It is HOT, folks. I will be having a giveaway on Wednesday, so stay tuned. This weekend, why not try out some of my favorite ice cream recipes, ’cause it’s hot, did I say that already? ~melting~

Inside Out Ice Cream Sandwiches
A cute twist on an old favorite.

Root Beer Float Ice Cream cupcakes
Aw, yeah – I’m on a boat! I cannot resist root beer – and these are soooo cute and yummy.

Ice Cream Jello
Two, two, two desserts in one!

Watermelon Ice Cream Bombe
The family favorite. Nothing is more refreshing in the summer heat. Hm – except for real watermelon, maybe?

I love my musubi maker – it’s so versatile, I use it for sweets! Just like the Brownie Ice Cream Musubi, I wanted to press, press, press my way to sweet satisfaction.

ingredients:
2 Tablespoons butter
1 package regular sized marshmallows
6 cups rice krispies cereal
pinch of salt

milk chocolate ice cream (recipe, here)
strawberry ice cream

My recipe is slightly different from the traditional rice krispy treat, in that I use a little less butter, a little more marshmallow and a touch of salt to complement the ice cream.

Prep a 9×13 dish by greasing it with a little bit of melted butter.

In a large pot, melt the 2 Tablespoon of butter and the marshmallows. Stir until you get a lovely gooey melted mess. Sprinkle with a pinch of salt then add the rice krispies cereal, carefully this stuff tends to jump everywhere, until it is completely coated.

Press the coated cereal into the greased pan. Press down so it is compact and even. Let cool.

Once the treats have cooled, use the musubi maker as a guide and cut out the rectangular shapes.

Place one of the rectangles in the bottom of the musubi maker – then spread the softened chocolate ice cream on one side, and the strawberry on the other. Work fast, the ice cream will melt quickly. Can you do just one flavor? Of course, but I thought it’d look cool and almost neapolitan-like to have two different sides.

Press it down a bit to give it a nice even surface.

Place another square on top of the ice cream and using the musubi press, squish it down together quickly. Wrap in plastic wrap and freeze to keep until you are ready to serve.

You can slice these into skinnier pieces and serve them or just eat the whole darn thing yourself while no one’s looking…

If you haven’t yet – please vote for me HERE for my tiny Rainbow Sherbet Ice Cream Cupcakes – you could win too!! There’s just a few days left!

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Ube is not for everyone, but since I had leftover ice cream from the mochi+ube ice cream cupcakes, I went for it. Cold, purple, loveliness.

ingredients:
3 scoops ube ice cream
1-1/2 cups milk
2 tablespoons sugar

Ube ice cream – key ingredient. Don’t be afraid of the yam. It is your friend. I’m sure there’s a t-shirt in that sentence, waiting to happen.

In a blender, add the ice cream, milk and sugar. And then, well – blend.

Tell the kids to drink their veggies, and enjoy.

I make a lot of ice cream bombes, but see…it’s cake that I love.

It’s amazing how easy it is to make an ice cream cake. You can do it in steps and take all the time you want – just keep going back to the freezer here and there. Take an hour, take a week – it’s dessert for the lazy!

chocolate cake ingredients:
1 cup all purpose flour
1 cup sugar
1/3 cup Valrhona cocoa powder
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
pinch of salt
3/4 cup milk
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

chocolate ganache ingredients:
6 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips
2/3 cup heavy cream
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 quart ice cream, softened (homemade or bought)
2 cups crushed chocolate cookies

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 9″ round cake pan, line it with parchment, and butter the parchment. Set aside.

In a large bowl whisk together the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Add the milk, oil, egg and vanilla. Stir until combined.

Pour into prepped cake pan, and bake for 15-20 minutes, checking with a toothpick until done. Let cool in the pan, for about 15 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack and let cool completely.

When the cake is cool, even it out so you get a flat surface.

Wrap it in plastic wrap and put it in the freezer.

