Gooey Chocolate Chip Cookie Sundaes and a Giveaway!

Yesterday was my 3rd wedding anniversary, and to celebrate I made an extra special dessert that my husband and I fell in love with while on honeymoon at Disneyland.  During our time there we took a break to explore the other areas in Disneyland and went off in search of some food.  We ended up at an ESPN Zone sports cafe (we'd never been in one, as they don't have them in Canada).  I can't remember what we got for lunch, but I sure do remember what we had for dessert.  In fact, I haven't stopped thinking about that dessert for the past 3 years, so finally decided the buy the necessary equipment to make my own mini versions of it.

The dessert I'm talking about is simply called the Chocolate Chip Cookie Sundae.  It's actually a warm and gooey chocolate chip cookie that's been freshly baked in a cast iron skillet.  Just after it's taken out of the oven, and while it's still piping hot, a few scoops of ice cream are added on top along with whipped cream and chocolate sauce to create the ultimate sundae.  

 ESPN's version

The combination of a warm chocolate chip cookie along with the slightly melted ice cream and chocolate sauce makes this sundae one of the most delicious and decadent things I've ever had.  So when I came across these mini cast iron pans at TK Maxx, I just had to get them as I knew they'd be the perfect size to replicate a single serving of ESPN's Chocolate Chip Cookie Sundae.  Plus they're just so darn cute!  I'm also slightly obsessed with anything mini, so I just couldn't resist.

To make these yummy little sundaes you can either use mini cast iron skillets like I did, or use a slightly larger one (like the size you'd use for a fried egg) and share it with someone else - or if you're feeling particularly sinful - just eat it all yourself!  I promise I won't tell!

Making these chocolate chip cookie sundaes couldn't be easier.  All you'll need is some chocolate chip cookie dough - I used the same Jacques Torres cookie dough I used for the cookies I made here.  Take enough cookie dough for a single cookie (or double if you're using a larger skillet), place it in the center of your cast iron skillet and cook it at 350ºF (175ºC) for about 8-10 mins (or 13-15 mins if using a larger skillet).  

When the cookie is done baking the edges should be golden brown, but the center should still be nice and gooey.  Let the cookie cool slightly - only a minute or two so your ice cream doesn't totally melt into a liquid pool.  After the minute or so, simply drop a scoop of ice cream on top of the warm cookie, and top with chocolate sauce and/or whipped cream, caramel sauce, sprinkles, nuts etc.  It's up to you, just use whatever you like. 

That's really all there is to it!  Make sure you place the pan on a heat prof surface like a pot holder, wooden cutting board or plate so you don't burn yourself, and eat immediately.  I found that baking the cookies in the cast iron skillets resulted in them having a delicious chewy caramelized edges. SO GOOD!!! Sooo good!!

Now, I understand that eating something like a warm and gooey freshly baked cookie fully loaded with chocolate, and covered with melting ice cream & chocolate sauce may get a little messy, so I've got the perfect solution for you.

The lovely ladies from Cooking Gorgeous have kindly offered to giveaway one of their beautiful aprons to one of my lucky readers.  

The entire range of aprons from Cooking Gorgeous are made in the UK, and they're also expertly designed. 

Their apron waist ties are longer than average (to tie in front or behind), the women's aprons are adjustable (to suit any décollotage) and the men's pockets are tapered (a must for manly hands).  They select high quality natural fabrics with a softness that belies their strength and retains the characteristics of natural fibers.  They don’t compromise on quality or design – everything needs to be up to the job and, naturally, cooking gorgeous. 

The apron up for grabs is from The Bottom Line range, and is valued at £31.99.  It comes in two different accent colours - pink or teal.  I think you all know which one I'd choose!  And don't you just love the cute little bow?  They really are gorgeous!  

If for some reason you'd prefer to have a different apron style other than The Bottom Line, you may choose whichever one you want provided that it is of equal or lesser value.  If you prefer an apron of a higher value you may pay the difference and choose whichever one you'd like.

