The Ice Cream Birthday Cake

You are looking at a "home-made" ice cream cake. When I asked Emily what kind of cake she wanted for her birthday, she said a chocolate ice cream cake.

Several years ago, Mark and Michelle gave the cake kit that is specifically designed to make this type of filled cake. So, I got out the instructions and began the cake adventure. When I say adventure, you have no idea what paths this cake took to get to where it ended up. When I got up on Thursday, I decided today would be the day I baked this cake. I made one right after I got the kit, it was for Shelbie, so I thought to myself, this was pretty easy, and should be able to knock it out in no time. I sat down book in hand, and read the portion about the ice cream filled one. This cake is baked with three pieces of

a cake pan. One is called the tall pan, one is called the insert, and the last is just a round cake pan. The tall pan has markings on it's side, you know the "fill" line, you mix up the batter, fill the tall pan with batter up to just below the fill line, place the insert pan on top (that's the one that makes the hole", lock it into position, fill the round pan half full, and wall-la, in the oven it goes. I went onto other things, but I started to smell burning cake. So I whipped on the light in the oven, and what do you think I found? Yep, the tall pan was spilling out cake batter all over the oven floor. What to do what to do? I turned "off" the 350 oven, took the cakes out. Waited for a few, took a spatula and cleaned out the spilled cake. This cake is chocolate, so it was a mess. I opened the tall cake pan, used a 1/2 cup measure, and took out about 1 to 2 cups of the batter. Replaced the top, put it back in the oven, and once again went on to other things. Long and the short of this story is this. That cake spilled it's contents 2 more times. Now you would have thought I would have learned something from the first mess, NO NOT ME, after the second time, I put the cake on a round pizza pan. It filled that pizza pan and burned it's contents. Once I cleaned it up the third time, I just knew that cake was going to be the joke of the party. Funny thing about that cake, it turned out okay. Tasted good, and the addition of the vanilla ice cream made it special for my sweet Emily. I have cleaned the oven, and it's all just a memory. It is still a mystery why it happened. Sher-girl and I have mulled it over and over, and I have decided that I either need to cook more, or quit cooking all together, 'cause that mess was the mess to end all messes.

P.S. Have you ever had burned chocolate cake crumbs all over "everything". Well I did, and I don't want it ever again!!

Sher Girl

You are wondering why anyone would be called "Sher-Girl", that's an odd nickname. It's a name her Mom gave her, and it seems to fit. Her Mom, my mother in law, had a name for her son, my husband. Gar-bo, short for Gary boy. So we had Gar-bo and Sher-girl. What's even funnier is we called our son Tim...Tim-bo, well at least that's what his Dad called him. Just thought an explanation of the title was needed, sort of got off the path.

I met Sher-girl when I met Gar-bo, well at least when I met the family. Yes, Michelle, I am the older one. Less than a year however. Sher-girl and I became the best of friends. She was the one who promoted me to the family, so they would let me in to their circle. We had a lot of fun in those days. We went to the drive-in all the time, even in the winter. There were lots of drive-ins to go to in the "olden"days. They had these window heaters. They ran on propane, and it's a wonder we didn't die in the car. It would be so cold outside, that the windows would ice up inside. Yes, we scraped the windows on the inside so we could see our "favorite" movie: Irma LaDouce. I don't know how many times we saw that movie, maybe Sher-girl knows. We liked that movie so much we each have it. At that time I was a hairdresser, and so we had lots of fun changing hairstyles and of course color. You never knew for sure what we were gona look like after a day of primping. Sher-girl and I have been friends for over 45 years. That's a long long long time.

When Sher-girl got married she moved to Washington. I don't remember how long she was there, but I missed her. When she came home, I was happy she did.

A lot of water has gone under the bridge these past 45 years. But what remains true is our friendship. We still have fun together, but not the drive-in thing. I think we're too old, couldn't possibly stay awake long enough to see two movies, let alone the three they show at the only drive in movie left. We have talked about it, just no action taken. I think one thing I enjoy the most is the shopping. Have you ever shopped with Sher-girl. Well let me tell you it is an experience. She will pick up something she likes, and the whole time you are walking around, she is pondering the purchase. Nine chances out of ten, she will decide against it. Just when you think it's a done deal, the game changes. I LOVE IT!! Nothing with her is written in stone when it comes to shopping.

We decided to take up beading. We enrolled in the classes and away we went. We had a lot of fun trying, and we talk about getting together to create, but haven't done that. Somebody is always spilling the beads, and you know who you are. Ever tried cleaning up seed beads from a bare floor? Not fun, and you clean them up for weeks and weeks. Some of our masterpieces hang around the necks of our family members, or on their wrists. I think they wear them so they won't hurt our feelings. Those family members are great sports and we love you for it.

Sher-girl is my sister in law, but will always be a best friend first. We shared dark times during our friendship, we have shared happier ones too. We became parents, grandparents and now Sher-girl is about to become a "great granny". Does that make her older than me..........NOW!! What do you think. Actually, I am in no hurry to be a "great granny", I think I have lots and lots of time for that event. Anyway, we are all looking forward to the new baby. It's been a long time since there was a wee one to grab onto.

So, here's to Sher-girl, a friend through thick and thin. I am toasting you with a can of Diet Cherry Cola, but I would much rather it be some expensive champagne! Love you!!