The Best Ice Cream Cake You've EVER Had!

(I know it looks delicious, but you're going to break your monitor if you don't put that spoon down!)

Okay. So when I heard my parents were coming to town in March, I knew we would be celebrating our March birthdays (my husband's, my dad's, and mine), which absolutely and ALWAYS includes an ice cream cake. Now I'm not sure how many of you have bought one of those premade ice cream cakes from the store, but just a small one at our local grocery store was $24.99! Not so great for people on a tight budget, so I set out to make my own!

I remembered some delicious ice cream cake that a good friend of mine (Emily Gordon) makes to feed a crowd, so I started there, and called her to get her perfect concoction (on a smaller scale, of course).

I then set out to find more tips and ideas online, and here is what I ended up with:

1: Look at all your pans, tupperware, bowls, etc, and find what shape will work best for you and your cake ideas (and make sure it's going to fit into your freezer!). For me, it was my large pot. I wanted my cake to be a perfect circle, flat on top and bottom.

2: Next spray the inside of your container with cooking spray, and line with plastic wrap.

3: After letting a half gallon of your favorite flavor of ice cream (for us 3, it's chocolate chip mint), sit out for a good while, you will scoop it ALL out into the container, and press it down evenly, and smooth the top with a rubber spatula (or whatever works for you), and place it in the freezer.

4: Chop, crush, or smash a pack of original oreos (my Pampered Chef chopper worked best for me, and I probably could have chopped just a little more than 2 rows of the pack, since I had left overs), and evenly disperse the majority of them (about 3/4) over the bottom layer, and gently press them into the top of the ice cream, and put back into the freezer.

5: Heat up a 16 oz jar of hot fudge, and pour the entire jar, evenly over the crushed oreos, and place back in freezer for about 4 hours  or longer.

6: Next you need to thaw a small container of whipped cream (the 8 oz tub), and let about a 1/4 gallon (that's half of a half gallon, just to be clear ;)) of regular vanilla ice cream, sit out for a bit and get really soft, then blend them together, well, with your mixers.

7: Smooth this evenly over the fudge layer, and smooth the top with your spatula (as this will be the top of your finished cake), and freeze for a minimum of a 5 hours.

8: When ready to serve, pull it out of the freezer, and turn it upside down on a piece of tin foil. (This part my mother helped me with, because it was easier with 4 hands). Lift the container a few inches from the foil, and start pulling down on the loose edges of the plastic wrap, until it slides out.

9: Peel off the plastic wrap. Then, have what you want to serve it on ready, and place it on top, and carefully flip it over, so that the white top layer, is now back on top.

10: Now spread the rest of your oreo crumbles on the top (or don't, and use icing or other decorating supplies), and there you have it!

The Best Ice Cream Cake

you've ever had, in

10 EASY STEPS!

In the end, I spent about $13 total, and got at least twice as much ice cream cake, than if I'd bought a small one, pre-made, from the store.


What you'll need:

- Large container
- cooking spray  (or just any oil)
- plastic wrap
- foil (or cookie sheet could do the same probably)
- mixer (or whisk)
- hand chopper (or some means of  finely chopping oreos)

+ half gallon of your flavor of choice, ice cream
+ 1/4 gallon of regular vanilla ice cream
+ 8 oz tub of cool whip
+ 1 package original oreos
+ 16 oz jar of hot fudge