Chocolate Mint Ice Cream Cake

The finished product!

The yummy slices

The birthday boy and his cake.

 For Brett's birthday, I always ask him to pick what kind of dessert/cake he wants me to make for him. This year he chose an ice cream cake. I had never made one, but was excited to learn how! This one was really easy - you just need the right types of pans. I used three 9" round pans and a 9" spring form pan.

Ingredients
1 chocolate cake mix (I used Devil Food Cake)
1/2 gallon of mint chocolate ice cream softened
Mint Oreos crushed - I used about 1 row from a package
heavy whipping cream
sugar
4 oz semi sweet bakers chocolate squares

Mix cake according to box and bake in 3 9" round cake pans that are well greased. Bake and let cool. Layer the cake in the following order inside the spring form pan:
1 cake layer
1/3 softened ice cream
handful crushed oreos
repeat these layers

Cover cake and freeze overnight.

For the ganache topping:
Melt the chocolate squares with the heavy whipping cream, either in the microwave or on the stovetop. I prefer microwave because its so easy to burn the chocolate on the stove. Cook for 1 minute and stir. Repeat until the mixture is the right consistency to pour over the cake. I added almost a cup of cream, but I would add a little at a time until its right for your desired use. We also added some sugar to make it a bit sweeter. :)

Pour the topping over the cake after removing the spring form rim. Top with remainder of crushed oreos.

Easy and yummy! And this was so much cheaper than buying an ice cream cake from cold stone!
Enjoy! After the first day, we added hot fudge sauce to the slices for a little extra sweetness. Yes, we love chocolate! Hooray for Birthday cakes!! (and No, we didn't put any candles in this cake, haha!)

~Heather

Chocolate Zucchini Brownies

I've been trying to find healthy alternatives to desserts lately. I've been craving chocolate a lot but trying hard to maintain a healthy pregnancy. Although I've had zucchini bread before, I've never baked with zucchini personally and was intrigued with the idea of zucchini brownies. I was very pleasantly surprised! These were very moist and chocolately, especially when warmed up. While brownies aren't ever really healthy, these are certainly a healthier alternative with whole wheat flour and no oil. Brett even compared it to a molten lava cake! I got this recipe from skinnymom.com but made some frosting to top it off with and it was delicious!

Brownies:

Ingredients
2 eggs
1 tbsp vanilla
1 cup sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 cup applesauce
1 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp nutmeg
2 cups grated zucchini (this is done by simply grating the zucchini just like you would grate cheese)
1 1/2 cups semi sweet chocolate chips

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Combine eggs, vanilla, sugar, salt and applesauce in a medium bowl. Mix dry ingredients together in another bowl. Then combine the two mixtures. Add the zucchini and chocolate chips, stirring only enough to mix all ingredients together.
Pour into a greased 8x8 baking dish for 35-40 minutes. Allow to cool and top with frosting.

Frosting Ingredients
6 tbsp cocoa
1/4 cup butter
2 1/2 cups powdered sugar ( you made need more to reach the right consistency for the frosting)
1/2 cup skim milk
1/2 tsp vanilla

Directions
Melt the cocoa and the butter together in a small saucepan until its melted together. Set aside to cool. In a separate bowl, mix the powdered sugar, milk and vanilla. Add the cocoa mix. Spread over cooled brownies.

I kept these in the fridge so the frosting wouldn't be too runny. I probably would use more sugar next time in the frosting, but the thinner frosting may have helped make the brownies so moist. Either way, they were delicious! Enjoy!

Heather

4th of July Cake

Every year for as long as I can remember, my mom has made a flag cake for the 4th of July and my grandma did it every year before that! Being in Texas and away from family was sad because the 4th in Caribou County, Idaho is the best experience ever! But, I wanted to keep the tradition alive! My mom always uses just frosting to make the flag, but I thought I'd switch it up a bit!

I made a strawberry cake (from the box). I was going to use red velvet, but the strawberry sounded better last minute and still gave the red cake effect.

Cream cheese frosting:
1 8oz. fat free cream cheese
1 cup white sugar (you can use powdered for a firmer frosting)
1/8 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream

In a small bowl:
Beat whipping cream until stiff peaks form and set aside

In a large bowl:
Combine cream cheese, sugar, salt and vanilla. Beat until smooth then fold in whipping cream.

Slice strawberries in half or thirds, depending on size so they'll lay flat and lay out like stripes. Use blueberries for stars (yes, I know the stars are white with a blue background, but you get the idea).

We always laid out a real flag to get the spacing right and make sure we had the stripes and stars in the right places! Enjoy and Happy Fourth of July!

Heather

Strawberry Pineapple Jello Pretzel Salad

We have all had jello pretzel salad, but I found a recipe from Paula Deen that I thought sounded great!
Rather than raspberries, she used strawberries and pineapple to give it a more refreshing flavor and great for summer time. I changed it up a bit from her recipe. It takes time for all the layers to set and cool so its always best to prepare ahead of the meal by at least a few hours.

Preheat oven to 400

Crust:
2 cups crushed pretzels
1/2 cup butter melted
3 tbsp. sugar

Cream cheese layer:
1 8oz. cream cheese ( I always use low fat)
1 8 oz. container of cool whip
3/4 cup sugar

Jello Layer:
20 oz. frozen strawberries
2  3-oz. pkgs strawberry gelatin
1 8 oz. can crushed pineapple
2 cups boiling water

Mix crust ingredients together and bake for 7 minutes. Allow to cool completely.
In a large mixing bowl, combine ingredients for cream cheese layer and pour over cooled crust. Chill for about an hour.
Mix gelatin mix into boiling water and stir until completely mixed. Add crushed pineapple and strawberries and pour over the cream cheese mixture. Refrigerate until serving time.

Heather