Line a 9″ cake pan with plastic wrap. Pour the softened ice cream into the lined pan, spread evenly – then place in the freezer to chill.

Now you can do this step within the hour, or heck, the next day – who cares. When you are ready – make the ganache. In a small saucepan combine the chocolate chips, heavy cream and vanilla. Stir over medium heat until everything is combined. Keep stirring! Keep your eye on it! You will magically get an amazing ganache in a matter of minutes. Set it aside to cool down.

Once the ganache has cooled, take the frozen cake out of the freezer, place it on top of the ice cream in the cake pan, then turn it out onto a wire rack. Simple!

In cake they don’t stack evenly, take a paring knife and just go around the edge to even it all up.

Pour HALF the ganache onto the TOP of the cake and spread evenly, just to the edge.

Now pop the cake back in the freezer. WHOA, hold up, why are there TWO cakes in my freezer? Cause I couldn’t decide what ice cream to use and I just went for it and did one mocha and one mint. Don’t judge.

Wait about 15 minutes (or the next day), for this next step. See? Do it now, do it later, no one will know the diff.

When you are ready for this last step, take the cake out of the freezer and using the remaining half of the ganache, go around the edge of the cake, following up with the crushed cookie crumbs on top, going around the edges.

One last time, place the cake back in the freezer until you are ready to serve. Honestly – this is a really easy recipe and people think you worked so hard on it. Just do it in steps, if you have a party on the weekend, do a step a day – don’t sweat it. You’ll have an impressive dessert at the end of the week to show for it.

Whee! My Tiny Rainbow Sherbet Ice Cream Cupcakes are one of three finalists for the Best Ice Cream Cupcake!

PLEASE go HERE and VOTE for me – you just might win a prize pack too!! Thanks!

There’s nothing lovelier than a deep shade of purple. But what makes this ice cream so colorful? YAM of course. What.

I thought a nice color – as well as textural – contrast would be to pair it with a cupcake – not just any cupcake, a mochi cupcake!

ingredients:
1/3 cup butter, softened
1 cup flour
3/4 cup mochiko
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
pinch of salt
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/3 cup milk

Ube ice cream

Ube is the Filipino word for yam and you can make some amazingly colorful sweets with it. Don’t be scared – it’s really tasty, honest. At certain asian markets you can find Ube Ice Cream pre-made in the freezer section.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prep a cupcake pan with liners.

In a medium bowl whisk the flour, mochiko, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream the butter and sugar, then add the eggs until light and fluffy, then add the vanilla. Alternate the flour mixture with the milk, until combined.

Pour into prepped liners. Bake for 15-17 minutes depending on your oven, testing with a toothpick. Let cool on a wire rack.

Keep the cupcakes in an airtight container or in the freezer (individually wrapped) until you are ready to use them. Then take a scoop of Ube Ice Cream and sit it right on top. A pretty little presentation – great for a hot summer day.

Whenever I make 50+ cupcakes I always make extra, but you can only eat so many leftover cupcakes…right? So I had to think of new ways to ‘use’ them.

Combining the ice cream and the cupcake means it can stay frozen for longer periods and I could just pull them out and eat them in the future. Er…the future being more like an hour later not months from now, but you get my drift… ~no self control~

ingredients:
cupcakes
ice cream (slightly softened)
sprinkles

Most cupcakes have a rounded top, so I like to even it out by slicing off the top to make a flat surface. This makes the cupcake more like a ’sandwich’ and less whoopie-pie looking.

Take your leftover cupcake and cut it in half. You’ll find of course, that the bottom is slightly smaller than the top since the liners taper up. If you are fine with that, good for you, but I am insanely perfectionist and feel the need to cut TWO cupcakes so that I have two even slices of cake – i.e. two bottoms and two tops. Yes, I need therapy.

Once you have the two EVEN slices of cupcake, spread the softened ice cream on the cake. As opposed to ice cream cookie sandwiches, the cupcakes can be pretty delicate. If yours are too crumbly just place the cupcake slice in the freezer for a few minutes so that it firms up.

