I Scream, You Scream... Especially after Seeing Your Birthday Surprise!

 "E" is one of my 8 nephews.  Off and on over the past few years Hubby and I have had the blessing of him living in our home with us, first during work terms in college, and now while he figures out his next step after his former roommate left the city.  It's always nice to have "E" here and it gives Hubby and I a chance to spoil a "child" (even though a) he's not our child and b) he's 25 today and not a child).

For his birthday, we asked him what he'd like for dinner tonight.  He said "Roast Beef with roasted potatoes and carrots done around the roast".  Apparently I wasn't expecting that answer as hubby mentioned the stunned look on my face when "E" mentioned his favored meal.  (I had NO idea I had such a look of shock on my face!)  This morning I ran to the grocery store to pick up the desired slab of beef and grabbed a few other items.  I had talked to my sister, "E"'s mom to find out what kind of cake her son liked.  "Orange Ice Cream Cake" was her reply.  Hmmm... I know what it is (Mom used to make them for us) but I'm not certain how to do one.

I knew what the ingredients of the cake were so I picked up an orange cake mix, vanilla ice cream and a 500ml whipping cream.  I also needed cake pans so I ran into Wal-mart and grabbed 9" pans (8" would have been preferred but I couldn't find any 8" pans).  Back at home I wasn't sure what to do with all this stuff so I called E's mom for instruction.  She wasn't there so I called another sister and she told me what to do... as older sister's know how to do so well!

I baked the cake into the 2 - 9" pans and then set them out to cool.  While they cooled I peeled my potatoes and carrots and prepared the roast for the oven.  Once that was in, and the cake was cooled I began spreading a thick layer of vanilla ice cream between the two orange cakes.   The ice cream was getting a little soft so I hurried and then quickly put the cake in the freezer to harden.

Around 5:30, E's mom called me back and she walked me through the last phase of the cake making process... the whipping cream.  I was mortified when I pulled the cake from the freezer to apply the whipping cream "frosting".  The ice cream had oozed out of the middle of the cake and was puddled (and frozen) on the edge of the plate.  "Oh no" I exclaimed.  "Not a problem, just scoop it back up into the middle layer" my sister instructed.

I had to work quickly with the whipping cream layer as the ice cream continued to melt in my warm kitchen (not to self... don't make ice cream cake while baking a roast... it's too hot in that small area!).  With the whipping cream on, I placed the cake back in the freezer and finished preparing the main course.

Dinner was delicious if I do say so myself but Hubby was off and running to small group tonight so E and I decided that we would wait until after E worked out before we'd have some "birthday cake".  After his workout and shower, E came back downstairs, ready for his birthday surprise.  I had to warn him at this point, "Be prepared," I said.  "This is not going to look anything like your Mom's"... and I proceeded to pull out a white, fluffy, lop-sided cake with gobs of ice cream and whipping cream blobbed along the plate's edge.  At this point, E, who I think was delighted despite the horrific display, shared that his sister in her first attempt at the cake on the weekend, had similar results.  He then told me his Mom's secret trick... she freezes the orange cake BEFORE putting the ice cream on.  Hmmm... somehow that makes complete sense!  That would alleviate the melting ice cream scenario.

No matter.  I sliced each of us a piece of cake and we sat watching reruns of Glee together as we enjoyed E's homemade cake... my first homemade birthday cake at that!

I forgot to take a picture of the cake before we cut it so here's a picture afterward... at least you can see the orange cake this way... you can also see the way the ice cream in the middle was melting faster than I could make the cake.