CAKE AND ICE CREAM ICE CREAM

My brother is extremely suspicious of me. Whenever I offer him a dinner suggestion he worries that salad might be involved, and when I drive him home from school and suggest we get coffee he frets that a trip to the market might follow. I am a food manipulator, and after watching the limp pizza boxes pile up outside of his room, watching him smirk and preen about the benefits of American cheese, watching him crush five double stuffed oreos into the bottom of a glass, covering it with chocolate milk, and gulping it down so quickly he gets a black moustache likening him to Gomez from the Addams Family, I had to intervene. While none of these actions are a crime, it should not be the limit of someone's culinary scope. So, I stepped in with my sisterly wiles and started bullying and guilt tripping into him trying new food. When I say "new" I'm not referring to esoteric fare, I'm referring to Chipotle, and Niman Ranch meat. And luckily for me, he went for the bait and loved it! He stopped shooting jaundiced looks at me when I suggest a new place for lunch, or I explain that something is organic. He's open to it, in fact, he's into it. So when I failed to convince him that the local gelato shop is superior to Cold Stone, I submitted to him a challenge: that we have our cake and ice cream and eat it too.

Henry and I set out to create the perfect balance of our ice cream needs: a luxurious texture for me, and big cake-y flavor for him. Success, and just in time for his birthday too! This recipe marks the beginning of a lovely partnership between my brother and I, him challenging me and I him. He'll also be popping in from time to time to guest blog about his experiences, so take it away, Henry!

I love food that just tastes great; I’m kind of a reverse picky eater. My friend from elementary school was an actual picky eater. At the age of 8 he would eat nothing but sushi and salad (he refused to eat birthday cake on his birthday). I used to just eat stuff that “tastes good”, but isn’t necessarily the finest of quality. But now Claire has taken me on a culinary journey to, hopefully, mature my taste buds. An old obsession of mine (it still is, but I appreciate other ice cream too now) is Cold Stone's Birthday Cake ice cream - a creamy (or gluey, as my sister Claire likes to say) amalgamation of cake batter, vanilla, milk, and loads and loads of sugar. Although it’s a favorite of mine, Claire doesn’t feel the same way about it. So, she and I decided to improve upon this Cold Stones classic. Using yellow cake mix and a lot of vanilla, we concocted an ice cream that certainly rivals it. Instead of a gluey consistency, the ice cream we made is much more smooth and creamy, and it doesn’t taste as overwhelmingly sugary.

For Ice Cream:

1/2 cup yellow cake mix
½ cup sugar

Pinch of salt
3 egg yolks

2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups heavy cream
1 1/2 cups milk

Over medium heat, bring 1 cup of heavy cream, sugar, salt, and cake mix to a simmer. Separately, beat the egg yolks lightly in a medium sized bowl. Add a 1/4 cup of the simmered cream mixture to the egg yolks and mix. This is to temper the eggs and prevent them from curdling when added to the whole mixture. Add a bit more and mix, then add the entire egg mixture to the simmered cream. Stir with a whisk until the mixture forms a thin custard, about 5 to 10 minutes (or it reaches about 175 on a thermometer). Take off heat and add the remaining milk and heavy cream. Stir, then chill in the fridge.

Once the mixture is completely chilled, add the milk and stir in. Add the mixture to your ice cream machine and chill accordingly.