Ice Cream Cake Cupcakes with a Chocolate Shell

For my husband's birthday I came up with a new take on cake and ice cream--the ice cream cake cupcake with a chocolate shell.  I usually make my famous ice cream cake for his birthday but this year I wanted to do something different.  For my husband it is not about the decorations when it comes to the party...it is about the food.  So I wanted to come up with something really tasty and unique.  I think I found a winner.   

Ice Cream Cake Cupcakes with a Chocolate Shell

What you will need:

-Silicone baking cups/cupcake liners

-Chocolate to melt (or vanilla or peanut butter chips!  oh the madness!!!)

-Cake--any kind homemade or box

-Ice Cream--any kind

-Homemade whipped cream

Place silicone cupcake liners on a baking pan.  I found my liners at Crate and Barrel. 

Melt chocolate over a double broiler.  It helps doing it on the stove if you are making a lot because it keeps the chocolate melted without burning.

Paint a layer of chocolate on the cupcake liners.  Refrigerate.  Paint again.  I painted three layers, refrigerating in between but next time I would test two layers as three came out pretty thick.

I baked my cake in a mini cupcake pan as it was the perfect size to go inside the chocolate shell.  But as you can see, that turned out a mess.  So you could very well just make a sheet cake and crumble the cake into the chocolate shells.  Your choice.  Either way no one will know once the whole thing is frozen.

Once chocolate shells are fully refrigerated, they peel right out of the silicone mold.  I was a little scared about this, but these babies popped out perfectly easy.

Fill chocolate shells with cake.

I wanted to get as much ice cream as I could in these cupcakes (as well as compensate for my cake mess) so I used this little tool from Pampered Chef to press the cake into the shells.

 Some are pretty...some are messy.  No big deal.

Once all shells are filled with cake, top with a heaping scoop of ice cream.  Put in freezer to freeze the ice cream just enough where it is not melting anymore.

I made a homemade whipped cream for the frosting.

And then piped them on to each of the cupcakes.

Back in the freezer they go until hard.

And then I patted myself on the back.  I have outdone myself.  These things are amazing.  And so many possibilities.  A layer of candy in between cake and ice cream?  Definitely next time.