Valentine's Day Ice Cream Cake

For Valentine's Day I decided to make a sweet for my sweets. It pains me to say this, but my husband John and daughter Cadence don't really like traditional cake. So for Valentine's Day, instead of one of the usual treats I make, I went with something I knew they would love; ice cream cake!

To make this cake I used a combination of this Dairy Queen icecream cake recipe and this recipe.

Ingredients

1 half gallon of vanilla ice cream
1 half gallon of strawberry ice cream (you can use the flavors you like best)
1 package of Oreo cookies or similar with the cream centers removed (I used Publix brand)
1/2 cup Hershey's chocolate syrup
1 8oz tub of cool whip
gel food coloring in the color of your choice

Line the bottom of two 8 inch cake pans with a circle of wax paper. Set the flavor of ice cream you will be working with first on the counter to soften a bit. When it is a workable consistency fill one of the pans completely with the flavor ice cream you want on the bottom of your cake. I chose strawberry. Smooth the ice cream with a cake spatula.

Place the full cake pan of icecream back in the freezer.

Next, scoop the cream centers out of the Oreo cookies and discard. Crush the cookies in a food processor and put the crumbs in a medium sized bowl. Stir in the 1/2 cup of Hershey syrup.

Meanwhile, set out the second flavor of ice cream to soften. This will be the flavor you want on the top of the cake. I used the vanilla. When the ice cream has softened, fill the pan half way with the ice cream and then top with the cookie crumb mixture. Place the cake pan back in the freezer.

Let the two layers set up in the freezer for several hours.

Working with the bottom layer first (I used strawberry), run warm water over your cake spatula and sweep it all around the edge of the pan. Then dip the entire cake pan in a bowl of warm water. Turn the layer over onto a ten inch cardboard cake round. Immediately set the cake round and first layer of ice cream in the freezer to firm up.

After a few hours remove the first layer and the cake pan containing the top layer from the freezer. Repeat the steps above to unmold the top layer from the pan and turn it over on top of the bottom layer.

Place the Cool Whip in a bowl and add a few drops of gel food coloring. Mix in the color.

When the cake has firmed up, remove it and decorate it with the Cool Whip icing.

Monkey Baby Shower Cake for Sarah and Randy

My husband John's little sister Sarah and her husband Randy are expecting a baby girl later this month and we couldn't be more thrilled for them. We were honored to host their baby shower over the weekend and I was very excited to create this cake in the same theme as their nursery bedding: monkies!