for cakes are. Does the number of layers refer to the number of cake layers or the number of total layers, ice cream included? In any case, I went cake-ice cream-cake for lack of resources, ingredients, and energy.
Making the cake layers was simple enough. A single box of angel food cake mix (shh) made the two cake layers, and a box of Neapolitan ice cream served as the middle one. At Bobby’s request, I made whipped cream frosting instead of cream cheese or buttercream.
Tips for future ice cream cake aficionados:
- Freeze the cake layers. It makes them far easier to work with ’cause they’re stiff and not wobbly, and far less likely to rip when handled.
- MELT the ice cream before smooshing into the mold. I was impatient and failed to do so, and thus ended up trying to smooth the semi-firm ice cream with the back of a spoon. Very time consuming.
- Get one of those spinny cake decorating thingers, or at least something bigger than the cake itself. I tried to frost my cake inside the pan, which was difficult and ugly.
Photo credit: Alice Cheng
I topped it with strawberries cut into hearts (gross, I know…sorry). Strawberries are difficult to cut with a butter knife. Just saying.
Photo credit: Alice Cheng
Bobby hosted a BBQ (a Bobby-Q hahaha) in honor of all the birthdays. Candle were lit, cake was consumed, and waistbands were challenged.
Photo credit: David Chen
Photo credit: David Chen
Oh! The whipped cream recipe. It tastes equally delicious on fresh strawberries and on your finger.
Fresh Whipped Cream
1 part heavy whipping cream
1 part confectioner sugar
Splash of vanilla extract
Start with your cold whipping cream in a large bowl. Use an egg beater to…well..whip it. Slowly add the confectioner sugar, making sure each bit is fully incorporated before adding the next bit. Add the vanilla extract last. Beat until you get stiff peaks–for 2 cups each of cream and sugar, it took me about 6 minutes. Be careful not to under-beat, as the cream will separate. I’ve been told over-beating it is bad as well.
Length of procrastination: Oof…’roundabouts half a day, including re-freezing the ice cream.
Cooking to Procrastinate 