Making an Ice Cream Cake!

Still no news on the job front. As you may guess, I am starting to get worried. I am hoping that something comes up soon. On a positive note, I have come to realize that I am happy with my life. I have close family, great friends that I love to hang out with, and a home I love. I think this year has given me time to focus on the good things in my life and I am grateful for this new perspective. Now if only I can find a permanent job...

One thing I like to do during the summer is make ice cream cakes. My friends and family like them and they are very easy to make. Years ago I worked at an ice cream shop and I used to make cakes and pies. However, I had to figure out how to make a cake at home without the equipment we had at the shop. I found that it was very easy to do and I've been making them ever since.

Earlier this month I was getting ready to make a cake and I thought that it might be fun to share how I make them. Here's how I do it.

To start, pick out the flavor combination you would like. For this cake I chose a chocolate cake with mint chip ice cream. The next step is to make the cake. I made this cake in an 8" round cake pan. Let the cake cool completely before moving to the next step.

The next step is to line the cooled cake pan with plastic wrap. Make sure the plastic wrap hangs over the sides. At this point, get the ice cream out to soften.

Once the ice cream is softened, put it into the pan. Typically, I don't let my ice cream get this soft, but even if you do, it's not a problem. You want to make sure that you push the ice cream into all of the crevices. For this cake, I used a half gallon of ice cream.

The next step is to place the cake on top of the ice cream. If the ice cream is soft, you don't have to worry about the cake being perfectly flat, which is a bonus. (Since this ice cream was really soft, I didn't want to stop to take a picture.)

The next step is to lightly push the cake into the ice cream making sure it is level, then wrap it up with the excess plastic wrap and put it into the freezer. I like to freeze my cakes overnight or for a day, but if you don't have that much time, I suggest at least a few hours.

I use ice cream to frost the cake. This is how I was taught and I think it works great. Typically, I use vanilla ice cream, but any kind will work as long as there is nothing added to the ice cream (e.g. chips, cookies, etc.). For this cake, I used vanilla and tinted it green to match the mint chip ice cream. I let the ice cream sit out until it is very soft. You want it to be the consistency of soft buttercream. If it gets too runny, don't worry; just stick it back into the freezer for a few minutes and it will harden up.

Note: If you are tinting the frosting, I recommend you use plenty of ice cream. For this 8" round cake, I used about 2/3 of a half gallon. If there is any left over, you can always eat it.

When the frosting is almost ready to use, you should take the cake out of the freezer. You may need to rub your hands (or a warm washcloth) around the sides of the cake pan to loosen the ice cream. Once it has released, loosen the plastic wrap from the cake and place a plate or cake board on it. (To get the cake to stick to the plate or board, I put a small amount of ice cream on the cake.) Next, flip over the ice cream cake and remove the plastic wrap. Don't worry if the plastic wrap has left marks on the ice cream. This will be covered by the frosting.

I always do two coats of frosting. I am a strong believer in the crumb coat. Frost the cake the same way you would any other cake. The good news is that it will freeze to the cake. Once you have the first coat on, put it back in the freezer until the ice cream is frozen. (Make sure to put your excess frosting into the freezer.)

Here's how the cake looked after the second coat. I let it freeze a little before I touched up the some of the edges. Make sure to leave it in the freezer until it is well frozen before moving to the final stages.

I use this non-dairy whipped topping on my cakes. I buy it at a restaurant supply store. It comes with the tip already in the bag, so all I have to do is thaw it and tear the end off. Simple!

To finish the cake I added dipping chocolate, whipped topping. and chopped up mint chip candy.

And here's the finished product. To serve the cake, I let it sit out for about 10 minutes. It should cut easily with a sharp knife. To keep the cuts clean, I wipe the knife off between cuts.

This cake was a gift, so I don't have any pictures of the inside. I did hear from my friends that it was very yummy!

Tonight I'm starting another cake. This one will be white cake with blackberry ice cream!

Learning How to Arrange Flowers

I've waited a bit to post anything in the hope that I would have something good to report about the job. Unfortunately, I still haven't heard anything, so I finally decided to post something fun instead.

As I have mentioned before, one of my goals this year is to have fun. My friends and I have tried to get together at least once a month to do something fun. We made the decision to teach each other skills we have that the others don't know how to do. For example, in late May I had my friends over and taught them how to make cards. We had a great time and they left my house with four cards each. Unfortunately, we all forgot to take pictures of our accomplishments, so I have nothing to post.

