When birthdays make their appearance in my family, there is one thing that has always been a constant, ice cream cake. A family tradition spanning years, it has been there even for births. We were not well off growing up and were only allowed a “party” every two years. This worked out for us, as one of us would have a party one year, and the other the next. But even on our “off” years, we were allowed the indulgence of receiving a cake made just for us. Our name scrawled across the top in so many gelled letters, and our favourite characters stenciled in too.

But for years, my family has been buying the commercially make Dairy Queen Cakes, which are, well, commercially made. I thought to myself, I must be able to make this and it will a thousand times better. Indeed. What could be simpler than piling ice cream, fudge, cookie crumbs and more ice cream? The changes I made were simply to use better ingredients. Being that the name is “ice cream cake”, one would be correct to assume that the ice cream is the star of the show. So don’t cheap out, use good quality ice cream for this cake and you will surely, not be disappointed.

Chocolate Ice Cream Cake

2 litres chocolate ice cream
1/2 oz vodka
Smuckers Hot Fudge Sauce (334 mL)
1/2 pkg. Mr. Christie Chocolate cookies (100g)
1 cup whipping cream
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 tsp sugar

1. Allow ice cream to sit at room temperature for at least 30-40 minutes.
2. Divide into 2 9″ baking pans with bottom lined in parchment paper. Return to freezer to allow to refreeze.
3. In small bowl, mix fudge sauce with vodka (this is to prevent the fudge sauce from freezing solid). Set aside or refrigerate.
4. In another bowl or food processor, crush cookies into small crumbs.

5. When cake has sufficiently freezed, cut along sides of pan with a knife and flip onto a plate. Immediately move to freezer again for another 30 minutes.
6. When cake layer has frozen again, top with fudge, then cookie crumbs. When ready to serve, top with last layer of cake.
7. Serve with whipped cream. (To make whipped cream, beat whipping cream, vanilla and sugar until stiff and fluffy)

(Side note, here is an alternate method of making this cake: If you have a cheescake pan, this would be better, but I didn’t at the time. In a 9″ cheesecake pan, pour half the ice cream and return to freezer to freeze. When frozen, pour on fudge and cookies. Pour second half of ice cream over the cookies and allow to freeze for 24 hours. To serve, remove cheesecake pan and flip onto plate. Top with whipped cream as above.)