The Homemade Ice Cream Cake
"Are you sure you don't want me to pick up a cake at the ice cream store?" I ask my twenty-five-year-old son on the phone. He whines like a three year old. "You try to talk me out of it every year, Mom. I want you to make me an ice cream cake for my birthday. I want a mint chocolate chip ice cream cake. I've told all the guys in the band how great it is. C'mon Mom!"
He's told all his friends. I thought he was over having birthday parties with his friends when he was ten, but apparently not.
In this day and age, it just seems wrong to make a homemade ice cream cake. There are beautifully decorated cakes in the freezer section of the grocery store, not to mention in the local ice cream parlor. I realize that making his ice cream Birthday Cake is more about reliving his childhood (I've made him ice cream cakes since he was two years old), and I recall baking and freezing a volcano ice cream cake that his friends talked about for years. He was so proud of that cake. (Not of his mom; of the cake.)
"How many friends are coming, Jake?" I ask him, knowing full well that he is going to tell me something like I don't know, Mom. Can you make enough for twenty?
It was easy to make a cake for twenty little freckled faced boys with twenty pairs of dirt-riddled sneakers in the house when he was a kid. It was no problem dealing with the twenty little hands that hide twenty little boogers under the coffee table top instead of using a Kleenex. Twenty little gift bags full of plastic spiders and Jolly Ranchers. And twenty gifts that made Jake so excited that he had to run to the bathroom every fifteen minutes. Ahhh, those were the days.
A cake for twenty nowadays means two cakes in the freezer. This entails my husband taking out all the Lean Cuisines, frozen oat bread, pork chops, and something grey and hairy, and trying to stuff them into the extra fridge in the out building. (You know the extra fridge… It's called the Extra Fridge because it costs an extra thirty bucks a month on the electric bill so he can store two six-packs of grocery store brand diet soda, an empty bottle of mustard, and two half-bottles of ketchup).
We take everything out of the freezer to fit the humungous birthday cakes for Jake. His birthday party is in the evening, so this requires appetizers as well. I pick up ten pounds of Buffalo wings for the band, and another five for the regular folk. My husband goes to Costco and purveys massive amounts of chips and soda. He also comes home with a five CD audio set of John Denver. "It's for Jake." I see through his bald faced lie. "Jake doesn't like John Denver." He smiles and takes the shrink wrap off the CD's. "He doesn't? Well I guess I'll have to listen to them, then. I just hate waste." (Guess he forgot about the Extra Fridge.)
So the cake is ready, the appetizers are in place, the soda is chilling, and there are piles and piles of chips and salsa on the table. The family begins to arrive and mill around while John Denver plays in the background.
Then we hear the tell-tale backfire. We look out the window and watch as the primer-gray serial killer van pulls up. With a little banging and coaxing, the van's side door opens and out tumbles Jake. (The driver door hasn't worked since the Great Wal*Mart Parking Lot Incident of '06.) Then the real show as the van begins to mime the capacity of a clown car; band member after band member emerges with some kind of instrument in hand. The van just doesn't look big enough to hold them all. Yes, Jake is right. There are twenty of them, and they are all heading toward the door. (Except the one who stops by my maple tree and begins to "water" it. He must be the drummer.)
Twenty pairs of dirty Converse sneakers, twenty spiked up, multi-colored hair-dos (or hair-don'ts… depending on how you look at it, I guess…), and twenty outlandish outfits that I think their sisters should be wearing. I have to blink because at that moment I see Jake and his friends as ten-year-olds again. It just happens that these ten year olds eat gobs more and are a lot louder.
"Hey Mrs. M," shouts Jake's lifelong friend, Sam. "Did you make one of your awesome ice cream cakes?"
"No, Sam, I made two."
"Right on," he casually replies as he beelines past me for the ranch dip and the Fritos.
By night's end, the house has transformed into a waste site filled with dip-smeared paper plates, empty chip bags, and enough aluminum soda cans to build a Toyota. There are also smashed chips in the carpet, and droopy Mohawks on these future captains of industry. I also find it amusing to see the boys listening to John Denver with Jake's Dad. Jake actually looks interested in what my husband is saying. I think they actually like John Denver.
