Ice Cream Cake

Yesterday was my oldest daughter’s birthday. And while I tend to think that the only kind of birthday cake there is, is a double layer chocolate with thick chocolate icing, she had different ideas. She wanted an ice cream cake. So rather than spend money on a bought ice cream cake that tastes like not much of anything (I’ve done that before), I came up with this one. You’ll notice I still managed to get plenty of chocolate in, but the beauty of this is that you can use any flavour you like.

One thing to note, the recipe calls for a layer of fudge topping. I had a half finished jar of marshmallow cream which I almost never use, so I thought I would just add some cocoa powder to it, heat it up, and use it in place of the fudge topping. On the plus side, it adds a very chewy, tasty, and extremely decadent layer under the ice cream. But on the negative side, it was very difficult to spread as it became a glue-like substance as soon as it was poured onto the crust. I also needed a very sharp knife to cut through that bottom layer. Consider yourself warned! All quantities in this recipe are approximate; add or diminish as you desire.

Ingredients:

1 cup chocolate cookie crumbs (or substitute graham wafer crumbs)
1/4 cup butter
1 cup thick chocolate sauce or fudge topping
2L ice cream (any flavour, can be 1L each of two different flavours)
1 cup whipping cream

Melt butter, then add cookie crumbs. Stir until well combined. Press into bottom of a greased, 9″ springform pan. Spread fudge topping over crust. Freeze for at least 15 minutes while you soften the ice cream. Spread softened ice cream evenly over the crust. Freeze for 30 minutes. If you are using two layers of ice cream, freeze for an additional 30 minutes between layers. Spread with whipping cream. Garnish with chocolate drizzle, fruit, or pie filling. Freeze until firm. Remove from freezer for a few minutes before serving so cake will be easier to slice.

Image – Cathy Spalding – free for public use with link back to this blog