To enter leave a comment below telling me what Cooking Gorgeous apron you would choose.  Additional entries can be earned by doing the following:

• Become a follower of Made With Pink using Google Friend Connect
• Become a fan of Made With Pink on Facebook 
• Follow Made With Pink on Twitter and tweet the following message: I've just entered to win a #CookingGorgeous apron from @Made_With_Pink and you can too. Enter here: http://tiny.cc/5vfgf

Links to all of the above are in the right hand column.  Maximum of 4 entries per person.  The winning comment will be chosen at random.

Open to Mainland UK residents only.  Contest closes at 11:59pm Friday July 22nd.  Winner will be announced shortly after.  

*** Please note that you MUST leave a comment below in order to be entered into the prize draw, otherwise I have no way of keeping track of who tweeted, followed etc.  If you make a comment anonymously then please leave an email address so I can contact you if you win. You should leave a separate comment for each of the 3 things listed above if you want to be entered more than once.  I will be using random.org to choose a number from all of the comments listed below in order to determine the winner. *** 

Good Luck!

Vanilla and Lemon Curd Layer Cake

Every once in a while there comes a special occasion that warrants a cake a little more extravagant than your regular sheet cake or cupcake.   For me that occasion comes only once a year.  No, it's not my birthday - although I can assure you, extravagant things are definitely accepted on that day!  The day I'm talking about is actually my wedding anniversary.  It's only come twice so far, but that doesn't mean it's any less significant to celebrate than if we were celebrating it for the 10th time.

Our original wedding cake was huge.  It was made up of 5 tiers (each a different flavour) with pink roses in between each tier, and fed nearly 200 people.  This time it was just the two of us, so I felt a single cake with 5 layers was more than sufficient.  I decided to take various elements from our wedding and use them as inspiration.  The actual cake it self was lemon flavoured with vanilla buttercream and lemon curd in between each layer - a similar flavour to the top tier of our original cake.  The outside of the cake was covered in lemon flavoured fondant, with fondant circles in different shades of pink and brown  - the colours from our wedding 2 years earlier.  I had planned on putting a few pink roses or peonies (the flowers from our wedding) on top of the cake, but London was in the midst of a heat wave, and at 31ºC (88ºF) inside our flat (apartment)  I figured the flowers would wilt before I could even put them on the cake. 

I had already made a few tissue paper pom poms (inspired from the balls covered in pink roses we had  hanging  at our wedding) to decorate the table with, so I made a miniature version to use on top of the cake. If you're interested in making your own tissue paper pom poms you can get the instructions here.

The cake itself was super easy to make - I used a Duncan Hines Lemon Supreme Cake Mix (I was too lazy to make my own from scratch) that I brought back from the US, (but available from here in the UK)  some vanilla buttercream and some lemon curd. Spread a layer of vanilla buttercream on the first layer of cake, then add a few spoonfuls of lemon curd on top and spread it evenly over the buttercream.  Add the next layer of cake, and repeat the buttercream and lemon curd process.  Do this for all the layers except the top layer of the cake.  Now you'll need to cover the whole cake in a thick layer of buttercream icing.  You could stop here and the cake would still taste great, but I wanted mine to look a bit fancier so I covered it in fondant and added the circles. The cake was amazing - a perfect combination of sweet vanilla and tart lemon. This cake would also taste great if you used a vanilla cake instead of the lemon.

Here's the cake with the rest of the tissue paper pom poms.  Serve it with some Country Time Pink Lemonade (available here in the UK) and you've got a perfect afternoon snack for two. 

Girls Weekend Away

When a good friend of mine asked if I could make her some themed cupcakes for a friends stagette weekend, or "hen-do" as they call it here in the UK, I knew that this project was going to be fun.  The girls were travelling on the Eurostar from London to Disneyland Paris, and needed a sweet treat to eat while on the train. I pretty much got free reign of what the cupcakes were going to look like. The only prerequisites were that one set had to have a Mickey or Minnie Mouse theme, and the other set had to be in lilac and dark purple - the bride to be's wedding colors.  I made the Minnie Mouse decorations and flowers out of gum paste, and the sparkly purple balls out of MMF (marshmallow fondant).  It was my first time using the edible glitter, and I loved the look of it.  There's just something really fun about eating something that is so sparkly and pretty.  Overall, I was really pleased with the way they turned out, and the girls absolutely LOVED them!