messy cake extraordinaire

Last month, my friend Cheryl Lynn posted a photo on her blog about a cake her mother-in-law had made for Valentine's Day with a heart-shaped ice cream center. Oh, I was fascinated.

When I started thinking about what kind of cake to serve at the big birthday celebration we had at our house this weekend, that cake immediately came to mind. We were celebrating some milestones: grandpa turning 90, two people turning 50, two people turning 40 and a precious 3-year-old.

My husband is starting to really get involved in my blogging, and without being asked, he snapped photos of the entire process.

So, here you go. I'm going to try to be like the fancy, schmancy food blogs, several of which are linked in my list of favorite blogs on the left. Of course, with a few exceptions.

The real food bloggers take beautiful photos. And they create beautiful food. They don't normally post photos of cakes with frosting sliding off the side and sitting in messy pools all around the edges of the cake plate. And they don't typically toss smashed OREOs on the top of their cakes, without even attempting to make a pretty presentation.

But here at everydayMOM, we're keeping it real, sister.

Ingredients:

• One cake mix, plus ingredients to make the cake (I was aiming for low-calorie, so I went with the Triple Chocolate Fudge cake mix)
• One container of ice cream (I used Bryers Cookies 'n Cream)
• One container of chocolate frosting, mixed with the smallest container of Cool Whip
• Plus the Wilton cake pan set, which you can purchase at Michael's (the web site says the set is $17.99, but it was priced at $11.99 at my local Michael's store)

These are the two baked cakes. They have indentations in the center for the filling. (See my finger on the side of the plate? That's to hide a chip in the plate. Fancy, huh?)


I let the ice cream defrost for about 10 minutes before I scooped it into the cakes.


I dipped my spreader in hot water to smooth the ice cream.


Nice and smooth. You also can use pudding or other types of filling, which would probably be much easier. After filling both sides, place the cakes in the freezer for 30 minutes to allow the ice cream to freeze.


Quickly place the top layer on the bottom layer.


I have not made this type of frosting before. I just made up how to do it after seeing my mom mix Cool Whip with frosting. The frosting was very runny. But it was yum-my!


Instead of carefully smoothing out the frosting, I basically let it pour down the sides of the cake. Then, I placed the cake in the freezer immediately.


I put chopped OREOs on top to attempt to hide some of the messiness. I think they might have actually increased the messiness, but oh well.


Now, to unveil the heart in the middle.


I just love this photo of what's left of the cake and Grandpa eating his in the background.

I can't wait to try another variation of this cake!