Cake Mix Ice-Cream

There are very few things better than cake, but un-baked cake mix is definitely one of them. I decided a little while ago that I wanted to make a cake-flavoured ice cream, and on doing a Google search for such, found that rather a few people have had a much better idea: cake mix ice-cream!

I looked at a few recipes online, but in the end decided to just improvise with some custard. After all, cake and custard just GO, am I right?

Ingredients:
284ml double cream

440g fresh custard

1 packet of cake mix

2 tbsp sprinkles

Prep time: [time] 

Makes approximately 1 litre of ice cream

1. Get your ice-cream machine ready to use. For me, this means leaving it in the freezer for at least 12 hours before use.
2. In a large mixing bowl, whip the cream to stiff peaks. Fold in the custard and the cake mix into the cream until evenly combined, then pop into the freezer for 10 minutes to chill.
3. Take the mixture out of the freezer, and pour into the ice-cream machine. Leave the machine running for around 20 minutes, until the ice cream is thick and has a "whippy" type consistency. Pop the ice cream into a freezer tub, and mix in the sprinkles.
4. Pop the ice-cream into the freezer for at least 30 minutes to firm up. Try not to eat it all at once!

Happy Thoughts
x

"99 with Cake" - Ice Cream Cone Cupcakes

Since the sun has decided to show its beautiful, shiny, happy face this week, I thought it would be fun to post my recipe for these cute little ice-cream cone cupcakes. I made these for a Marie Curie Tea Party my friend Joy and I hosted a couple of years back, and they went down very well indeed!

I couldn't find any flat bottomed cones, so I bought normal cones and very carefully sawed off the bottoms to make them stand... this meant I had to bake the cupcakes separate to the cone, but it worked well :-)

Ingredients:
For the cupcakes:
100g margarine
100g caster sugar
1 medium egg
2tbsp milk
1tsp vanilla extract
100g self-raising flour

For the butter cream:
300g butter
600g icing sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
a little milk, if needed

To decorate:
12 ice cream cones
3 cadbury flakes (full sized), or 12 mini flakes

Prep time: 30 mins
Cook time: 15 - 20 mins
Makes 12

1. Preheat the oven to gas mark 4 (or 180) and line a bun try with cupcake cases.
2. Beat together the margarine and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg, milk and vanilla extract until well combined. Sift in the flour and fold in until the mixture is smooth (and delicious - try not to eat too much just yet!)
3. Spoon the batter into the cupcake cases and bake for 15 - 20 minutes, until golden brown and springy when touched. Leave the cakes to one side to cool.
4. While the cakes are cooling, prepare your butter cream. Beat the butter until soft, then mix in the icing sugar and vanilla. If you find your butter cream is too stiff, add a teeny tiny splash of milk, stir it in, and repeat until you have the desired consistency. You need this butter cream to be fairly robust if you want to make it look ice-creamy! Spoon the butter cream into a piping bag fitted with a large star nozzle (I used Wilton 1M) and pop to one side.
5. Now the tricky part... if you're using flat bottomed cones and mini flakes - well done you! You are much cleverer than I am, and can move to the next step. If, like me, you have pointy bottomed cones and standard sized flakes, I hope that, unlike me, you have a steady hand! Use a serrated knife to carefully cut off the end of each cone, so that the cone can stand flat. Next, chop the flakes into 12 mini-pieces. Try not to crumble them into dust in the process. (MUCH easier said than done!!)
6. Now for the assembly. Remove the cooled cupcakes from their cases, and pop each one into your prepare ice-cream cone. Pipe a big swirl of butter cream on top of each (think Mr. Whippy!) and then pop a flake into the icing to finish.
7. Eat them quick - you wouldn't want the ice-cream to melt ;-)

Happy Thoughts
x

Nutella Ice Cream

It's ice cream Sunday! I'm going to start by apologising if there are a few more spelling,  grammatical and formatting errors than usual on this post. This is the first post I'm sending from my phone! Ironically, I'm currently away at a Fitness Fiesta weekend, and didn't have time to type this recipe before I left so I'm doing it on my phone between classes! 