Last month we all met at my very talented friend's house to learn how to arrange flowers. (This is the friend who brought the flowers to my tea party.) Although she doesn't do this for a living, she has her license and occasionally works for a florist. We started the evening with a very yummy dinner of veggie lettuce wraps, assorted fruits and vegetables, naughty-for-us chips and dip, and finished the evening with strawberry shortcake for desert. After dinner, we all took out the containers we were asked to bring and the serious art of flower arranging began.

My friend picked up a bunch of fresh, beautiful flowers that morning and we all raided our yards for the greenery. It was decided that we would learn how to make a 360º arrangement. We started by putting the soaked oasis (water-absorbing foam) in our containers, making sure to fill in all of the gaps. Once we finished this step, we then moved on to adding the greenery. We were taught to add the greens at different angles. The goal is to cover up all of the oasis and to add interest to the arrangement. I was surprised by this step. I always thought that the greenery was added after the flowers.

Next we moved on to the flowers. We started by putting several tall flowers (snap dragons) in the middle. How many we used depended on the size of the container. We then added these amazing lilies. Since we were making a 360º arrangement, we made sure to add them on different sides. Finally, we added the rest of the flowers, making sure to fill in the gaps. My friend was great at giving us advice about how to add interest and texture to the arrangements without stifling our creativity. The final products turned out better than I could have imagined.

Here are two different sides of my arrangement. Isn't it beautiful? The lily in the bottom picture is my favorite. To write that it is stunning, is putting it mildly.

Here are my friends' arrangements.

We took our flowers outside and put them on my friend's balcony to take pictures. We thought they looked like arrangements for a wedding. The amazing thing is that all we had to pay for the flowers was $8 each! Can you believe only $8 for any of these arrangements? Not only did we have a blast, but we got to take the flowers home with us.

I decided to give my flower arrangement to my mom. I pulled into her driveway at 10:45 pm and saw that her lights were on. I gave her a call and asked if it was too late to bother her. She said no and then I asked her if it was too late to be in her driveway. I got out of the car and told her to close her eyes. When she opened her eyes and saw the beautiful flowers, she was stunned. She couldn't quite understand why I was at her house so late at night and with such beautiful flowers...for her! Even when I explained what I had been doing that evening, she still had a hard time grasping it all. It was so much fun surprising her like that and I am so glad that I gave her the flowers.

The evening was a smashing success. We have decided that we want to do it again at Halloween time and put the flowers in pumpkins. We are also thinking about making wreaths at Christmas.

The next get-together is on Sunday. We are scheduled to do some scrapbooking and card making. And this fall, when it cools down a bit, one of the group is going to teach us how to make pot stickers.

I think I have nailed my goals of having fun and bringing more joy into my life.

The Waiting is HARD!

I am surprised that it has been so long since my last post. I've been meaning to write, but work got really busy for a couple of weeks and I was hoping to have something good to report. The work has slowed down, but I really don't have anything else to report.

It's been three weeks since my interview and I am starting to get stressed out. I think it is time to get some of my thoughts and feelings down before I start having stress-induced problems. Really, there isn't anything bad happening, it's just my mind working overtime and the waiting that is starting to get me down.

I think the interview went well. I wasn't very nervous and I know I was able to share with them my knowledge in the field. They told me that they wouldn't be calling references until the first full week of July, so I really don't have any solid reasons to be so worried. However, there are several reasons why I am worried:

1. I hope they liked the way I answered the questions. I think they were the best answers I could give at the time, but now, of course, I am doubting myself. It isn't that I answered any badly, it's just a worry I have.
2. I realized after the interview, that our child welfare office usually hires young, just out of college people. I don't know why I didn't think of it before, but I was reminded of this during the interview when one of the people interviewing me looked younger than my kid and then again as I was leaving when I saw the very young man waiting for the next interview. I hope they will take a chance on an oldie like me. I have lots of knowledge and I plan on working for many years to come, so they won't lose out on hiring me.
3. I really want this job. To be honest, most things I want usually don't come my way. I am not the luckiest person around and this worries me.
4. I only have four months left of my contract. I HAVE TO FIND ANOTHER JOB! 

So, for these reasons and because it has been three weeks, I am starting to get worried. I feel like there is no way I am going to get this job and I really don't know what I will do if I don't. The logical part of my brain says that there are no reasons why I shouldn't get the job, but the emotional part is convinced that I won't. How will I tell my friends and family if I don't get the job? Thank goodness my mom doesn't know anything about it. If she did, she would be bringing it up to me every time she talked to me. I wouldn't have been able to survive the stress.

I think I feel better now. Only time will tell what happens. I'm hoping for the best!

Time to get to work

As much as I've enjoyed working on making me happier, I need to move on to the more practical things on my list. This includes getting a job and losing weight. Yuck!

