In Celebration of Birthday Cake

What do you remember about your very best birthday party?  Was it the cake?  Probably not.  Most likely it was an out of this world present, or the very best party your parents ever gave you.  The milestone birthdays, like your 13^th, your 16^th, 18^th, 30^th, 40^th,  (ugh) are the ones that may stand out.  The ones that stand out for my kids are the ones when I changed up the birthday cake.  When they were very young I took the standard cake decorating course so that I could make their birthday cakes special.  And I tried hard to make them nice.  25 + years ago, the cakes weren’t as outrageous as they are now, so they got trains, dinosaurs and Miss Piggy cakes.  They weren’t too bad.  My grandkids are getting some that are a bit more creative.      

                                                                      

A few years ago, someone mentioned they wanted an ice cream cake for their birthday.  The price had gone up outrageously at the favorite ice cream place where we bought them, so I priced them at the grocery store.  Wow.  Stupid expensive.  I began thinking to myself, how hard could this be?  I started disassembling the cake in my head.  Cookie crust, ice cream of choice with filling.  Whipped cream topping.  $30?  Really?  I told whichever child it was I was going to attempt this.  They were somewhat skeptical, if I remember correctly, but were willing to let me have a go at it.  I did a little research on line to see what other people had to say about it and immediately tossed the ones that involved ice cream sandwiches and twinkies.  I made a couple different versions, but the following is by far the crowd favorite and I’ve had multiple requests outside of family to make it.  The cookie crust is a peanut butter cookie recipe that I make, but you can use crushed up oreo cookies or any chocolate sandwich cookie if you prefer.  This one really is best, though, if you use the peanut butter cookies that I make.

Peanut Butter Cup Ice Cream Cake

Start preparations at least 24 hours in advance

Equipment needed:

Springform pan, Parchment Paper, Piping bag and decorator tip

Crust:

1 Cup Peanut Butter

1 Cup Sugar

1 Egg

Combine all three ingredients and stir until blended.  Drop by spoonful onto cookie sheet and press into 2” flattened cookie shape.  Bake in 350 degree oven for approx. 10 minutes.  Allow to cool completely.   Place piece of parchment paper over bottom of springform pan, then close sides. Crumble into bottom of 10” springform pan and freeze.

Cake:

I Gallon French Vanilla Ice Cream; slightly softened

1 lg. sz bag miniature Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, unwrapped and cut into quarters

2  17 oz  jars hot fudge topping

1 pint heavy whipping cream

2/3 C sugar

Dash of vanilla extract

Slightly warm one jar of hot fudge in microwave, just enough so that it is spreadable.  Put ice cream in large glass bowl and add candies.  Fold in gently until well mixed and evenly distributed.  Pour half of mixture onto cookie crust.  Spread one jar of fudge topping evenly over ice cream, then cover with remaining ice cream.  Using back of spoon, make as level as possible.  Return to freezer for 6-8 hours, or overnight.

At least 4 hours before serving, make whipped cream: 

About 5 minutes prior to making topping place large glass bowl in freezer.   Pour heavy cream, sugar and vanilla in bowl.  Starting out on low speed, then slowly increasing speed on mixer, beat cream until cream thickens and stiff peaks begin to form.  Take ice cream cake from freezer.  Place knife carefully around the perimeter of pan and gently loosen edges, then release pan.  Place cake on serving plate, removing parchment paper. Spread half of whipping cream over top of cake.  If cake is softening, return to freezer for short time. 

Place whipped cream in piping bag with star tip.  Pipe decorating edges like shells, or ropes, around edges and bottom of cake.  Use second jar of fudge to drizzle over top of cake strings of chocolate and place random peanut butter cups on top for garnish.  Place back in freezer to harden for at least 3 hours.  Check to see if it is too hard to cut before you are ready to serve; depending on your individual freezer, you may need to let it sit out for a few minutes before you cut it.  

 (On the right-hand side of the picture, you can see the slight melting of the ice cream causing the whipped cream to start to slide....I will have to repair that before delivery!)