Mmm... Birthdays...

For my daughters birthday we had a Baskin Robbins ice cream cake. It was good and expensive (and a gift from my mother-in-law who was visiting at the time). It made me wonder how hard it would be to actually make an ice cream cake. So I searched the internet and found quite a few recipes involving crushed Oreos and Cool Whip. While I do love Oreos, it wasn't exactly what I was looking for. So I did my own. Really, how hard is it to make a cake and spread softened ice cream on it? A lot easier than making the baked Alaska that my husband requested. It was kind of fun. Even the kids helped out. Of course that meant a chocolaty mess when my two year old taste tested the chocolate sauce for me. Who knew you could make such a mess with half a spoonful of chocolate?

I baked a chocolate cake from a box, dividing it into two 9x13 pans. I did a layer of cake, a layer of The Chocolate Sauce (a great recipe for this since it never hardens), a half gallon of ice cream, the other cake layer, and more chocolate sauce to serve as frosting. It was good for a first attempt, but there are a few changes that I'd make if/when I make it again. First, substitute a brownie mix instead of the cake. The consistency seemed off and frozen cake feels a bit dry. Second, leave out the bottom layer of chocolate sauce since my husband thought there was too much chocolate sauce. I personally disagree and added extra chocolate sauce to my slice. And last of all, it was a little tall and the chocolate sauce stuck to the lid. Next time I might try a brownie layer, ice cream and then chocolate sauce.