Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream Cake

This cake was inspired by the ice cream cakes at Dave and Andy's- my favorite ice cream place in Pittsburgh. The pumpkin, cinnamon, and birthday cake flavors are all amazing. The waffle cones are made at the shop so it smells amazing as soon as you walk in and then they put an m&m in the bottom of your cone and basically it is heaven. Their ice cream is so good, I'm forming run-on sentences describing the shop! 

Ice cream cake from Dave and Andy's has an actual cake layer. I love that. Cake + ice cream. 

Brittany and Laura came to Philly to celebrate Brit's birthday! I asked Brit what kind of cake she wanted (while secretly thinking mint chocolate either way) and she said what I was thinking. We had cake, went to the beach, went to America's best bar. Didn't get America's best pizza. Wah. But we did see the Impressionist exhibit at the art museum. And got federal donuts. And Mad Mex. And la Colombe coffee. Phew.

The ice cream is from Minimalist Baker. The cookie crumble is from here via Google. The cake is from Molly Yeh who inspired this entire venture. By the way, this recipe makes enough for 2 cakes or for an epic 4 layer ice cream cake.

First the cake:

1 small bunch fresh mint (bonus points if you have chocolate mint)

1 1/4 cup coconut milk 

1 3/4 cup sugar

1 3/4 cup all-purpose flour

3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1 1/2 tsp baking soda

1 1/2 tsp kosher salt

1/2 cup canola oil 

1 tbsp vanilla extract

1/2 tsp peppermint extract

2 large eggs

3/4 c boiling water

Cake directions:

In a small saucepan bring the coconut milk to a boil. Rip up the mint leaves into the milk. Cover saucepan with lid and turn down heat to low for 15 minutes. Let cool to room temperature. Strain out leaves and measure only 1 cup of the milk to use. 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and line 2 round 8 inch cake pans with parchment paper. Springform pans would be ideal but not necessary.

Mix together the dry ingredients in a small bowl. In a larger bowl whisk together the oil, sugar, eggs, and coconut milk. Add the extracts. Fold in the dry ingredients. Whisk in the boiling water. Pour into prepared pans. Bake for 28 minutes. Let cool completely. Then wrap and freeze.

Then the cookie crumble (aka magic shell plus oreos)

2 1/2 cups Newman's Mint Oreo Cookies (almost whole package)

8 ounces semisweet chocolate chips

2 tbsp coconut oil

In a food processor, blend the Oreos in 3 separate batches to form cookie crumbs. You want them to look like crumbs! Transfer to a mixing bowl.

Then melt the chocolate and coconut oil together in the microwave, stirring until smooth. Add to cookie crumbs once finished. 

Spread a thick layer of the crumble over both cakes. Wrap in plastic wrap and freeze again. 

For the ice cream

1/2 cup fresh mint leaves, divided

1 1/2 cups raw cashews (soaked overnight and rinsed)

1 14-ounce can full fat coconut milk or coconut cream 

1 1/2 tsp peppermint extract 

1/4 cup cane sugar

1/4 cup maple syrup 

3 tbsp coconut oil, melted

1 tbsp vanilla extract

Pour coconut milk into small saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium high heat. Add half the mint leaves. Turn down heat to low and middle the leaves with a wooden spoon. Cover and let steep for 15 minutes. Turn off heat and let cool. 

Add coconut milk plus cooked mint and fresh mint to blender and blend until mint is completely immersed. Add the rest of the ingredients minus the peppermint extract and blend again until really smooth. Add the mint extract 1/2 tsp at a time until you get an acceptable level of mintyness. Process in ice cream maker. 

Get cakes out. Spread the finished ice cream onto the cakes just up to the edges. Sprinkle with crushed mint Oreos. Cover with plastic wrap and freeze until firm.

Let cakes thaw 15 minutes before singing happy birthday and serving!

Tahini Ice Cream with Berry Crumble

The berry crumble is from 101 Cookbooks. Her recipe has a doubled crumb topping. Hell yes. Also berry season. I just used sesame seeds instead of poppy seeds. The tahini ice cream uses an ice cream base from Minimalist Baker. It has been my preferred vegan ice cream since the cashews mellow out the coconut flavor. Basically the coconut is not as prevalent. The tahini ice cream is everything. 

Also since we were at family dinner, I didn't get a great shot of the ice cream.

