Mirror Shard Mini Ice Cream Cakes from The Snow Queen

Posted February 6, 2020 by Alison's Wonderland Recipes in Book of the Month Recipes / 0 Comments

I’m back with another Hans Christian Andersen recipe! When I created a poll asking folks what Andersen stories they wanted to see recipes for, “The Ugly Duckling” won by a landslide (you can see my recipe for it here), and there was a three way tie for second place! Today I’m making the first of those three: The Snow Queen. It seemed best to do it now since winter is almost over. It feels strange to write that, since winter here has been so mild that it feels like it just started. It’s almost like God is apologizing for last winter, which was monstrously cold and felt eternal.

The recipe we’re making today is inspired by the magic mirror that causes so much trouble in “The Snow Queen.” Splinters of the broken mirror lodge themselves in the heart and eyes of a little boy named Kai, making him see only the ugliness and evil of the world and none of its beauty. I’ve always found the story’s mirror quite intriguing since it doesn’t actually change anything about the world—only people’s perception of it, which is rather fitting for a mirror—and thereby corrupts them to evil, revealing just how much impact perception can have on our lives.

For the recipe, I wanted something frozen of course, which led me to the idea of an ice cream cake. I liked the idea of mini cakes better, since larger, more elaborate ice cream recipes can get tricky if they take so long the ice cream starts to melt. These easy cupcake-sized cakes feature a crushed almond and shortbread crumb crust, amaretto ice cream filling, whipped cream, and mirror “shards” made from melted Jolly Ranchers.

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Snow Queen Mirror Shard Mini Ice Cream Cakes: An AWR Original Recipe

“Higher and higher still they flew, nearer and nearer to the stars, when suddenly the mirror shook so terribly with grinning, that it flew out of their hands and fell to the earth, where it was dashed in a hundred million and more pieces.”

— The Snow Queen

INGREDIENTS:

1 cup shortbread cookie crumbs
2½ Tbsp crushed almonds
2 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted
2½ cups vanilla bean ice cream
2½ Tbsp Amaretto
8 oz. frozen whipped topping, thawed
10 Jolly Ranchers, blue

Makes 10 mini ice cream cakes

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Fill a cupcake pan with cupcake liners and set aside. In a medium bowl, whisk together cookie crumbs, crushed almonds, and melted butter with a fork until well combined.
2. Spoon 2 tablespoons cookie crumb mix into each liner and firmly press flat. Freeze for 30 minutes.
3. In a medium bowl, beat together ice cream and Amaretto with a hand mixer on medium speed until smooth. Divide ice cream evenly between cupcake liners (approximately ¼ cup per liner). Freeze for 1 hour.
4. Preheat oven to 350°. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and space Jolly Ranchers ½ inch apart on the parchment paper. Place in oven for 7 minutes or until melted. Remove and allow to cool. Using the end of a spoon, strike melted candy at intervals at least 3 inches apart (this will prevent the candy from breaking into pieces that are too small to use).
5. Fit a piping bag with a large star tip (such as a Wilton #1M tip) and fill with whipped topping. Pipe whipped topping onto frozen cakes. Place 3 candy shards on top of each cake. Freeze until ready to serve.
6. Serve to the Snow Queen to melt her frozen heart!