looks like your table/cell tags may be a bit off, try this
Code:
<TABLE border="0" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="0">
<TR>
<TD rowspan="2" width="23">
{if $minicart_total_items > 0}
[img]{$ImagesDir}/cart_full.gif[/img]{else}[img]{$ImagesDir}/cart_empty.gif[/img]{/if}
</TD>
<TD class="VertMenuItems">{if $minicart_total_items > 0}
{$lng.lbl_items}: </TD>
<TD class="VertMenuItems" color="#0000ff">{$minicart_total_items}{else}<CENTER>
{$lng.lbl_cart_is_empty}</CENTER>{/if}</TD>
</TR>
<TR>
<TD class="VertMenuItems">{if $minicart_total_items > 0}
{$lng.lbl_total}: </TD>
<TD class="VertMenuItems">{include file="currency.tpl" value=$minicart_total_cost}{/if}</TD>
</TR>
</TABLE>
<HR size="1" NOSHADE class="VertMenuHr">
this works for me in 4.0.17
mike