Ice Cream Cake

One of Jake's favorite foods is ice cream.  He just loves it.  So when it came time to decide on what cake to make for his birthday, Mary Beth chose to make an ice cream cake. 

As you might expect, there are a million recipes for ice cream cakes.  She found one on line that sounded good--and it was.  Nice mix textures and flavors.  She decorated it with some cowboy toys that he has (to go with the theme of the day).  She actually made 2 of them--one for the family party and one for his friends.

It's a little time-consuming, but not hard.  And the results are really tasty.

Peanut Butter-Chocolate Cookie Ice Cream Cake

Serves 16

You can use whatever flavors of ice cream you want.  Jake wanted chocolate, Reese's PB Cup & Turkey Hill Eagles Ice Cream, which is, I think, vanilla with chocolate swirl and chocolate-covered peanut butter footballs.

INGREDIENTS
1 (9 oz) package chocolate wafer cookies
3/4 cup natural peanut butter
1 pint each of 3 different flavors of ice cream, softened
1 cup heavy cream

1/4 cup confectioners' sugar

1 oz semisweet chocolate, grated (optional)

1. Line a 9" square baking dish with two 24" sheets of plastic wrap, allowing excess to hang over sides.  Arrange 9 cookies in pan with 3 cookies standing up along each side.  (MB made one of them in a round spring-form pan.)
2. Warm peanut butter in microwave for 30 seconds; drizzle 1/4 cup on cookies in pan.  Spoon 1 flavor of ice cream on top and cover with 8 cookies.  Repeat layering twice with 1/4 cup peanut butter, a pint of ice cream and more cookies.  Cover with overhanging plastic wrap and press down to compress layers.  Cover with second sheet of plastic and freeze for at least 3 hours and up to 1 week.
3. To unmold, dip pan into warm water, unwrap cake and invert a platter on top.  Flip cake over and remove pan and wrap.  Return cake to freezer.
4. Whip cream and confectioners' sugar until stiff.  Spread on cake and sprinkle with chocolate, if desired.  (MB ground up some of the chocolate wafers in a food processor and topped the cake with them to make it look like dirt.)
5. The recipe doesn't say this, but we suggest that you let the cake stand at room temperature for 10-15 minutes to make it easier to cut.