Lemon Raspberry Ice Cream Cake: Happiness Happens Day Blog With Friends

Today’s post is the next in our series of Blog With Friends theme collaborations. Each month a group of bloggers get together and each publish a project based on a theme. What I love about this partnership is that it’s not bloggers with similar interests or strengths but a diverse group coming up with a variety of posts. In any given month we may have a recipe, sewing tutorial, crafts projects, book review and/or a technology post all related to the theme of the month.

This month's theme is Happiness Happens Day, which happens to be tomorrow. Plenty of time to make this recipe and bring on the smiles. 

There will be individual project pictures and links to what everyone else has to offer at the end of my post, but here’s a peek at what we all came up with:

For my Happiness Happens Day project I made a Lemon Raspberry Ice Cream Cake. 

What's a better dessert, ice cream? Or cake? No fighting, I've got the answer, it's both. Put a smile on everyone's face this Happiness Happens Day and serve an ice cream cake.

Lemon Raspberry Ice Cream Cake

In my house, we're huge fans of raspberry and chocolate. I got this love from my mom and the boys got it from me. Hubs, he's just along for the ride. 

When I decided to make an ice cream cake, chocolate and raspberry was the first thing that came to mind. But I had just made a Chocolate Berry Cobbler a few days ago (delish, btw) so I didn't want to use the same flavors again just a few days later. And, truth is, ice cream cakes just scream refreshing, and I wanted flavors that did too. Raspberry and Lemon go well together and certainly are refreshing flavors. Perfect. 

I was going to make the cakes from scratch but since this recipe has so many steps, I decided to take a short cut on the first one.  

I started with a white cake mix, divided the batter in half and added lots of flavor. To half of the batter, I added lemon extract and fresh lemon zest. 

I baked the raspberry layer with raspberry lemonade crystals and raspberry extract. 

I used the same pan to form the ice cream layers that I had used for the cakes to be sure the size worked. I started with raspberry sherbet, so refreshing on a hot summer day.

I crushed strawberry and lemon flavored cookies to add some crunch in between the sherbet and the creamy vanilla ice cream. 

I froze everything, making it much easier to work with, then layered my cake. I started with the raspberry cake, added the ice cream layers, then the lemon cake. Once I trimmed the sides I put my cake into the freezer again. It's easier to frost when it's well frozen.

 I used whipped cream for the frosting, and then decorated. A fun and easy way would be just to use multicolored nonpareils and twizzlers.

 Or you can use a little food coloring in some of the whipped cream and pipe it onto the cake.

 Place in the freezer one more time to allow the frosting layer to harden and you're done. This cake takes time but it really is easy. 

  

 

And pretty. And SO good.

As always, any time you make one of my recipes, feel free to post a picture of it to my Baking In A Tornado Facebook Page. I'd love to see it!

Be sure to visit all of this month's other Blog With Friends projects:


Alicia of TaylorLife shares Spreading Positivity Rocks.

Tamara of Part-time Hockey Mom shares 100 Happy Days. 

Dawn of Spatulas on Parade shares her recipe for Keto friendly Parmesan Chips.

Minette of Southern Belle Charm shares her recipe for Strawberries and Cream.

Rabia of The Lieber Family Blog shares how to make a Happiness is Back to School Wall or Door Decoration.

Lydia of Cluttered Genius shares her Backyard Clubhouse DIY.

Be sure to stop by again next month for more theme based projects.

Lemon Raspberry Ice Cream Cake         
                                    ©www.BakingInATornado.com

Printable Recipe

 

Ingredients:

1 package white cake mix

1/4 cup raspberry lemonade crystals

1/4 cup sour cream

1 tsp raspberry extract

2 tsp red food coloring

2 tsp lemon extract

1 tsp lemon zest

1 tsp yellow food coloring

2 cups raspberry sherbet

2 cups vanilla ice cream 

6 lemon flavored Oreos

6 strawberry cheesecake flavored Fudge Stripe cookies (if you can't find these, you can substitute with strawberry Oreos or just double the lemon flavored Oreos).

1 1/2 cups heavy cream

3 TBSP powdered sugar

Directions:

*Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour two 8 X 8 baking pans.

*Prepare the cake mix according to the package directions. Move half of the batter to another bowl.

*To half of the batter, beat in the lemonade crystals, sour cream, raspberry extract and red food coloring. Spread evenly into one of the prepared pans.

*To the other half of the batter, add the lemon extract, lemon zest and yellow food coloring. Spread into the other prepared baking pan.

*Bake the cakes for about 30 minutes or until the center springs back to the touch. Allow to cool for 10 minutes in the pans. Remove and allow to cool completely. Place, side by side, in a freezer. 

*Place the cookies in a food processor and crush to large crumbs. Set aside.

*NOTE: If you have three 8 X 8 pans you can do this step while baking the cakes, If not, wash one of the pans used for the cake and prepare the ice cream while the cakes are in the freezer.

*Remove the sherbet and ice cream from the freezer and allow to soften slightly. 

*Line an 8 X 8 pan with plastic wrap so the bottom is covered and the wrap is hanging over the sides.

