Making my First Ice Cream Cake

 In April, we decided to make an ice cream cake for Ethan's birthday. Each part of it was a new experience for me and putting it together was a learning opportunity. Fortunately, it all turned out for the best.

The final version of the cake for Ethan's birthday.

Let's see how we got there. 

For the ice cream, I chose the store brand cookies and cream.

I let the ice cream sit out for a few minutes and get soft. Then I scooped it out into a 8" round baking tin to match the width of the cake. Once soft and smoothed out, I wrapped it and put it back in the freezer to be used days later when the cake was put together. 

I used two boxes of the Ghiradelli chocolate cake mix. It was easier to use boxed cake and ice cream rather than make everything from scratch. This made it easier to learn how to make an ice cream cake.

Yes, this was the easy part. 

Easy mixing. 

I put the mix in another 8", lined baking tin.

I made two of these 8" cakes, took them out of the tin, wrapped them, and left them in the refrigerator to cool.

Two days before the birthday, it was time to make the icing. Finding icing for ice cream cake is difficult so I had to make it. What works? Stabilized whip cream. I made the whip cream from scratch and added gelatin to hold the whipped cream together for a few days. The good thing about this was that the whipped cream can be stored cold or frozen once its on the cake. 

Ethan didn't care about what color the icing was, he just liked the taste. Actually, icing is his favorite part.

Here it is iced and sitting in the freezer to get back to temperature. 

This was the original decoration with the two colors of whipped cream I made. We ended up using the pre-made decorations instead of decorating with icing. 

The cake was a hit and we all liked it. 

March Audiobook: Living Everyday Zen

 In March I listened to the audiobook Living Everyday Zen by Charlotte Joko Beck.

This audiobook is one of those audio presentations offered that really wasn't a book. Rather, this was audio of lectures Beck performed during a week long visit to an American Zen studio. During this time, portions of the day students would attend lecture followed by question and answer sessions. 

Beck kept the answers remarkably simple. The recurring answer to many questions was: Practice. If there is a perceived problem, the answer is often stop, feel the problem instead of thinking about it, and let it go. This takes practice and meditation is the way to practice. Even if there isn't a problem someone is feeling, practice. Beck stresses the importance of daily practice. 

Zen masters routinely stress the importance of meditation and so does Beck. This is the first time I've heard one speak about raising children, the stresses of raising children, and that she has actually gotten angry. It was interesting to finally hear someone explain how they went through the same trials as everyone else and still managed to overcome them.