Ice Cream Tall Cake

We had seven March birthdays

to celebrate this Sunday and 

I decided to give my brother's 

Ice Cream Tall Cake idea a try. 

This enormous cake has been 

a family tradition in his home 

for years and I finally 

decided to give it a try.

It consists of a layer of cake 

topped with three layers of 

ice cream.  Over the years 

as he has told me of how they 

made it, it seemed daunting, 

but I figured out a way 

to make it easier.  

I lined my cake pans with 

plastic wrap and then 

topped the plastic wrap 

with a round of parchment 

paper cut to fit.  Then I 

spooned the ice cream in, 

starting along the edges.  I 

used a whole container of 

ice cream for each layer. 

I finally pressed the layer 

down with the back of 

my metal measuring cup 

and did a final smoothing 

with a knife. 

I left the ice cream 

layers in the freezer 

overnight, as well as 

the baked cake layer.

It was so easy to lift 

the layers out using 

the plastic wrap and 

then removing the 

parchment paper.  

My brother Fritz always

frosts his with another 

container of ice cream, 

but I decided to use a 

large container of 

Cool Whip.  I liked 

that I could pipe the 

Cool Whip out.  

Of course, with that many 

birthdays, we had to top 

it with sprinkles.  My SIL 

loved the cake so much he 

said we needed to make 

this a weekly dessert!

From top to bottom the 

flavors are 

Mint Chocolate Chip

French Silk

Cookie Dough

The birthday drinks 

were made by frosting 

the edge of the goblets 

and then dipping in 

sprinkles.  We placed 

some cotton candy in each 

glass and poured 

Cherry 7Up in. 

Everyone loved watching 

the pop melt the 

cotton candy and 

turn the pop 

different colors. 

Thanks for stopping by 

to help us celebrate 

lots of birthdays.

Tales of the Traveling Tote 34 and a Giveaway

Welcome to our March 2023 Tales of the Traveling Tote!

I haven't been blogging much because I have been 

traveling so much!  I was hacked on Instagram and 

haven't been able to resolve that, so a little discouraged 

with social media at the moment.  

But travels go on and we want to take you along

to all of the places our group have been!

We have spent most of the snow laden 

winter down in Cabo and I was able to spend 

my birthday here with friends and Valentine's Day,

and we have done some entertaining.  

We have friends who have purchased a lot 

close to our home and they are coming down 

to work on plans for their home.  They invited us 

over to the Garza Blanca Resort, and we and Miss Madi K 

spent the day with them.  The picture above is out 

on their deck overlooking the pools.  All rooms have 

a hammock!  Everything was so luxurious. They were 

ready to open and then Covid hit, so they weren't able 

to open right away, so the resort is like brand new. 

The bedroom and bathroom were like from a movie set.

Look at this bench in the shower. 

When you enter the suite you think this is just a 

mirrored wall, but it is a huge sliding door that 

leads into the master bedroom.  I want one of these!

I brought my new coordinating tote that 

Deb gifted me.  I put my makeup in it as we 

were heading to dinner after the pool.  

We had shrimp, shrimp, shrimp poolside.  This was 

quite the place.  Miss Madi K carried all of the necessities 

to the pool!  I do worry a little when I take her to a pool, 

as she is quite valuable, and it would be horrible 

if someone walked off with her.

My friends surprised me with a 

sunset sailing adventure for 

my birthday 

through Cabo Sails, 

 complete with 

a birthday sash, crown and 

even a candle.  

My smaller tote came along for this adventure, 

filled with a shawl in case it got chilly. 

They paid extra for a special occasion cake and had 

even been asked how to spell my name, so we all 

had a good laugh when they brought this out.  I 

think they forgot about the cake and improvised. 

Despite the cake, the rest of the food was delicious 

and we had a wonderful time.

Valentine's dinner was with friends at 

Marea at the Montage Resort.  They have the 

most amazing lobster.  They had a special 

heart shaped chocolate mousse for dessert 

and then gifted everyone strawberries and 

cake pops.  Marea is situated ocean front and 

is one of our favorite special occasion places. 

I am blessed to have such wonderful and 

fun friends who love to travel too.  This group 

photo was taken at a lovely restaurant called 

Secret Garden. 

We always have to take an iconic pool photo.

Later we had another group of friends come and 

we did the sailing adventure with them.  The water 

was a little rougher,

and although the food was amazing again, people 

got a little seasick and didn't eat much. 

I brought my smaller tote along this time too. 

We still had a great time, 

and the sunset out on the ocean was fantastic. 

This is a sunset from the house.  We try to 

go to dinner after sunset every evening 

so we can watch it from home.  

While we are 

enjoying the sun and fabulous weather, the 

kids are being dumped on with record snows 

and it is supposed to snow again all week. We 

need the water, so that is good, but we are 

worried about the snow load on the roof and deck

of our Sundance home.

Thanks for coming along with me, my totes and 

our friends.  

Now for the giveaway:

Please visit my MacKenzie-Childs friends to 

see where they have been off to.

  Debbie with Miss Aurora @ Mountain Breaths 

Emily with Miss Courtney Childs@ The French Hutch

 Patti with Miss Kenzie @ Pandora's Box  

Jenna with Miss Coquille @The Painted Apron

Linda P with Miss Lola @ Life and Linda

Rita with Miss Luna C @ Panoply 

Sarah with Miss Merri Mac @ Hyacinths for the Soul

Jackie and Miss Madi K @ Purple Chocolat Home

Ricki Jill and Countess De Monet @ The Sketchy Reader

See you again in June!