*Spread the raspberry sherbet into the prepared pan. Sprinkle with the cookie crumbs. Top with the vanilla ice cream making sure the top is flat. Freeze for an hour and a half.

*To assemble: remove all layers from the freezer. Place the raspberry cake layer upside down onto the vanilla ice cream. Top with your serving plate and flip over. Gently remove the plastic wrap and discard. Top with the lemon cake layer. Return to freezer for 3 hours or up to overnight. 

*Beat the heavy cream until soft peaks form. Add the powdered sugar and beat until stiff peaks hold. Remove cake from freezer and, with a large serrated knife, trim the sides. Frost with the whipped cream, decorate as desired. Return to freezer. When ready to serve, move cake to the counter for 10 minutes. Slice with a large serrated knife. Store leftovers in the freezer.

 

 

In the Eye, Perspective: Secret Subject Swap

Welcome a Secret Subject Swap. This month 11 brave bloggers picked a secret subject for someone else and were assigned a secret subject to interpret in their own style. Today we are all simultaneously divulging our topics and submitting our posts. Read through mine and at the bottom you’ll find links to all of today’s other Secret Subject participants.

My subject is: Then she found herself facing the eye of the storm.
It was submitted by: Jules of The Bergham Chronicles.

I had to laugh when I saw this prompt. No, as subjects go it's not really a funny one. But it brought me back 5 years to the day I started my blog.

I'd had never considered blogging, in fact I didn't really know anything about starting one. I was on FB one day and three friends, one of whom does blog, talked me into it. Once I'd buckled to peer pressure, there was the problem of picking a name. It actually would not have been a problem at all if my first choice, which came to me pretty quickly, were available. But "Eye of the Storm" was taken. I came up with a few other possibilities, but I was deflated at not getting my first choice. And I couldn't really figure out which of the other names I'd come up with I liked best. 

I took it as a sign, decided not to bother. The friend who has a pretty successful blog told me to just pick something. I'd thought the name would be so important, it would represent me, or at least the place I am in life. She disagreed, "pick a name" she said "it's not the name of the blog, it's what you have to say." Just then, PurDude, not yet named PurDude as he was just a few years into high school, walked into the den. I told him what I was trying to do and showed him the possible names I'd come up with. Without skipping a beat he said "Baking In A Tornado" and kept walking. It's possible he picked just anything to get his old mama off his back, but whether born out of thought or born out of haste, the rest, as they say, is history.

In hindsight, it suits me. Well, actually. Because when I'm heading towards the eye of that storm, (besides drinking and crying), what I do is bake.

S'mores Dessert Enchiladas

Perspective. It's a magical thing. When you're able to find it, it can change everything. That gaping wound is suddenly a cut. 

When I first found out that College Boy had asthma I was heartbroken. There were many times I watched him struggle valiantly to breathe, made trips to the ER, put him on daily meds and bought our own nebulizer. I railed against that diagnosis. How unfair, this sweet innocent child has to suffer from such a frightening disease. I kept saying to myself "but I don't want him to have asthma."

It was my brother Peter who eventually brought me perspective. Peter had died of cancer at the age of 20, about 5 years previously. It was on the anniversary of Peter's death that I realized what I was unable to see all along. It wasn't "I don't want my child to have asthma", it was "I hope this is the worst thing my child ever has." I suddenly had not just resignation, but a measure of peace. Some may feel this is exploitative, I chose to see it as a gift.

As my boys went through life and struggled with this and that, suffered with illnesses and became frustrated with their limitations, I always said to them "everyone has something, this is yours, if you're going to live, we'll take it."


Then she found herself facing the eye of the storm. 

Perspective is a struggle these days. Honestly, I'm a bit battered and bruised by not just circumstances, but by my own inadequacy at handling them.

There are some things that could possibly kill you, situations that could go either way, and the added stress of not knowing how it will go can be overwhelming. There are those that have the capacity to beat you down in increments. And although the eye of the storm provides a momentary respite, it also brings the knowledge that you're only half way through.

So I'll keep baking and blogging and yes, drinking and crying, and working at finding my way back to that desperately needed point of reference called perspective.

Here are links to all the sites now featuring Secret Subject Swap posts. Sit back, grab a cup, and check them all out. See you there:

Cognitive Script

The Blogging 911  

The Lieber Family Blog

 The Bergham Chronicles

Simply Shannon

Southern Belle Charm
Bookworm in the Kitchen
Part-time Working Hockey Mom  
Not That Sarah Michelle
Climaxed 

S'mores Dessert Enchiladas

                                               ©www.BakingInATornado.com

Printable Recipe

Ingredients:

6 ten inch tortillas

3/4 cup nutella

6 TBSP graham cracker crumbs

3 cups mini marshmallows 

1/2 stick butter

2 TBSP brown sugar

1/2 tsp cinnamon 

fresh sliced strawberries 
whipped cream 

Directions:

*Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease an 8 X 11 glass baking dish.