My little sister bought me an ice cream maker for my birthday, and as means of thanks I told her I would make any flavour ice cream she wanted. Her favourite ever ice cream was a Nutella ice cream, complete with hazelnut pieces, which she had in Las Vegas a  year ago... so that's what I set out to recreate! Thank fully,  my version got the seal of approval from Ray - it was delicious, and very easy to make!

I've given the times below as an indication, but each machine is different so please refer to the instructions on your ice cream machine. 

Ingredients:
350g Nutella
410ml evaporated milk
3tbsp chopped hazlenuts

Prep time: 45 minutes
Serves: 6 - 8

1. Make sure your ice cream maker is ready in advance... for me this means putting the bowl in the freezer the night before.
2. Tip the Nutella and the evaporated milk  into a bowl and whisk until the  Nutella dissolves into the milk to form a smooth, silky mixture. Pop this in the fridge for 15 or so minutes to chill.
3. Get your ice cream machine ready, set it going then carefully pour your nutella milk into the machine. Leabe it going for around 10 minutes, then add the chopped hazlenuts. Allow the machine to run until the ice cream is at a soft serve consistency (for me this was around another 10 minutes)
4. Serve, smile, and try to convince your friends/family that they *really* wouldn't like it! (More for you!)

Happy thoughts x

Creme Egg Ice Cream

Happy Easter!

With Ice Cream Sunday this month falling on Easter Sunday, I felt that I should draw my inspiration for this month's ice cream flavour from the true meaning on the season: chocolate eggs! :-P

This ice cream tastes far too good, especially when you consider how easy it is to make. No machine, no raw egg; just 4 ingredients to make the creamiest ice cream I've made yet!

Ingredients:
4 cadbury creme eggs 
150g dark chocolate
150ml sweetened condensed milk
500ml double cream


Prep time: 15 minutes
Cook time: 4-5 hours
Serves: 6 - 8

1. Pop your Creme Eggs in the freezer. It will make them easier to handle later on!
2. Break the chocolate into chunks and pop this into a large microwavable bowl with the condensed milk. Microwave for 30 seconds - 1 minute, then stir until the chocolate has melted and the ingredients come together to form a fudgey sauce. Pop this to one side.
3. Take your creme eggs from the freezer, unwrap them, and chop them into chunks. Put this to one side.
4. Whip you cream to stiff peaks. Mix half of the cream into the chocolate fudge until well combined, then stir in 3/4 of the creme egg pieces.
5. Fold the remaining creme into the chocolate mixture very gently so as not to loose too much of the air - until the mixture combines to form a rich chocolaty mousse. Pour this into a freezer tub, level with the back of a spoon, then sprinkle the remaining creme egg pieces over the top. Place the lid on this and then freeze for 4-5 hours before serving.
6. Marvel at the deliciousness of you creation, and debate with yourself on whether or not you should share.

Happy Thoughts
x

Raspberry Ripple Ice-Cream

Raspberry ripple is my favourite flavour ice-cream, so it was the first I wanted to try for an Ice Cream Sunday. (If you recall, January was healthy baking month so we had a healthy fruit sorbet rather than an actual ice-cream!)

This recipe uses the same base as the pistachio ice cream I made for Fun and Fancy Free all those many months ago. Due to the raw egg in this, please do not eat it if you are pregnant or poorly!

Ingredients:
For the raspberry syrup:
30g fresh raspberries
3 tbsp caster sugar
1tbsp water

For the ice cream:
1 egg
30g caster
150ml double cream
1 tsp vanilla paste
heart sprinkles, to decorate (optional)

Prep time: 30 mins
Freeze time: Minimum 6 hours
Serves: 2 to share, or 1 for an indulgent evening in!

