Taking it Up a Notch: Chocolate Chip Cookie Ice Cream Cake with Caramel, Fudge and Cookie Crumbles
As I lamented last year, if you ask Courtney what kind of cake he wants for his birthday, he’s always going to say “cookie cake.” I’ve made him cookie cake for years. At first I didn’t mind. I wasn’t much of a baker, and all I had to do was shove some store-bought cookie dough into a pan and bake it. But as my culinary skills improved, that started to get boring. I tried to make them interesting. His first year at Virginia Tech, I cut the pieces into “VT.” Another year during our nearly four-year long distance relationship, we couldn’t be together on his birthday… so I shipped him a homemade cookie cake. Well, this year when he asked for yet another cookie cake, I had to put my foot down and demand a greater challenge. And he gave me one: cookie ice cream cake.
Check out those layers! The base is a thick cookie cake… made from scratch this year! Then I added a layer of cookie dough ice cream, followed by another thinner layer of cake. Finally, there’s a layer of Cool Whip, drizzled with caramel and fudge and sprinkled with more chocolate chip cookie! Decadence right there, that’s we call that.
Although multiple steps are involved, this cake isn’t as hard as it looks. My biggest challenge was an unexpected softball win! Since Courtney’s party wasn’t until night-time and in my three seasons on the team the Badlands Bombers have never lasted more than one game in the fall tournament, I figured I’d have plenty of time to prep food for the party. Then the unfathomable happened: the Bombers won! Not wanting to miss out on the later game(s), I ran home to whip up the cookie base and the bread dough for the spaghetti bread, got the cake mostly assembled and in the freezer and was back on the field with a batch of cookies in under two hours. Impressive, although completely unnecessary since we lost our next game. And proceeded to celebrate with champagne showers and field rushing.
Anyways, that left Kelly and I with plenty of time to prep for the party – a celebration of the last year of Courtney’s 20’s and one year in our new house! It was a laid back evening with all of Courtney’s favorite things…
Piggies in a blanket…
(Also one of Jim’s favorite things)
Mac & Cheese Cups…
Not enough carbs? How about some spaghetti stuffed cheesy garlic bread?
Another highlight of the weekend… I got to catch up with THIS GIRL!!!
We even made it to Port City Brewery for a tour.
It was an awesome weekend full of good food and great friends. Now that’s what I call winning.
Chocolate Chip Cookie Ice Cream Cake
Ingredients :
For Cookie Layers:
1 cup unsalted butter at room temperature
2 cups brown sugar
2 large eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips.
1.5 qt ice cream, partially thawed (I used chocolate chip cookie dough)
One tub Cool Whip
To Garnish: Fudge, caramel, remaining cookie crumbles (see recipe)
Instructions:
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease an 8-9″ round spring form pan and an 8-9″ regular round cake pan (both must be the same size).
2. In the bowl of your mixer, add the butter and brown sugar and mix until creamy. Beat in the eggs and vanilla.
3. In a separate bowl, add the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt and mix well. Fold the dry ingredients mixture into the wet ingredients, until everything is incorporated. Fold in the chocolate chips.
4. Spread half the dough evenly into the spring form pan. Spread a thinner layer of the remaining dough into the regular cake pan. Reserve enough dough to make about 1/2 dozen cookies.
5. Keep a close eye on your oven. The thicker cake in the spring form pan will need approximately 20-25 minutes, while the thinner cake will only need approximately 15 minutes. The cookies will need about 8-10. All should be removed from the oven when they are golden brown and allowed to cool completely.
6. Once mostly cool, spread the ice cream into an even layer in the spring form pan. Allow to freeze for several hours.
7. Once frozen, place the thinner cake on top. Frost with a layer of cool whip and return to freezer.
8. Drizzle with fudge and caramel and crumble a couple of the cookies on top.
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[…] majestic beauty for Courtney’s birthday last weekend. I set a high bar for myself with the chocolate chip cooke dough ice cream cake I made from scratch a couple years back, but I think this pie met that bar. Now I have […]
They both are beautiful,I’m making the strawberry one today, mommie and new grand daughter coming home, nursery had 25 boys and my only little grand daughter ! 25 boys and one 6 pd girl