The band isn't so bad; they sing and play a punk-reggae-fusion version of Happy Birthday for Jake. And as the party wound down, Jake came over to me and gave me a big hug. "Thanks Mom for making my cake. And thanks for letting the band come, too. You're a great Mom."
It was all worth it until next year.
Ice Cream Cake Recipe
2 boxes of cake mix (any flavor)
2 to 3 containers of Cool Whip
1 gallon of ice cream in a rectangle box (any flavor)
2 to 3 cans of frosting (any flavor)
Make the cakes as directed on the box, use two 9 x 12 pans to bake the cakes. Let the cakes cool. Put one of the cakes on a covered with foil Cookie Sheet. Open up the ice cream box completely so that you have a brick of ice cream and slice the brick into 6 even slices. On the top of the first cake, lay each ice cream slice on top of the cake, side by side so that it covers the whole top of the cake and pinch each slice into the next so you have a solid layer of ice cream. Next, take a half of a can of frosting and spread it over the ice cream evenly. Try to do the frosting quickly because the ice cream will begin to melt. Next, use one of your Cool Whips and spread half the container on top of the frosting and spread evenly. Now take your second cake, and lay it over the top of the ice cream/frosting/Cool Whip layer. Cover in saran wrap and stick it in the freezer for an hour.
After freezing for an hour take the cake out and completely frost the whole cake. After frosting the cake, put a whole nice thick layer of Cool Whip over the frosting as if the Cool Whip is the frosting. Then put back in the freezer for eight hours.
When you serve, pull cake out of freezer about 15 minutes before slicing.
This cake will serve 12-24 people depending on how you slice the pieces, or how big the band is!
About the Author
Beth McCain is an author and writer of many genres. Beth, and her husband, Lee are instructors and lecturers in applying the Law of Attraction to everyday life. If you would like to contact Beth, please visit: http://www.bethandleemccain.com
iCe CrEaM!!!!?
name as many different types of ice cream as you can. the person with the most gets ten points
APPLE PIE—Cinnamon flavor pie crust pieces swirled with apple in rich apple ice cream.
BANANA—Rich and creamy banana ice cream.
BEAR CLAW—Dark chocolate ice cream filled with choco-coated cashews and swirled with luscious Denali® Carmel.
BLACK CHERRY—Black cherry ice cream with black cherry halves.
BLACK CHERRY YOGURT—Black cherry flavored yogurt with black cherry halves.
BLACK WALNUT—Black walnut ice cream with black walnut pieces.
BLUE MOON—Citrus flavored blue ice cream.
BLUEBERRY WAFFLECONE—Blueberry sauce swirled in creamy vanilla ice cream with waffle cone pieces.
BROWNIE NUT FUDGE—Chocolate ice cream rippled with caramel fudges and sprinkled with chocolate brownies and walnut pieces.
BUTTER PECAN—Rich and creamy butter pecan ice cream with premium roasted buttered pecans.
CANDY BAR WHIRL—Creamy candy bar flavored ice cream swirled with caramel sauce and peanut candy bar pieces.
CAPPUCCINO CRUNCH—Coffee ice cream with cappuccino nuggets.
CARAMEL CARIBOU—Luscious toffee ice cream rippled with thick golden caramel and sprinkled throughout with chocolate caramel cups.
CARAMEL CREAM—Caramel ice cream with thick, rich caramel swirl.
CARAMEL NUT CLUSTER—Vanilla ice cream with chocolate covered almond clusters and swirled with caramel fudge.
CARAMEL PEANUT BUTTER CUP—Peanut butter ice cream swirled with caramel and miniature peanut butter cups.
CHERRY CORDIAL—Rich vanilla ice cream with maraschino cherry halves and liquid chocolate pieces.
CHOCOLATE—Rich and creamy chocolate ice cream.
CHOCOLATE ALMOND—Chocolate ice cream with roasted buttered almond pieces.
CHOCOLATE CHIP—Vanilla ice cream with chocolate chips.
CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIE DOUGH—Vanilla ice cream with chocolate chips and chocolate chip cookie dough pieces.