1. Start by making your raspberry syrup, as you'll need to give this time to cool! Chop the raspberries into small chunks, then pop them into a saucepan with the sugar and the water. Bring to the boil, stirring occasionally, until the sugar and raspberries have dissolved and the mixture has a syrup like consistency. Remove from the heat and set to one side to cool.
2. For the ice cream, separate the egg and place the yolk to one side. Whisk the egg white until stiff, then whisk in the sugar 1tbsp at a time, being sure to beat well between each addition to make sure the sugar dissolves. Continue to beat until the mixture is stiff and glossy.
3. In a separate bowl, beat the double cream until thick and pillowy, but not too stiff.
4. In a final bowl, beat together the egg yolk and the vanilla paste.
5. Fold the whipped cream and the egg yolk into the egg white mixture, being careful not to loose too much of the air you've worked in to each. When the mixture has come together, pour in the raspberry sauce and swirl through with a spatula. Pour the ice cream mix into a plastic container, and top with sprinkles (if using). Place the lid on the container, and freeze for at least 6 hours before serving.
6. Enjoy :-)

Happy Thoughts
x

Pineapple and Mango Ice Cream

Welcome to the latest feature of the blog: Ice-Cream Sundays! I've been toying with this idea for a while, and figured that since it's the New Year, I might as well just give it a go! So, even though The Princess and the Cake is and will always be a baking blog, I've decided to have a little dabble in ice-cream making, and I'll be posting those ice-cream recipes here, you guessed it, on a Sunday! For now, as I'm new to ice-cream making and don't have many recipes in my repertoire (yet) this will be a monthly feature, posted on the last Sunday of every month. Maybe in the future this will increase - who knows!

What I do know, however, is that it may come across as a silly idea to launch an ice-cream feature in a month I've dedicated to healthier-than-usual recipes. Well, I'm a bit silly - but I also came up with a healthy ice-cream recipe, so we're still detoxing!

I do, however, have a confession to make. This isn't actually an ice cream - but it does have the same texture and is so tasty you'd never know you were eating a fat free, sugar-free* alternative to ice-cream!
*Sugar-free except for the sugars that occur naturally in fruit, obviously!

I invented this recipe sort of by accident during a crohns flare-up. I try not to go on about my crohns, and I'm not going to start now, so to cut a long story short I found myself re-evaluating the foods I ate, and looking for "east-to-digest" foods. Mango and pineapple came up in a list of the more easily digested fruits, so I went out and bought a load. And then realised it was fresh fruit and there was no way I'd be able to eat it all before it went off so I ended up cutting it into chunks and freezing it, and then just getting a bit out and allowing it to defrost whenever I fancied eating some. Then one evening I decided to stick some in the blender to see what happened, and what happened was yummy!

Below is enough for a one person serving, but you could make as much as you like by sticking to the 60:40 pineapple/mango ratio. Please note that this "ice-cream" cannot be re-frozen once it's blended, so you might as well eat it up all at once :-)

Ingredients:
60g fresh pineapple
40g fresh, ripe mango

Prep time: 40 minutes
Serves: 1

1. Cut the pineapple and mango into bite-sized chunks, place in and airtight container and freeze for 30 minutes,
2. Remove from the freezer and put into the blender. Pulse until smooth (around 5-10 minutes)
3. Serve and smile - it's actually good for you!

Happy Thoughts
x

Fee Fi Fo Fum...

Disney Classic # 9 - Fun and Fancy Free

Whilst I've never seen Fun and Fancy Free as a whole before, one of the two shorts featured, Mickey and the Beanstalk, was one of my absolute favourites as a child. (Although I must admit I did not recall the rather creepy and at times inappropriate ventriloquist dummies!)


One scene in particular took my fancy for the cake this week: when Mickey, Donald and Goofy first enter the Giant's castle there is a giant feast on the table... Originally I thought it would be awesome to try to make the biggest jelly you've ever seen, like the one that Goofy gets stuck on. But then I settled on two ideas: something chocolate with pistachios (the Giant walks in, picks up a pot and says "yummmmmm, chocolate pot roast with, pistach, pisfach, green gravy") or a cake which looks like a massive sandwich (the Giant eventually sits down to eat a sandwich, which Mickey was hiding in!! Oh no!!)
 
