Raynee's birthday cake request

So my one and only niece had her 10th birthday in August and she requested that I make her an ice cream cake...a little fyi, I am usually the one to make all of the cakes for birthday's in our family and I definitely enjoy doing it...I've never been one to do the fondant thing. You can make some really fabulous cakes with amazing detail, but I've never taken the time to figure fondant out so I just do cakes the old-fashioned way: the cake, the frosting and the decorating frosting.

So when my niece suggested I make an ice cream cake, I though, why not? I'm always up for a challenge! But I also wasn't sure how the end result would turn out to be since I've never made one before and was a little nervous at the disastrous results that could take place from my inexpererience!

So I did a little research online, and I came up with the idea of incorporating the fresh and overabundance of lavender that I had growing in my front yard. My mom's nagging to plant the lavender bush she bought for me I guess did pay off in a roundabout way, so I decided to find a recipe that would allow me to use the fragrant blooms instead of letting them waste away...

So I made a white cake with lavender blended and mixed into the batter and did 2 layers of cake. I love doing layers so I can hide that extra layer of frosting in the middle~ you can never have too much frosting, right? I made a whipped cream frosting mixture that I knew would work well with the ice cream part of the cake. I figured the best way to mold the ice cream so it incorporated with the rest of the cake was to let it melt slightly, then transfer it into my springform cake pan so I could easily remove the mold from around the ice cream once it hardened.

All in all, the molding of the ice cream part was a little tricky, as I transferred it to the top of the cake too early, so it became solid in sort of a droopy shape, so I had to shave the sides down to match the bottom of the cake. But luckily it wasn't a totally disastrous situation, and I thought it turned out pretty well for my first try.

I also love yellow and purple together so I used up some homemade lemon curd that I had made with the yolks I wasn't supposed to put into the cake batter, so it worked out perfectly and didn't have to waste the yolks; I hate when recipes call for only egg whites! I also drizzled lavender syrup on top of the frosting so it dripped down the sides; not quite as eloquent-looking as I would have liked, but who's keeping track anyway?

I was really quite proud of the job I did and thought incorporating the lavender/lemon combo into the cake was pure genius!! That was, until Raynee informed me that one of her friends thought the cake was gross and didn't like the lavender, it made her want to puke...hmmm, nothing like getting the harsh truth out of the mouths of babes, right?? I think next time I'll leave the adult flavor of lavender out of any future kids cakes I might be making, wasn't such a hit afterall!! LOL But as far as everybody else goes, they liked it and thought I did a good job presentation-wise...and that's good enough for me :)

I wish I would have taken a picture of what the layers of cake and ice cream looked like in the middle, it really was a pretty combination. Oh well, ya live and ya learn!!

Raynee and her friend and 3 of my boys...