Tim Shank's Independence Day Cones

The man of many names was born on the Fourth of July. Tim/Chris/Tom/Jim had his 22nd birthday celebration on Sunday. Tim always has great cake compliments. His generous servings say more than any words could. He is not a picky eater, so I had a lot of freedom with his cake. I knew exactly what kind of a design I wanted to do, but I was unsure of the flavor. It may have been a little too much freedom!

After some long thought and discussion, I realized I had been missing an obvious obsession of Tim's. He is obsessed with Mountain Dew! He is also a recent fan of whiskey sour. Ah ha!

After the recent lemon-blueberry cake for Amy, I was worried that a lemon-lime cake would be too similar. I pulled out my Susan Branch recipe book in search of ideas. Eli suggested that kiwi would taste a lot like Mountain Dew. I had never done a kiwi cake before, so that sounded like a good plan. After a trip to Wegmans, I had several options for flavors.

For the cake, I pureed two kiwis and juiced one lime and one half of a lemon and substituted that in for water in a white cake mix. I had strawberies, and I couldn't pass up adding another fruit to this cake, so I sliced some up and placed them in the batter before baking.

I came across this ice cream cone cake idea. The recipe called for buttercream frosting, but I thought that might be a bit heavy. It was also a hot day, so something lighter seemed more appetizing. I did a quick google search for Cool Whip frosting, found a basic recipe and worked with that. I bought two 16 oz tubs of Cool Whip, and used about 3/4 of it. I added one packet of lemon pudding mix, an unknown amount of confectioner's sugar, lemon juice, lime juice, and a packet of whiskey sour mix. Then I put it in the freezer so it would stiffen up. I also added three packets of Pop Rocks (which I had to make a special trip to Jo-Ann Fabrics for. They always have the best candy there!). I thought they would remind everyone of fireworks, but they had all popped in the icing before anyone could notice. Next time, I would sprinkle them on top.

Step one: put flat-bottom ice cream cones in muffin tin

Step two: pour in cake batter and add strawberries. Yes, you bake the cake IN the cones!

Fresh out of the oven! Note: add cooking time when baking in cones.

I had originally planned on piping swirls on the cones, but my bags kept bursting. Instead, I used an ice cream scoop.

I added some red, white & blue sprinkles for a little more festivity. Looks like ice cream to me!

See what I mean about the complimenting without words? He had two of these heavy cones! (It was a costume party. This is not his normal look!)

Happy birthday, Tim!