Place the other slice of cupcake on top of the ice cream. Now I like to wrap the whole thing tightly in plastic wrap just to get it all nice and ’sandwich-like’. Place it in the freezer for a few minutes or until the time you are ready to serve.

Once you are ready to serve – take it out of the freezer and roll it in sprinkles, nuts, chocolate chips, whatever your heart desires.

These make a nice presentation for a dinner party, you can just pull them out of the freezer and serve them quickly and elegantly with a fork. Or do as the Baby does and eat them with your hands until your entire brand new Iron Man shirt is destroyed. Whatever works for you.

Here are some flavor combinations that I think work pretty well:

Red Velvet Cupcake + Strawberry Ice Cream
chocolate cupcake + Coffee-Chip Ice Cream
Fresh Strawberry Cupcake + Green Tea Ice Cream
Peanut Butter Cupcake + Vanilla Ice Cream

Every year Cupcake Project and Scoopalicious host the Ice Cream Cupcake challenge. I love to enter because the combinations are always fun to think up. In the past I’ve done root beer ice cream float cupcakes, chocolate and green tea ice cream cupcakes…This year I wanted a lot of flavor in a tiny little bite sized package. And boy do I mean TINY.

ingredients:
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened
1 cups granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 cups all purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
pinch of salt
1/2 cup milk
1-1/2 teaspoons lemon zest
1-1/2 teaspoons orange zest
1 Tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice

rainbow sherbet
whipped cream

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Prep a mini muffin tin with small liners.

In a bowl whisk together the flour, baking soda and salt. Set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer cream the butter and the sugar until fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time until combined.

Alternate the flour mixture with the milk.

Stir in the lemon zest, orange zest and lemon juice.

Spoon the batter into the liners by the teaspoonful. This is time consuming, no doubt. Bake for approx 10 minutes depending on your oven. Let cool on a wire rack.

Once the cupcakes have cooled – using a small disher (like a Size 100) make small balls of rainbow sherbet. Top each cupcake with a scoop and return to the freezer if it starts to melt.

Top each with a little dollop of whipped cream and a little candy heart and you are ready to serve. Does it not seem worth it for such a small package? I beg to differ. It’s the perfect size for a little treat. And who says you can’t go back to the freezer 10 times for another one….hm?

This is a nice smooth chocolate ice cream. I highly suggest you get a Baby Ninja to do all the work for you.

ingredients:
8 ounces really good Belgian Milk Chocolate (I prefer Callebaut)
1-3/4 cups whole milk
2 cups heavy whipping cream
1/3 cup granulated sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla
1/3 cup finely grated milk chocolate

In a double boiler, heat the chocolate until it’s nice and melted. Set aside.

Here’s where the Baby Ninja comes in – for stirring. In a bowl, combine the milk, whipping cream, sugar and vanilla.

Stir together well.

Pour into a large pot to heat, then stir in the chocolate, stirring until combined. What you get here is a really good chocolate milk, basically. Chill this mixture in the fridge for about 20 minutes.

Pour the mixture into your ice cream machine – turn on according to manufacturer’s directions. As it is churning, add the grated chocolate. When it is done, store in the freezer in an airtight container.

When Baby Ninjas are not making ice cream, they also enjoy attacking their Great Grandma…

Ok, really – is this too over the top? Don’t answer that.

ingredients:
Whipped Cream Cupcakes (recipe, here)
Brown Sugar Ice Cream (recipe, here)
Homemade Caramel Sauce (recipe here)

All I’m doing is assembling here:

Make the caramel sauce – set it aside.

Make the ice cream – chill it in the freezer.

Bake the cupcakes – let them cool.

Cupcakes+Ice Cream+Caramel Sauce.

No, there’s no whipped cream – good lord I have SOME self control!
(I thought about it, trust me.)