Birthday

Starting out with a recent photo of my girls:
Clinton's birthday was Saturday. Friday we bought some presents and Lizzy helped me wrap them. She helped me make a cake (details below). And we colored some birthday cards. Then we hid everything so he would be surprised on his birthday.
Saturday morning we made breakfast in bed, which we actually ate in the kitchen. Lizzy was pretty excited for the presents and lobbied to open them before we ate. We had a leisurely morning and then headed out for an all-day birthday house hunt with our realtor.
On our way, we stopped at the mailbox and picked up Clinton's birthday cards and present from family. Thanks!
Clinton requested an ice cream cake, and I decided to try making instead of buying. I solicited help from my brothers who all worked at Baskin Robbins in high school. David gave me the scoop on how it was done professionally, and I then invented a pretty successful strategy.

Using a springform pan (used for cheesecake, usually) I made brownies as the cake. David suggested a denser cake would be more effective, and I went with brownies. David also recommends the cake be frozen before adding the ice cream, which I did.
When my mom makes desserts that include reforming frozen dairy, she lets the block of ice cream sit on the counter for an hour, pours the soup into the new shape, and then freezes.
I opted for the more labor-intensive 5-10 minutes on the counter and then scooping out with an ice cream scoop. Then smushed and shaped the semi-pliable almost-soft-blob with that admirable tool.
Finishing, I used a big rubber spatula, heated under the tap as needed, to flatten and smooth my round mint-chocolate-chip mass. Then froze for a while.
I've never frosted ice cream before. I found that about 3/4 can of vanilla frosting at room temperature worked just dandy on the ice cream top. A nice thick layer of frosting, like Clinton likes.
I think it turned out nice. If I had it to do over, I would've used a more basic brownie mix. The chocolate chunk brownie mix features yummy chocolate chunks which, when frozen, make tough work for the fork to penetrate - thus preventing perfect bites.
Next time I do this, I think I might actually try a blondie recipe or figure out how to make a dense spice cake. Ooooh yummy.