I finally started thinking about getting a job at the end of March. I signed up to receive job listings for our local city, county, and state jobs. Shortly after signing up, I found a job posting for a child welfare position. I have always wanted to work in child welfare and this seemed to be the perfect opportunity. I enlisted the help of a good friend to help edit my answers to the long list of questions. He is the best writer I know and he knows my strengths well. I was surprised to find how hard the first application was. I didn't expect to be hit with a high dose of anxiety, but I was. I got sick and had a very hard time formulating how to answer the questions, even though I knew the answers. Fortunately, my friend took over and basically re-wrote most of the answers. (Don't worry, I treated him to dinner.) What a blessing he is!

I've now applied for four jobs, three in child welfare and one other state job. I am happy to find that it is getting easier to write the answers and the anxiety is subsiding. I still hate applying for jobs, but the task is getting easier. Although I am getting more confident, my friend is still editing my answers.

Last week I got an email message inviting me to an interview. Yippee!! Although the interview is two weeks from now, I am fretting over what to wear, will I do a good job selling myself, etc. I know I am a good candidate for the job, but I'm still concerned. It's been many years since I went to a job interview. Thankfully, I have good friends who care about me. They've all been supportive and they are helping me decide what to wear, how to cut my hair, and how to prepare for the interview. I think I would be lost without them.

I went shopping this weekend to try and find something to wear. Wow, I really hate shopping! I found a couple of dresses, but I'm not really that happy with them. Fortunately, there is time to continue the search and I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I will find something.

The shopping trip made me realize that I really need to move forward with my plan to lose weight. Stay tuned for more on that...

Party Prep...Day of the Party

So the day of the party finally arrived. I was right on schedule, but I still had tons to do. It's funny, have you ever noticed how fast time flies right before a party? It seems like there is plenty of time and then it's gone. Fortunately, I didn't fall too far behind this time.

Two of my friends arrived an hour before the party to help assemble the sandwiches. They did a great job. Don't the sandwiches look yummy?

One of my friends brought the egg salad. I have got to get the recipe, as it is the best egg salad I have ever eaten! We also had chicken salad and peanut butter and jelly. It's been a long time since I've had a PB&J on white bread and I was surprised at how tasty it was. I wasn't alone...we all gobbled them up.

Our other sandwich was a very good Strawberry Cucumber sandwich. Since tea parties are not complete without cucumber sandwiches, I knew I had to have them. However, I'm not really a fan, so I spent some time looking for a good recipe. This one includes red onion and basil, which goes really well with the cucumbers and strawberries. Not only does it taste good, but I think it also looks pretty.

The final menu item to prepare were the scones. I found a traditional English Cream Scone recipe that tastes like something you would get in England. I served clotted cream and strawberry jam with them and they were a big hit. My timing in baking them was spot-on, as they were still warm when we sat down to eat.

I mentioned in an earlier post that I inherited vintage linens and china. They really made the party look authentic. My good friend made the beautiful flower arrangements and also provided flowers for each table setting.

Here are a few of the beautiful teacups I inherited from my grandma. It was so cool to actually use them. I allowed my friends to pick their favorite one to use and it was fun to see which one they picked. It was interesting that they all picked my favorites.

We had three kinds of tea: Earl Gray (of course), Glengettie (a Welsh tea), and a creamy chai.

The party was a huge success. We ate, talked, ate, played a game, and ate some more. My friends stayed for five hours, so I guess they had fun. At the end of the party, I had boxes for everyone to pack up whatever food they wanted to take home.

Although I was exhausted by the time my friends left, I had a wonderful time. I enjoyed every aspect from planning to implementing the party. I can't wait to do it again!

Party Prep...Baking & Cleaning!

I started seriously planning about a week before the party. I finalized the menu and then started making shopping lists. I bought all of the non-perishable items the weekend before and the perishable items on Thursday after work. I took Friday off and started baking as soon as I got home from the store. I even created a list of all the things I would need to get done from Thursday evening until the party.

As you can see, the list is very detailed. I felt like I was overdoing it a bit, but now that the party is over, I'm so glad I created the list. It was so satisfying crossing things off the list and I didn't have to worry that I would forget something. I will use a list again in the future. I am also happy to report that I was able to get to everything on the list except for the windows. (My solution was to just cover the bird poop with the curtains.)

As you can see from the list, my prep mostly consisted of baking and cleaning. Fortunately, I love to bake and I don't mind cleaning. I started with the things that could be baked and cleaned a few days ahead. I had tested the lemon and chocolate mousses and they could be made a day or two early. 

I am happy to report that I was putting the scones into the oven as the first guests arrived, as planned. 

