ice cream cake!

The idea behind this was that I was going to use gelato and make a gelato cake... however, I was in a bit of a rush - and ended up just running into Loblaws and grabbing a chocolate ice cream filled with brownie pieces... nothing wrong with that! Paired with my double chocolate chip cookies as a base and some whipped cream - frozen desserts re-created!

I searched my favourite blogs high and low looking for some hints and inspiration... and found it at 101 Cookbooks - Heidi has done it again! Using her Tropical Icebox Cake recipe I was able to adapt it and bring it to Sara's birthday party (one of two desserts that I made for the birthday girl)...

I hope that this recipe is able to inspire you to make an ice cream cake this summer - an easy way to beat the summer heat (or humidity for those of us in Ottawa).

There are a few steps to this recipe - more time intensive than labour intensive.

Chocolate Ice Cream Cake
ingredients:

Crust:
1 dozen double chocolate chip cookies (see recipe from June 25)
3 tbsp brown sugar
5 tbsp butter, melted

Filling:
2 1/2 c. of PC Loads of Chocolate Brownie Chunk ice cream, softened

Whipped topping:
2 c. heavy cream
4 tbsp white sugar

In a food processor, blend the cookies until they become quite crumbly. Add the sugar and butter and pulse until it resembles coarse sand.

Divide the crust in half, and pack a thin layer of the cookie base into the base of a spring form pan. Set the other half aside, you'll need it in a bit.

Take the softened ice cream and layer it over the cookie base. Place in the freezer and leave it there until the ice cream is hard again.

Once the bottom portion of the cake is ready (frozen hard - I left mine in for 90 minutes) prepare the whipped topping. Beat the heavy cream and sugar together over high speed with your hand mixer. You want the result to be thick but not too stiff.

Now, remove the frozen base from the freezer and top it with the remainder of the cookie crumble. Top that with the whipped cream. Return to the freezer and allow it to freeze as well. The original recipe recommended overnight, I didn't have that time, so I left mine in the freezer for 4 hours.

When I removed the cake from the freezer I topped with slivered almonds and removed the side from the spring form pan.

An uber rich treat for Sara!!! Happy birthday (weekend) lady!

some ideas for base and filling - gingersnaps with coconut gelato, my margarita cookies with a lemon gelato, a dark chocolate cookie with a vanilla ice cream/ frozen yogurt/ gelato tossing in some brazil nuts, or a peanut butter cookie with a peanut butter gelato... sigh. so many options. thankfully summer has just started ;0)