CHOCOLATE MARSHMALLOW—Chocolate ice cream with marshmallow sauce ripple.
CHOCOLATE MOOSE TRACKS—Rich chocolate ice cream with peanut butter cups and swirled with Moose Tracks® fudge.
CHOCOLATE PEANUT BUTTER—Chocolate ice cream swirled with thick peanut butter.
CHOCOLATE PEANUT BUTTER YOGURT—Chocolate flavored yogurt swirled with thick peanut butter.
CHOCOLATE RIPPLE—Vanilla ice cream with chocolate sauce ripple.
COCONUT ALMOND FUDGE—Coconut ice cream with chocolate covered almonds and thick chocolate fudge.
COFFEE—Rich and creamy coffee ice cream.
COOKIE AND CREAM—Smooth vanilla ice cream with chunks of cookies.
COTTON CANDY—Blue cotton candy ice cream swirled with pink cotton candy variegate.
EGG NOG—Rich and creamy egg nog flavored ice cream.
FRENCH VANILLA—Vanilla French custard ice cream.
GINGER—Ginger flavored ice cream flecked with ginger pieces.
HEATH BAR CRUNCH—Chocolate coated toffee pieces in butter flavored ice cream swirled with thick caramel.
LEMON CUSTARD—Lemon flavored French custard ice cream.
MACKINAW ISLAND FUDGE—Vanilla ice cream with chocolate fudge chunks and swirled with chocolate fudge.
MAPLE WALNUT—Rich maple ice cream with Diamond walnut pieces.
MICHIGAN BLACK BEAR—Rich red raspberry sauce and chocolate black raspberry cups swirled in homemade vanilla ice cream.
MINT CHOCOLATE CHIP—Green mint ice cream with chocolate chips.
MOCHA ALMOND FUDGE—Mocha ice cream with roasted buttered almond pieces and rippled with chocolate fudge.
MOOSE TRACKS—Rich vanilla ice cream with peanut butter cups and swirled with thick chocolate fudge.
ORANGE CREAM—Vanilla ice cream swirled with orange sherbet.
ORANGE PINEAPPLE—Orange pineapple ice cream with bits of orange and pineapple pieces.
ORANGE SHERBET—Orange sherbet with orange fruit puree.
OREO COOKIE & CREAM—Smooth vanilla ice cream with chunks of Oreo cookies.
PEACHY PEACH—Rich and creamy peach ice cream with peach pieces.
PEPPERMINT—Peppermint ice cream with red peppermint candy pieces.
PLAY DOUGH—Multi-colored sugar cookie dough pieces in a vanilla flavored yellow ice cream.
PRALINE PECAN—Creamy vanilla ice cream sprinkled with pecan praline pieces and swirled with thick caramel fudge.
PUMPKIN PIE—Creamy pumpkin ice cream with pie crush pieces.
RASPBERRY SHERBET—Raspberry sherbet with real raspberry puree.
REAL PISTACHIO—Rich pistachio ice cream with real pistachios.
RED-WHITE-BLUE POP ROCKS—Red, White, and Blue ice cream loaded with pop rock candies.
SANDERS BUMPY CAKE—Buttercream flavored ice cream with devils Food Cake pieces and a thick chocolate icing variegate.
SPUMONI—Old world fruit ice cream, pistachio ice cream with real pistachios and chocolate ice cream.
STRAWBERRY—Rich and creamy strawberry ice cream with fresh strawberry sauce.
STRAWBERRY CHEESECAKE—Cheesecake ice cream swirled with fresh strawberries.
SUPER RAINBOW—Blue moon, red pop, and lemon ice creams swirled together.
TIRAMISU—Elegant mix of lady fingers, shaved chocolate and brandy espresso sauce in a sweet Italian cream cheese ice cream.
TIN ROOF—Vanilla ice cream sprinkled with chocolate covered Spanish peanuts and rippled with chocolate fudge sauce.
TRIPLE CHOCOLATE OVERLOAD—Chocolate chips with chocolate sauce in rich chocolate ice cream.
VANILLA—Rich and creamy vanilla ice cream with the best Madagascar all natural vanilla.
VANILLA YOGURT—Vanilla flavored yogurt.
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