Chocolate Mint Ice Cream Cake

I have something to confess: I used to really not like mint ice cream. For a loonggg time I didn't like mint-flavored anything, and was adamantly against any type of peppermint patty, Thin Mint, or peppermint gum. But when I really started diving into my foodie passion just a few years ago, I've started to re-explore some of those foods that I had initially written off. Mint has been one of those flavors that I'm giving a second chance, and oh am I glad.

Hello, mint ice cream. I have arrived.

Around the same time that I decided to try this mint thing again, I was contacted by Miss Jones Baking Co., a company that creates organic and all-natural baking mixes. Now, I was very curious to try out their organic chocolate cake mix because I haven't touched any type of baking mix in years. I just love to bake things from scratch myself (oh, hello blog) and never really thought that baking mixes tastes as good or better than 100% homemade. But then Miss Jones came around, and I decided to give them a chance, too. 

And yup, I think I'm onto something here. Giving old things a new chance has been pretty rewarding so far. 

Me being me, I didn't want to just try out to bake this chocolate cake without adding my own spin to it. I thought making an ice cream cake sounded pretty lovely, even though it's a frigid 60 degrees in Los Angeles right now (help me). But, I love ice cream all times of year and would not say no to it even if I was wearing a T-shirt in Alaska. 

And the way I made this ice cream cake was really, really easy: I just baked up this Miss Jones chocolate cake mix by following the directions on the box. Once the cake was completely cool, I sliced it in half and slathered on about two cups of softened Trader Joe's mint ice cream to the bottom half. I then placed the other half of the cake on top, and froze the whole thing overnight. Fun fact: I had to do some freezer Tetris to make it fit.

Y'all, I loveddd this cake. I ate probably one too many slices of it, and couldn't be happier. The cake itself is very chocolate-y, soft, and tastes like a real freakin' cake. The ice cream is creamy, tasty, and (dare I say it) minty. And I really loved it because I think I love mint now. 

Moral of the story, don't say no to something just because you used to maybe not like it at one point. Today's a new day.

Recipe

Ingredients:

• Miss Jones Chocolate Cake Bake Mix
• 3 eggs
• 1 cup milk (I used almond)
• 1/2 cup oil
• 1/2 pint mint ice cream (Trader Joe's makes a great one!)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease an 8" cake pan and set aside.
2. Mix the eggs, milk, and oil together in a stand mixer on low speed. Slowly add in the cake mix and mix until just combined.
3. Pour batter into cake pan and bake for 18-25 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Place cake pan on a wire rack and let it cool completely.
4. Once cake is cool, take mint ice cream out of the freezer and let it sit on the counter for about 15-20 minutes, until it's a scoopable consistency.
5. Remove cake from the pan and turn it out onto a plate. Cut cake in half, and spoon ice cream onto the center of the bottom half of the cake. Spread the ice cream into a thick layer from end to end. Place the other half of the cake back on top, and then put the whole cake in the freezer overnight. 
6. The next day, slice up your ice cream cake to serve. Eat up!