Pineapple Ice-cream Cake

Ice-cream Cake!! I had only heard about it on Martha Stewart's Show, and for sure read some on her site too, but making one by myself, woooosh, impossible it sounded at once!

Completing 5 years of marital bliss and knowing this wonderful person for almost 9 years definitely gives you the courage to ramp up and speed for something as unbelievable and astounding as this. On this special day, I really wanted to create something elysian for my soul-mate, something to snuggle in, and then in the grocery store I see this Sliced Pineapple Tin and vroooooom, my mind bike takes on. At 6 in the evening, I set myself to take this plunge and dive into this creamy cake fun. Antagonistic to my weird imagination, this recipe turns out miraculously simple and undoubtedly scrummy. There were some mistakes that I certainly made in hurry-furry, but still what we had at the end was no less amazing.

Here's the recipe to shake your minds as well.

Preparation Time: 20 minutes

Baking Time: 20-25 minutes

Refrigeration/Setting Time: 4 hours or overnight

Ingredients:

For Cake:

1. Maida/ All Purpose Flour:  1 cup

2. Castor Sugar/ Powdered Sugar: 1 cup

3. Butter: 1/2 cup

4. Eggs: 3

5. Milk: 2 tbs

6. Baking Powder: 1 tsp

7. Baking Soda: 1/2 tsp ( I had neither baking powder, nor soda so I used Eno Fruit Salt: 1 tsp)

8. Salt: a pinch

9. Pineapple Essence: 1/2 tsp

For Ice-cream Frosting/Layer:

1. Vanilla Ice-cream: 1 cup

2. Heavy Cream/ Whipping Cream: 1/2 cup

3. Sugar: 3 tbs

4. Pineapple Gelatin Mix: 2 tbs

5. Water: 1/4 cup

6. Sliced Pineapple: 1 tin/can

Method:

1. Pre-heat the oven on 200 degrees Celsius for 10 minutes.
2. Sift the maida/all purpose flour with the baking powder, baking soda/ Eno fruit salt  and salt thrice.
3. Grease and dust the baking tin and keep it aside. I used a star baking tin this time, so all you can see are starry pics. :P
4. Take the butter and beat sugar with it till it goes light and fluffy. Do not melt the butter, rather keep it at room temperature.
5. Beat the eggs separately in a bowl.
6. Now beat them along with the butter-sugar mixture till fluffy and well whipped.
7. Pour in the milk, pineapple essence and give a good stir so as to mix well.
8. Fold in the all purpose flour mix to this mixture softly; do not over-mix. 
9. Make sure you get a ribbon consistency while folding it.
10. Now transfer this mixture into the greased pan and bake it on 200 degrees for 20-25 minutes.
11. Check the cake after 20 minutes by seeing if the cake edges have left the corners and the top slightly browned or golden; if so, then insert a tooth-pick and see if it comes out clean. When this happens, your cake is ready. 
12. Take the tin out and let it cool for 10-15 minutes. Once it has cooled down, invert the cake on a plate, making sure it doesn't break.
13. In the meanwhile when the cake is getting baked in the oven, prepare the Ice-cream Frosting.
14. Take the chilled whipping cream in a bowl and  whip first on slow speed and then on high till peaks are formed. Then add sugar and whip again till mixed. For me, nothing happened because the cream was not chilled and hence it went runny, though then I managed somehow by mixing it with ice-cream and getting that appeal later.
15. Take the ice-cream in a bowl and let it stand for 5-10 minutes till it softens. 
16. Boil/ Microwave 1/4 cup water and add gelatin to it. Stir till it dissolves completely. Let it cool.
17. Now add this gelatin mix to the ice-cream. Fold in the whipped cream and whip to get a smooth consistency. Aeration is a must here.
18. Refrigerate it for the meantime.
19. By this time, the cake would be ready, so set it at the bottom of your mould. Since I did not have the Spring-form Pan here, so I continued with my Star Tin, though dealing with a spring-form one is way much easier.
20. After making your cake sit there, frost it with ice-cream layers using a spatula. Do not press it down much.
21. At last, ornament with Pineapple slices in the way you like. I kept it as a whole, but could trim it and convert in small pieces. 
22. Freeze it for 4 hours or overnight.
23. Take it out 10 minutes before serving and release the corners using a knife. De-mold on a plate and cut into slices or shapes as per your wish.
24. If using a spring-form pan, gently take the ring off and you see your cake all set and ready in two layers: The Cake, and The Ice-cream
25. With me, the gelatin I used was only 1/2 tsp so it could not set completely. When I tried to dismantle the cake, it wasn't coming out smooth, so we had it from the tin directly, enjoying looking at the star and eating everything within. My hubby said that it was the best cake ever. :)
26. Perhaps that's why, I don't have any pictures of the cake below and the slices. Also, it was off to our tummy in just 10 minutes. 

Suggestions:

1. Always cut and fold the mixture in a single direction. Cutting and Folding is nothing but mixing the cake in a circular fashion (like how you make a circle) and then cutting this circle into half and again circling.
2. In some cases, the cake shrinks in the middle and doesn't come out puffy; this happens either when the mixture is too loose or when you keep pricking the cake too often to check if it's done, out of anxiety. So, please be careful with this.
3. Do not invert the cake before it cools down else it would break (I know you just can't wait to taste it, but take a deep breath and hold on for some time. ;)) 
4.  The more gelatin you use, the firmer it gets on setting. Also, it gives the mousse-feel that you miss on when it's just ice-cream.
5. Whether set or not, whether shaped or not, any cake topped with ice-cream simply is enough to entice your taste buds. 
6. If you can't get gelatin and whipping cream, just layer the cake with ice-cream and top it with sliced pineapple.
7. Freezing for 4 hours or more is vital to set the piece as a whole. If you go hasty-nasty, you end up eating just 'cream-on-cake' rather than 'ice-cream-on-cake'.

 The cake flies off to:
My event: Cakes, Cookies and Desserts, 

I Love Baking  by Radhika, Let’s Cook ~ Sweet Somethings by Radhika,
Tea Time Treats  by Karen and Kate, Sweet Heat at Vanilla Clouds and Lemon Drops,
Cake of the Week at Casa Costello, Anu’s Bake Fest, Vardhini’s Sweet Luv, 

Kalyani’s Serve with love, Sumee’s Bon Vivant, Dish For Loved Ones by Srav's, 
Holi Hai at My Cook Book, Midweek Fiesta at Food Corner,
Spotlight- Colorful Holi  initiated by Indrani and hosted by Chandrani