Ice Cream Chocolate Birthday Cake

I was asked to bake a cake for a friend’s birthday. I don’t ever make regular cakes because they’re not my preferred dessert, but I had begged this chocolate cake recipe from a friend since it made the moistest cake I had ever eaten, and this was the perfect opportunity to test it out.

I didn’t want to make plain ol’ chocolate cake, though, and pondered how to kick it up a notch. B said make ice cream cake (as he said eloquently, “Cake good… ice cream good… ice cream cake amazing!”) Bingo!

I was always psyched at birthday parties when they served ice cream cake. However, I never liked the cake part, and the icing was always too sweet. So I actually removed 2/3 of any slice I got. Well, by making it myself, problem was solved!

The cake adapted and half batched from the Allrecipes version. It’s rich and tastes almost like a brownie; no surprise, we quadrupled the cocoa powder. Though we were hesitant about the runny batter, it baked quite flat and evenly (no ugly dome top) and the texture was perfect for ice cream cake, holding up well while frozen.

This is easy to make, but just requires some planning for freezing time. I had a terrible quality springform pan that leaked, so I just lined it with foil. To make pretty swirls, I used whipped cream from a can, but that melts even faster than the ice cream so I didn’t have time to take fancy pictures (plus 15 people were waiting to devour the cake)

Add some candles and you got yourself an awesome birthday cake!

Ingredients
Cake:
2/3 cup white sugar
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 eggs
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
scant 1/2 cup boiling water

Assembly:
1/2 gallon mint ice cream
Whipped cream (bought or home made)
Toppings (crushed oreos here)

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Prepare springform pan.

In a large bowl, stir together the sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Add the eggs, milk, oil and vanilla, mix for 2 minutes on medium speed of mixer. Stir in the boiling water last. Batter will be thin. Pour evenly into the prepared pans.

Bake 30 to 35 minutes in the preheated oven, until the cake tests done with a toothpick. Cool in the pans for 10 minutes. Meanwhile, take ice cream out to soften.

Scoop ice cream on to cake. In springform pan, nearly filling it. Melt the remaining ice cream and pour on top to obtain an even top. Set plate over springform pan and saran wrap before placing in freezer overnight.

To decorate, add whipped cream and toppings.