Hedy's Mars Bar Ice Cream Cake

For my dad's birthday last week, I made my friend Hedy's famous, "Mars Bar Ice Cream Cake!"  She has made it many times before, but this was my first attempt to make it as well as she does. 

To make this cake, here is what you will need:

For the crust:

-1 1/4 cups of graham cracker crumbs

-1/4 cup sugar

-1/3 cup butter melted

For the cake:

-2 x 1.55L tubs of your favourite vanilla ice cream softened
-8 Mars bars
-1 jar or squeeze bottle of chocolate fudge sauce

First, make the crust in the bottom of a spring form pan as though you were making a pie crust, using graham cracker crumbs, butter and sugar. Let cool completely. Hedy likes to use Oreo cookie crumbs, but I used my favourite, graham cracker crumbs. Click here for more details on how to make the crust.

Next, freeze Mars bars for at least a half hour.  Break in half and crumble in food processor using the steel blade. Set aside in a bowl.

Let ice cream soften in tubs. Use half of one tub of ice cream.  Place in food processor and blend. Add half a cup of crushed mars and fold in by hand. Pour into a large bowl. Repeat for next three portions of ice cream. Pour half of the ice cream mixture onto the crust. Use a spatula to even out the softened ice cream mixture. Next, add a layer of chocolate fudge sauce.  Then, add the remaining ice cream mixture and top with remaining crumbled Mars bars. Finally, fill a piping bag with the rest of the chocolate fudge.  Drizzle over crumbled Mars bars.
Let set in the freezer for at least 24 hours.

If this is not delicious...

I don't know what is?

Happy Birthday Daddy. 

Enjoy everyone!
A perfect summer treat.

Basketball Cake Pops

How will you be celebrating Father's Day? Sports themed cake pops are a great gift for dad. This order was for a basketball junkie!

For these cake pops, I used chocolate cake mixed with cream cheese frosting. I began by melting orange candy melts and added a few chocolate brown ones to darken the orange color just a bit. First, I dipped the cake balls into the melted candy.  For basic cake pop instructions, click here. To learn how to decorate these cake pops, read below.

Once all of the cake pops were dry, I began to decorate each one. I used black royal icing to add the lines of the basketball. I place each pop into a styrofoam base, one at a time, so it would stand alone. Next, I marked the middle point on the top of the pop.  I then drew two lines that looked like a plus sign.  One was drawn from the left side to the right, and the other from the front to the back. Finally, I added a curved line to either side. It really helped to look at a photo of a basketball.  Another idea would be to use an edible marker to draw the lines on the cake pop first, and then trace over them with the royal icing.

A sturdy hand is helpful when adding the details.

I think they look adorable.

To make them even cuter, add a father's day tag to the lollipop stick.  Print any tag onto cardstock. Cut it out and poke two holes in the tag, one at the top, and another at the bottom. Slide through stick.

I printed these adorable, free cupcake toppers (that I used as tags), from Tip Junkie.

Enjoy!

Happy Father's Day to all of the dad's celebrating today!

Thomas the Train Cake Pops

I made a train of cake pops for a birthday party this weekend.  They complimented Thomas' colours. Since it was a second birthday party, each pop was finished with a number 2.

To make these cake pops, begin by baking a white cake and let it cool for a few hours. Break the cake into crumbs and add your favourite frosting.  Using the back of a spoon, mix the icing and the crumbs together.  I added chocolate frosting to the white cake crumbs.

Use a mini ice cream scoop to scoop balls that are even in size.

Then, roll the balls with your hands and set on a parchment lined cookie sheet. Place in the freezer for about 20 minutes.

To make the pops, use 6 inch lollipop sticks.

Dip in melted candy and tap off excess coating. Place in a styrofoam tray to set.

Melt red candy melts and spoon into a piping bag.  Pipe the number 2 on each cake pop.

Place in the boxcars and add a Thomas train at the front. To make the boxcars I used shoeboxes and filled them with styrofoam. I covered the boxes with fadeless red paper as though I was wrapping a gift. Using a wooden skewer, I punched holes in specific places so the cake pops would easily fit in.

Package each pop individually by placing a clear cellophane bag over top each one, bunching the bag together at the base of the pop. Tie with light blue ribbon. Curl ends of ribbon with the sharp edge of a pair of scissors. 

Bring to a party and give away as loot bags.

For a more detailed tutorial explaining how to make cake pops, click here.

Happy Birthday Oliver!