I put these two ideas to the vote, and whereas the sandwich got one solitary vote, everyone else decided on chocolate and pistachio. So I decided to make melt in the middle chocolate puddings (mini chocolate pot-roasts, minus the meat) with pistachio ice cream (green gravy).
 

The cake that got away...

This desert was based on recipes I found here and here, with some slight amendments. The quantities below made 8 individual chocolate puddings and more than enough ice cream to go with it! (There was a pretty big turn out this week...) If it suits you to make less, just reduce the quantities accordingly. PLEASE NOTE: The original recipe for the ice cream states that due to the un-cooked egg in it, the ice-cream is unsuitable for the pregnant or infirm. The rest of us thought it tasted delicious!

Pistachio Ice Cream

Prep time: 20 mins         Freeze time: At least 6 hours         Serves: 8-12

As the ice-cream takes at least 6 hours to set, I recommend making this the night before.

Ingredients:

2 eggs
60g caster sugar
300ml double cream
1-2tsp vanilla essence
100g shelled pistachios
10g dark chocolate

1. Blend 50g of the pistachios to a paste, and crush the other 50g with a rolling pin until they are in small "chunks"
2. Separate the eggs and put the egg yolks to one side.
3. In a large bowl, beat the egg whites until stiff, and then beat in the sugar a spoonful at a time until the mixture is stiff and glossy.
4. In a separate bowl, whip the cream until pillowy but not stiff
5. Mix the egg yolks and vanilla extract.
6. Using a spatula, gently fold the whipped cream into the egg white mixture until almost combined.
7. Fold in the egg yolks a spoonful at a time until all ingredients are combined to make a smooth, fluffy mixture.
8. Add the pistachio paste and crushed pistachio pieces into the mixture, and grate in the chocolate. gently fold these into the mixture, being careful not to loose too much of the air from it.
9. Pour the mixture into a freezer proof container (I used a loaf tin and covered this with cling film) and freeze for at least 6 hours. Remove the container from the freezer 10 minutes before serving.

I've made this ice cream (and other variants) a few times now, and as long as it remains covered it seems to keep well in the freezer for at least 3-4days. Unfortunately it's never lasted longer than that for me to be able to comment on how long this will keep for!

Melt in the Middle Puddings

Prep time: 30-40 mins           Cook time: 10 mins        Serves: 8


Ingredients:

For the filling (the melting middle):

100g milk chocolate
50g dark chocolate
100ml double cream

For the pudding:

200g margarine
200g light brown sugar
4 medium eggs
100g plain flour
80g cocoa powder
50g ground almonds

1. Preheat the oven to gas mark 6.
2. Prepare the "melting middle". Break the chocolate into chunks and melt in a heatproof bowl over simmering water. Stir in the double cream and the chill in the fridge for 20-30 minutes.
3. Grease 8 individual ramekins or pudding moulds.
4. Beat together the margarine and the sugar. In a separate bowl beat the eggs, then beat the eggs into the margarine mixture gradually.
5. Sift in the flour, cocoa powder and almonds and mix until all of the ingredients have combined and you have a thick batter.
6. Remove the filling from the fridge and beat to loosen. 
7. Half fill each ramekin with the pudding mixture, and then use a teaspoon to make a "well" in the middle of the mixture. Fill the well with the filling mixture, and then top with more pudding mixture.
8. Place the ramekins on a flat baking sheet and bake for 10-15 minutes, until firm to touch.
9. Serve immediately with the pistachio ice cream, but do be careful not to burn yourself on the hot ramekins!

Next time - it's Melody Time. This is another that I've never seen, and I'm going to attempt an adaption of Heston Blumenthal's Popping Candy Cake.

Happy Thoughts

x