Cubicle kitchen: Peppermint Patty-cakes

I have a tendency to stockpile ice cream.  It's not my fault, Blue Bell just has so many good flavors that are only available in half gallons.  And given that I eat them one serving at a time, it takes a while, and sometimes I'm just ready to move onto another flavor before working through a full carton.

Which is why I love the fact that ice cream can be melted and baked into a cake mix to give you a moist and delicious cake with a variety of flavor combination possibilities.  I decided that chocolate and mint would be a refreshing one for this week.

Peppermint Patty-cakes
(adapted from Cookies and Cups)
Makes about 72 mini cupcakes

Ingredients:

Cake:

• 1 box Devil's Food cake mix
• 1 pint mint ice cream
• 3 eggs
• 1/2 tsp peppermint extract

Glaze (see directions for amounts):

• powdered sugar
• water
• peppermint extract

Directions:

1. Make sure your ice cream is completely melted.  You can either leave it out on the counter for a while, or take a shortcut and zap it in the microwave until it's soup.
2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
3. Beat together melted ice cream with cake mix, eggs, and extract.
4. Fill mini-muffin cups 2/3 full with batter.  Bake for about 10 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.  Let cakes cool on rack.

To make glaze:

1. Fill a mug at least halfway with powdered sugar.
2. Add a drop or two of peppermint extract.
3. Add a little bit of water and stir, repeating until the glaze is the right consistency.  It should be thin enough to drizzle onto the cakes, but not too thin.  Be careful when adding the water, it should only take a very small amount, perhaps a teaspoon.
4. Drizzle onto the cakes.  I like to do this while they are sitting on a wire rack with a cookie sheet beneath it to catch the drips.
5. Repeat until you've glazed each cake.