Tahini Ice Cream 

1 can full fat coconut milk

1 cup cashews, soaked overnight 

2 tbsp coconut oil 

1/2 cup tahini 

1/2 cup maple syrup 

2 tbsp brown sugar (optional)

1 tbsp vanilla extract 

1 pinch sea salt 

Blend everything until smooth. Chill for 4 hours. Churn in ice cream maker. Pour ice cream into frozen glass container and chill. Let thaw for 15 minutes before serving over berry crumble! 

Apricot Lavender Cake

At the blueberry farm we bought some apricots in addition to the blueberries. I had seen this recipe on a fellow food blogger's Instagram and wanted to make it right away. Lavender forever. I didn't have a springform pan, so I split the cake into 2 pans. The recipe is from Plenty More via The Baking Bird. I've been cooking my way through Plenty (the original book) now that it's summer and all the vegetables are in season. Our tomatoes are just ripening now. 

• ¾ cup plus 1 Tablespoon unsalted butter, room temperature
• 2 Tablespoons coconut oil
• 1 cup plus 1½ Tablespoons white sugar
• 1¼ cups almond flour
• 4 eggs, beaten
• 1 cup pecans
• ¾ cup all-purpose flour
• 1/8 tsp sea salt 
• ½ teaspoon almond extract
• grated zest of 1 lemon
• 1½ teaspoons dried lavender buds
• 11 ripe apricots, halved and pitted
• Turbinado sugar 
• 
  
• Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Grease 2 8 inch pans.
• Process the pecans and lavender in a food processor until the mixture looks like coarse crumbs. In a large mixing bowls, combine The butter, oil, sugar, and almond flour until fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, whisking after each addition to incorporate fully. continuing to beat until well incorporated. Fold in pecans, lavender, flour, vanilla, lemon zest, and teaspoon salt.
• Fill pans with cake batter and arrange apricot halves cut side up. Push down slightly so they are securely in place in the cake. Sprinkle with turbinado sugar.
• Bake for 40 minutes until golden brown. 
• I served each slice with a dollop of mascarpone and a drizzle of honey.

Lavender Peaches with Mascarpone and Amaretti

Peaches with Lavender Sugar and Amaretti Cookies

It's peach season! I've been making these for years but originally I saw the recipe while watching Giada on the Food Network. This recipe includes gram measurements for the cookies. Love and Olive Oil has a recipe that uses cup measurements. I was just really excited to use my scale.

I also made powdered sugar for this recipe in my Vitamix. It was pretty exciting! (I inhaled a lot of sugar granules in the process)

Amaretti Cookies 

• 3 large egg whites 
• 280g/9.9oz almond meal
• 280g/9.9oz white sugar
• 3/4 tsp natural almond extract (the artificial kind is too strong)
• ½ tsp vanilla extract
• 
  
• For rolling:
• 2 heaped tbsp. white sugar
• 2 heaped tbsp. powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Fill 2 separate bowls with the different sugars.

In a large mixing bowl and using a mixer, whisk the egg whites to stiff peaks. If you lift your beaters out of the egg mixture, the peaks that form should not fall over.

Fold in the rest of the ingredients with a spatula. The dough will be sticky.

Scoop tablespoonfuls of dough and roll them in the white sugar first followed by the powdered sugar. The method helps all the powdered sugar not dissolve in the dough. It actually worked! 

Place cookies 1 inch apart on cookie sheets. Bake for 15 minutes or until lightly golden brown. Let cool on cookie sheets.

The site said they're good for 3-4 days, so I froze about half of mine for later.

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I usually serve 1 peach/person, so I'll just do a general guideline.

Ingredients:

Firm, ripe peaches

White wine

Mascarpone cheese, at room temperature 

1/4 cup white sugar

1/2 tsp dried lavender buds 

Blend the lavender with the sugar or grind in a mortar and pestle. Halve the peaches neatly and take out the pit using a little knife. Sprinkle peach halves with the lavender sugar. 

Heat a cast iron pan on medium heat until pretty hot. Spray with coconut oil. Lay peaches cut side down for about 5 minutes without moving them. You want them to be a nice brown color on the edges. Alternatively grilling them would be amazing. Flip over the peaches with a spatula and cook for another 2 minutes. Add a splash of white wine and let cook down for another minute. Now you have a delicious syrup to serve with the peaches.

Serve the peaches with their natural syrup, a sprinkle of extra lavender sugar, a tablespoonful of mascarpone for each peach half, and one crumbled cookie for each peach half. Done. Easiest summer dessert.