Ice Cream Cone Birthday Cakes

Happy Monday - hoping all the dads out there had a wonderful Father's Day. My hubby spent the morning mountain biking and then we got our girls ready and met my parents at a HUGE dairy farm for Sundae on the Farm. We took a tour of the brand new milking barn and saw many many cows. They are huge - but so cute! And, by many cows, here's what the number looks like. This particular farm has over 650 milking Holsteins and 1,600 animals! Some of these cows help brand names like Cabot make their cheese. Speaking of dairy, my daughter went to a very cute birthday party for her friend on Saturday. It was ice cream themed and I had to share the custom cake her mom had made. Don't you just love it?

 Ice Cream Cone Birthday Cake

After seeing this cake - I had to go onto pinterest and look for more ice cream cone birthday cakes :) There are so many ideas - some have used the cones to build castles with - others have made it appear as if the ice cream was melting on the cake with the use of frosting. And, some have the cake covered in rainbow sprinkles. What's you favorite ice cream cone cake design?

Ice cream sprinkle birthday cake | via http://themoonblushbaker.blogspot.com

Melting ice cream cone birthday cake | via http://www.sweetestkitchen.com

Homemade Hot Fudge Sauce Your Kids Will Love

It's the season for ice cream and this past weekend, a banana split was calling our names. My husband wanted to get all the fixings for us, but I knew I've never seen a natural hot fudge sauce in our area stores. In particular, one that didn't contain high fructose corn syrup and wasn't made on shared equipment or in a plant with nuts {our older girl has a gluten and nut allergy}. So, I went pinterest searching and made the most delicious and easy hot fudge sauce recipe that my daughter LOVED along with myself and my hubby {thank you Mama Ging}.

Homemade Hot Fudge Sauce
- 1 cup sugar
- 2 tbsp corn starch
- 3 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 cup milk
- 2 1/2 tbsp butter {I used Land O'Lakes Spreadable Butter with Canola Oil}
- 1 tsp vanilla extract

In a saucepan, whisk together sugar, cornstarch and cocoa. Add milk and butter. Bring to a boil. Once boiling, removed from heat and stir with whisk for 1 minute. Now add vanilla and stir to combine. Let cool a bit before eating {if you can}. Makes approx  1 1/2 cups of sauce. {this recipe can easily be doubled or tripled if needed}