Celebration Ice Cream Cake

Well? What do you think of this ice cream cake?
Looks pretty good, right?
I made this for our 4th of July BBQ and everyone loved it…
but this can be made for any celebration.
Birthdays, picnics, holidays, great for any time.
It just takes a few days of prep to freeze.
It has a cookie crust on the bottom,
3 layers of ice cream with homemade fudge in the middle,
toffee bits, all topped with cool whip and sprinkles.
There are lady fingers (soft cookie holding it on the sides),
but you could also use Kit Kats or any long candy or cookie.
You can adjust the recipe for whatever cookie,
ice cream and candies you like.

Ingredients:

3 cups ground cookies (Nilla Wafers, Oreos, graham crackers, or even pretzels)
3 containers of ice cream, can be same or different flavors (the quart size)
24 oz. chocolate chips (could be white chocolate, semi-sweet, dark, butterscotch, etc..)
5 oz. mini marshmallows (1/2 bag approximately)
1 can evaporated milk
candies for the fudge layer (mini chocolate chips, toffee bits, broken up cookies, m&ms, etc.)
1 to 2 package of tall cookies or candies (Lady fingers or Kit Kat bars, etc.)
cool whip (I use this and not whipped cream because it holds up better in the freezer)
sprinkles

The only recipe is really for the fudge, we’ll get to that later.
First, I ground up Nilla wafers and mixed it with a stick of melted unsalted butter.
Pack those in the bottom of a spring form pan.
You know – those pans that the outside ring comes off?

Like this one –
Nordic Ware Leakproof Springform Pan, 10 Cup, 9 Inch

Then take your first container of ice cream
(that has been softening for 10 to 15 minutes),
I think this was raspberry dark chocolate
and spread that over the Nilla wafers.
I think two of the three flavors I got were light, it really doesn’t matter.

Any ice cream or frozen yogurt would work in here.
Just think of all the amazing flavor combinations you can come up with!
You could do a neopolitan with vanilla, chocolate and strawberry.
Or how about a s’mores one with chocolate fudge ice cream, vanilla,
and chocolate chip with marshmallows in between the layers?
Or how about a cookie monster one with cookies & cream, chocolate chip cookie dough,
and a fudge brownie ice cream?
Possibilities are endless 🙂

Then while this bottom layer is still soft, you put in the lady fingers.
Stella Dora (spelling?) also makes a cookie this shape.
The ice cream should be soft enough that you can put them in there around the pan.
They don’t have to go all the way down,
this is just to help extend the ice cream cake above the pan.

I put foil underneath the spring form pan and
put this cake in the freezer for a few hours.
While it is in the freezer, you can make the fudge and let it cool.
The fudge is 5 oz. small marshmallows,
melted with one can of evaporated milk and 24 ounces of chocolate chips.
That’s it. I used Ghiradelli dark chocolate chips.

Stir in gently over medium heat and it all melts together.
Stir frequently so it doesn’t burn.

It does take a few minutes.

Look how creamy that gets.

Let the fudge cool to room temperature.
Now you get out the ice cream cake and put 1/2 this fudge
on top of the ice cream.

I sprinkled Heath toffee bits on top of the fudge.
You could also sprinkle mini chocolate chips or chopped up Oreos, or whatever you like :).

Then I put it back in the freezer for a few hours, and
added a layer of chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream.
Froze it, then added fudge and Heath bits again.

Then I added chocolate fudge ice cream.

After it is frozen another few hours, spread cool whip and sprinkles on top.
Again, you could use mini chocolate chips here or crushed Oreos.

Take it out of the freezer 15 minutes before you are ready to serve it.
Unlock the spring form pan and take off the side so you are able to cut it.
You will need a good knife and a strong arm to cut through this cake.

First piece never looks that great, but look at all those layers!

The fudge is delicious because although its frozen it doesn’t get rock hard.
Great to have in the summer when its hot outside.
You’ll need to use big plates to serve it, those little plates just won’t cut it.

It is fun to use other colored ice cream like mint chocolate chip
or strawberry to make it more colorful.

So here are the layers again in the order you put them in the pan:
crushed cookies mixed with melted butter
ice cream #1
fudge layer
candy/cookie bits
ice cream #2
fudge layer
candy/cookie bits
ice cream #3
cool whip
sprinkles

Of course it makes a ton and we have about 1/2 the cake leftover in our freezer.
So, who is coming over for the leftovers?? ♥