Vegan Ice Cream Cake Bar!

So my plan for my sister's b-day (which fell on T-day this year) was to make individual little ice cream cakes for everyone. I used the Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World chocolate cupcake recipe and doubled it to make two cakes. I then cut out individual little circle-cakes with a glass (the two cakes yielded about 7 of them). My plan was then to coat each cake with a mixture of caramel and oreo cookies and then use one of my martini glasses to shape the ice cream into a cone-shape on each cake. I then planned on drizzling fudge over each of them and serving them with soy whipped cream.

But, as with most well-intentioned plans, things went awry: The caramel sauce was thin and drizzly instead of thicker as I'd assumed from the recipe which said the sauce was "thick but pourable at room temperature." It was not. However, I *did* use cornstarch instead of arrowroot. So that could've been the problem, although they SHOULD be relatively interchangeable (3:2 ratio of cornstarch to arrowroot). Nonetheless: I was forced to change plans and instead decided to reverse things up and make an oreo-fudge layer for the cake-tops and use the caramel to drizzle all over everything. Fine and good. But then I tried to shape the ice cream and realized that there was NO way in hell THAT was gonna work.

Then: KABBLAM! Ephiphany! Ice cream cake bar!!!!



I knew my sister would love it, so when it came time for dessert, I brought out one of the boring little plain individual cakes with some candles in it. Disappointing surely. But after she blew out the candles, I announced that--taddah!--there was an ice cream cake bar. Woot woot! Cafeteria style, I laid out oreo-fudge, caramel sauce, oreos, vanilla and chocolate ice cream, and soy whip, and everyone lined up and made their own ice cream cakes.

It rocked.

This is my sister thinking to herself: Boy does this ice cream cake bar rock! And also, Boy do I hate you and your motherf-ing camera.



Had I thought of this plan initially, I probably would've just made the chocolate cupcake recipe AS chocolate cupcakes instead of cake and served THOSE for the ice cream cake bar instead, because as it was, I have a contained of misshapen cake-fragments left over from cutting out mini-cake circles. But hey: you live and learn, you know?

So although there isn't a specific recipe for the cake in its entirety, I am posting the two sauce recipes, since they were both really delish. The caramel sauce is thin and drizzly and uber-sweet. The fudge is thick and dense, a little bit difficult to work with and thin out (perhaps a bit more soy milk would've helped) but seriously fricking fantastic.

Enjoy!



CARAMEL SAUCE

INGREDIENTS:

• 1/2 c. Earth Balance or other vegan margarine


• 2 c. brown sugar


• 3/4 c. soy creamer or soy milk (or other non-dairy milk)


• 2 T. arrowroot (or 3 T. cornstarch)

DIRECTIONS

Combine 1/4 cup soy creamer with the arrowroot. Set aside.

Melt the Earth Balance in a saucepan. Stir in brown sugar. Add remaining 1/2 cup soy creamer. Bring liquid to a boil and boil for 4 minutes, stirring frequently.

Take the pan off the heat and immediately add arrowroot slurry. The liquid should thicken quickly.

Pour over ice cream! Or store in fridge for up to one week.

(Recipe from the ppk)




OREO FUDGE SAUCE

INGREDIENTS:

• 1/2 c. cocoa or carob powder


• 2 T. cornstarch


• 1 1/4 c. soy milk, rice milk, or other non-dairy milk of choice


• 1/2 c. maple syrup


• 1 t. vanilla


• 12 to 15 oreo cookies, ground

DIRECTIONS

In a small bowl, sift together the cocoa and cornstarch.

Transfer the cocoa mixture to a small saucepan and whisk 1/2 cups soy milk into the cocoa mixture. Add the remaining soy milk and maple syrup to saucepan and whisk well to combine.

Cook the mixture over medium heat, while whisking constantly, for 2-3 minutes or until it forms a thick sauce. (It will happen all the sudden--like BLAM! Suddenly thick!)

Remove the saucepan from the heat and whisk in the vanilla. Stir in the oreo cookie crumbles.

Serve warm as a topping for cakes, desserts, non-dairy ice cream or sorbet, or as a dipping sauce for fruit. Store in an airtight container, in the refrigerator, and reheat as needed.

(Recipe adapted from The Vegan Chef)