*Leaving about 1/2 inch along the edges, spread about 2 TBSP nutella into the center of each tortilla. Sprinkle 1 TBSP graham cracker crumbs over the nutella, then arrange about 1/2 cup of mini marshmallows down the center.

*Roll the tortillas around the filling and place, seam side down, into the prepared baking dish. Tuck under about 1/2 inch of the tops and bottoms so they fit in the dish.

*Melt the butter. Mix in the brown sugar and cinnamon. Pour over the tortillas.

*Bake for 20 minutes. Remove from oven, top with fresh strawberries and serve.

A Belt, a Song and a Car

I had a few very different conversations recently with some people who are about as dissimilar as you get. I never would have thought these discussions were in any way related. And I certainly hadn't drawn the correlation between them and a belt I lost about a million years ago. Until the realization took hold.

About the belt. I loved it. It was a thin belt, covered in stripes of all different widths in varying colors. It went with pretty much anything. Because it picked up different hues in whatever outfit I paired it with, it never really looked the same. I wore it pretty regularly.  

Many years ago, when returning from my yearly trip to Marco Island, the airline lost my luggage. If you've ever had luggage lost you know that it is a huge pain in the butt. They don't bother looking for it (even if your favorite belt is inside, apparently) and they make the paperwork for reimbursement into a full time endeavor. It wasn't the reams of paper I cared about, I mourned that belt. Yes, you read that right. Put it in perspective and it's pretty absurd, but not everything needs to have a deep and inner meaning, I loved that belt. Simple as that. And there's value in that.

The first of the aforementioned (yes, I used that word) conversations was a music observation by my son. College Boy is very into music. He appreciates almost all genres, gives a lot of thought to how they influence each other. He has a sampler musical production center, even bought a turntable, his record collection is extensive and diverse. I love his respect for and appreciation of jazz and rock and folk and all kinds of music. Through artists' background and songs' stories he's opened up my mind to hip hop.

I was baking and, of course, missing an ingredient. College Boy was home and had come for a ride to the store with me. 

Lemon Berry Muffins

We were heading back home when a teeny bopper, bubble gum, meaningless 1980s era song came on the car radio. I turned it up and sang along. Yes, I caught the eye roll and disapproving head shake, didn't stop me. Apparently I have no shame. When the song ended and I returned the decibel level to this stratosphere College Boy wanted me to explain what I liked about such a meaningless song. He was right of course in his perspective; there is no deep, thought provoking, existential value to this song. I had no specific story to tell about when I first heard it, no significant personal association to it at all. Not everything needs to have a deep and inner meaning, I liked the beat. Simple as that. And there's value in that, a concept which he did understand.

The second conversation came from a very difficult situation involving a blogging friend. She's been through all kinds of hell in the past few years starting with the murder of her beloved niece on her birthday, and more recently including almost losing her husband, now necessitating her being his caregiver. They had taken an overnight trip to the beach and on the way back got into a bad car accident. She and her husband were battered and bruised. The car was totaled.

She was scared and sore and heartbroken about their beloved car. Friends jumped in to say that it's just a car, cars can be replaced, people cannot. They were right of course, in their perspective. But they were also wrong, it was not just a car, these people loved it, loved having it, loved driving it. The loss had an emotional impact. Not everything needs to have a deep and inner meaning. Simple as that. And there's value in that. 

In this current societal climate, when just turning on the news can seriously raise the blood pressure of the healthiest among us, there is merit to anything (even a rock) that makes us smile. We do not have to rationalize it. In fact, giving it serious thought can be a detraction. There is value in just blindly accepting, enjoying.

The next time you hear a silly song, wear a belt, walk out the door to see your car and it makes you smile, don't analyze. Enjoy.

{{turns up the music and sings at the top of her out-of-tune voice "but girls just wanna have fun, yes girls just wanna have. . . That's all they really waaaaaaaaant. Some fuuuuuuun . . ." }}

PS: Thoughts, prayers and good wishes for my friend and her husband are greatly appreciated.

Lemon Berry Muffins

                                                                          ©www.BakingInATornado.com

 

Printable Recipe

 

Ingredients:

6 oz fresh raspberries
10 Lemon flavored Oreos 
2 cups flour
1 cup sugar 
1 TBSP baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
3/4 cup milk
1/2 cup Greek lemon yogurt
1/2 cup oil
2 tsp lemon extract
1 egg
6 oz fresh blueberries

1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup Lemon Oreo cookie crumbs


Directions:
*Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Grease or line 18 muffin cups.
*Mash the raspberries and push through a strainer. You should have about 1/3 cup of juice. Discard the seeds.
*Crush the cookies in a food processor until they are crumbs.
*Mix together 1/2 cup of the cookie crumbs, the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt. 
*In a separate bowl, whisk together the juice from the raspberries, milk, yogurt, oil, lemon extract and egg. 
*Pour the liquids over the dry ingredients and mix just until incorporated.  Carefully fold in the blueberries. Divide into the 18 prepared muffin tins.
*Mix together the brown sugar and 1/4 cup of the cookie crumbs. Sprinkle over the top of the muffins.
*Bake for approximately 25 minutes or until the center of the top springs back to the touch.