Birthday Ice Cream Cake

It's my birthday!

My great grandma was a firm believer that one must eat birthday  cake on their birthday.  While I do kick back some and my husband made breakfast (Zucchini Pancakes from You Won't Believe It's Vegan), I like to make my own birthday cake.

This year, I opted for an ice cream cake to compliment our warm spring, and a simple Whacky Cake for ease.

Gadgets

Springform pan (or cake pan)

High Speed Blender (like Vitamix or Blendtec)

Ice Cream Maker (I have thisCuisinart one and love it)

Vegan Chocolate Ice Cream Cake

For the cake

• 1 1/2 cups flour 
• 3 Tbsp cocoa powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 cup sugar (I've made with coconut sugar instead of cane with good results)
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 1 tsp vinegar
• 6 Tbsp oil (whatever mild-flavored veg oil you like)
• 1 cup water 

For the ice cream

• 1 can full fat coconut milk
• 1 1/2 cup raw cashew pieces
• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 1 Tbsp cocoa powder 

This is a TWO DAY job, so there's day 1 prep and day 2.

Day 1

First, make your cake.  This is a Whacky Cake, which is an age old recipe dating back since at least The Great Depression, but likely further back.  It wasn't intended to be vegan, simply less expensive and easier to source the ingredients for.  

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.  Combine all your dry ingredients right in your cake pan.  I used a springform pan, but another is fine too,   Even square would work just fine.  Once your dry ingredients are all mixed, make 3 little wells in the mix.  Pour the vinegar in one well, the vanilla in another, and the oil in the last.  Top it all with the water and combine everything completely (right there in your baking pan- happy birthday to me with this ease).  Bake for 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.  Let cool to room temp, then store in refrigerator overnight.  My refrigerator has some magical humidity control and doesn't dry things out, but if yours doesn't, then make sure to cover with sedan wrap or similar.

Next, the ice cream.  Put all ingredients in your high speed blender and blend until silky smooth.  Then put in a sealed container and refrigerate overnight.  This step *could* be skipped, but I find that having a cold base makes the ice cream maker more effective, so if you forgot this, no big deal.

Make sure your ice cream making bowl is in the freezer (I just keep mine there so I am always ready to make ice cream at a moment's notice).  

Day 2 (My birthday!   Or whatever your occasion is)

​Put ice cream mix into the bowl and set it and forget it.  Let it go until it's the consistency of soft serve.  While that goes, slice your cake in half as best you can.  I just eyeballed it and used a large bread knife, but there are special cake cutting gadgets if you are into precision.  

Put the cake back in the baking pan and layer bottom half, soft serve ice cream, and then top.  Put in freezer for a couple hours (I left mine for about two and the ice cream was firm, but still soft and smooth.   It was the exact perfect amount of time, so that's what I recommend.

Look at that!  No drips, moist and creamy and sorry if those words gross you out.

My husband is not generally a coconut fan, but loved it.  I drizzled our slices with coffee liquor for a tiramisu-like flavor and left the kids' plain.  I didn't think it needed frosting at all.  It was just right the way it was.