The Menu

Baking the Sweets

I got most of my ideas from Pinterest. I wanted to try new things and this was my opportunity. I had so much fun trying out new recipes or ideas. As I mentioned earlier, I tried most of the recipes on my friends before the party.

This is my attempt at the Teabag cookies. I used my own sugar cookie recipe, but the idea definitely came from someone else. I found the teapot graphic and shrunk it down. The only thing I would do differently would be to use a heavier string (I meant to use embroidery floss, but I couldn't find my stash). I put them next to the teacups and everyone loved them. 

Every tea party has to have petites fours (I discovered this is the plural of a petit four). Personally, I don't think they are very good, but I couldn't not have them. To make things easier, I bought a pound cake from the store. I cut it up into 1/2 inch pieces, spread buttercream frosting on one side and jam on the other, put the two pieces together and then put them into the freezer until they were hard. I then cut off the edges, spread buttercream on all sides, froze it again and then cut them up into small pieces. The hard part was then spreading buttercream on the remaining small sides. (Traditional petites fours do not have buttercream on all of the sides, but I thought it would make them taste better.) Once they were frozen again, I poured fondant on the sides. It was a bit challenging to get the fondant to stick to all of the sides, but well worth the effort. The final step was to add the decorations on the top. Unfortunately, I forgot this step and I had to do them all in about 3 minutes as the guests were arriving. I wasn't happy with the results, but my friends thought they looked beautiful. Note: the buttercream was a hit. Everyone loved them and one friend even said they were better than the ones at the best bakery in town!

I have been admiring these Fairy Bites for some time and I thought this would be a great time to make them. My kid loved them and I had to ration them out to her, so that there would be some left for the party. They looked very bright and cheerful on the tray and I will make them again soon.

Orange Creamsicle Truffles. These are my go-to sweets. Everyone loves them. I should have dusted them again with powdered sugar before putting them out, but it didn't hurt the taste at all. And they really do taste like creamsicles. Note: I use the zest of 1-2 oranges, instead of only 1/2.

This was my one partial flop. The meringues turned out great, but there was supposed to be a little cookie with it. The cookies were like rocks when I took them out of the oven and the meringues just popped off. Since the meringues were great, I just threw away the cookies and served the meringues.

My friend gave me this really easy Dark Chocolate Mousse recipe. It's a really easy recipe, but very tasty. Since I wanted everything in small bite-size portions, I piped the mousse into little chocolate cups. Yum!

Okay, if you only make one thing from this post and you love lemon, you MUST make this recipe. It is that good. It is called Lemon Cheesecake Mousse and if you make it, please, please, please, use this recipe for the Lemon Curd. It is without a doubt the best lemon curd recipe ever and is so easy. You will not want to stop eating this stuff. Note: make sure that the cream cheese and the lemon curd are at room temperature before you mix them together. If you end up with little bits of cream cheese, I recommend running it through a sieve before you mix it with the whipped cream.

Well, I guess that's all for now. Stay tuned for more tea party prep...

It's time for a party

I decided several months ago that I wanted to have a tea party. There are several reasons for this decision and here are a few:

• I love to bake
• I love miniature things
• I have several tea pots (I guess my mom thinks I need tea pots!)
• I inherited a bunch of things that are perfect for a tea party (vintage tea cups, china, and linens)
• It sounded like fun

So once the decision to have this party was made, who should I invite? Actually, this was the easy part. My former colleagues and I have a history of going out for tea. Once we even went to an old victorian house for a tea party. Now that I had the group of people to invite, what excuse could I use for the party? Well that wasn't hard either. One of my dear friends and former colleagues is moving to Minnesota soon and I wanted to have a party for him. Since he loves tea parties, I decided to throw the party in his honor. 

Once the invitations were sent out I realized that this would be a big undertaking if I was going to do it right, and I wanted to do it right! I had been pinning ideas for several months, so I had lots of good ideas. I started testing out recipes on my very willing friends...most were very good, so the menu was coming along in my head. I felt comfortable that I could handle the menu items, but I realized that I needed tea cozies for two of the tea pots. (Fortunately, one of my very close friends had made a tea cosy for my biggest tea pot.) So once again I turned to Pinterest and found some great tutorials on making tea cozies. 

Since most of my sewing projects are for little children, most of my scrap materials are in pastels and a bit cutesy. I didn't mind and I was sure my friends wouldn't either. Here are the end results:

My favorite is the one with the lambs and I wasn't surprised to find that my friends liked it too! I was pretty happy with the end results. My friend S and I decided to try one out and we found it kept the tea hot. Success!

It felt good to have this project done and I really did enjoy such an easy sewing project after a long time away from the sewing machine. Now that this project was completed, there was plenty more to do...