Chocolate Peanut Butter Ice Cream Cake

I've been eating ice cream cakes from Dairy Queen for years, and I have to say, they're pretty great. So when Nick, whose birthday was on Wednesday, told me his favorite kind of cake is ice cream, I was slightly disappointed at the lost opportunity to bake for him. But it was his birthday, not mine, so I agreed to buy him one. But my mind wouldn't rest, and as I thought about it, I remembered seeing a recipe for ice cream cake in one of my mother's cookbooks.
Armed with the knowledge that it is, in fact, possible to make an ice cream cake at home, I turned to the trusty internet. Lo and behold, epicurious.com produced several recipes for ice cream cakes, pies and tarts. There was cherry-almond, mocha crunch and cookies and cream. Some had layers of cake between the ice cream, others chocolate. One used macaroons for a crust, another, amaretti cookies. Whichever would I choose?

As I tried to find a cake that would please the birthday boy, I remembered his request, months ago, that I make something chocolate with peanut butter icing. I narrowed my search, and this time, was less-than-satisfied with the results. It appeared that if I wanted to make a chocolate and peanut butter ice cream cake, I would have to make it up myself. So that's what I did.

The first order of business was a shopping trip. First, to Crate & Barrel, for a nine-inch springform cake pan. Then, to the grocery store, where I picked up the following things:

1 package Oreo cookies (45 cookies)
1 pint chocolate ice cream
1 pint vanilla ice cream
Peanut butter (I like it smooth, but I suppose chunky would work too)
Unsalted butter
1 jar hot fudge sauce
Reeses peanut butter cups
Wax Paper

This was Tuesday morning. I started the cake that afternoon.

First, Dana and I scraped the cream filling out of the entire package of Oreos. (Except 2, which we ate.) Result:

While we did this, we let the chocolate ice cream sit out on the counter to soften.

Then, we chopped the cookies up in the food processor (we threw out the filling) with 2 tablespoons of butter and 4 or 5 spoonfuls of peanut butter. The mixture was crumbly but moist. We patted it into the bottom of the pan, about 1/3 inch deep.

Then, we spread about an inch of the softened chocolate ice cream on top. We covered the surface with waxed paper and popped it into the freezer.

Then we went to get coffee. We may have studied a bit. It wasn't memorable.

We came home to our frozen cake, and I decided it was time for another layer of cookies, and some chocolate sauce. I wanted to use my mom's hot fudge recipe, as I remember it being delicious. So, following her instructions, I put sugar, chocolate and butter into a pot on the stove. The problem was, the first four ingredients in the recipe were sugar, chocolate, water and butter. But the recipe made no mention of the water. So, as I often do in moments of baking doubt, I called my mother. She agreed that the sugar, chocolate and meager amount of butter in the pot looked prime for burning. She also agreed that melting chocolate and water together is generally a bad idea. But, for possibly the first time ever, she didn't know what to do either.

So she called her mother. Her mother, my grandmother, tried to find the original recipe, which, supposedly, is Julia Child's. But to no avail. But, she said, put the water in, the butter will protect the chocolate. She also instructed me, via my mother, on testing the sauce for done-ness by dropping a bit into a glass of water. It's supposed to form a soft ball. I was not so good at this.

Which is why I do not provide my mother's/Nana's/Julia Child's chocolate sauce recipe here. I don't know if I cooked the sauce too long or if it's just not a good sauce for freezing, but both chocolate layers in the cake were harder than they should have been. And although the one in the middle was delicious and took on a chewy, candy-like consistency after slight thawing, it makes the cake very difficult to cut without an electric carving knife.

Anyway, after the game of telephone and a few false "soft balls," we poured the finished chocolate sauce onto the cake. Then, another layer of cookie crumbs, and back in the freezer.

I forget what we did for the next hour or so. I'm sure it was riveting.

Once the cake was frozen again, I took the vanilla ice cream out of the freezer and put it into the food processor with a few spoonfuls of peanut butter. Maybe 7. I mixed until it was all mixed and soft enough to spread. Then we spread it on the cake, covered with waxed paper, and popped it back in the freezer.

Then we went to Seth's, watched some bad TV and drank some wine.

Finally, we came home and cut a handful of Reeses peanut butter cups in half. Then we reheated the chocolate sauce (I think that was the problem with the top layer) and poured it on top of the cake. While the sauce was still warm, we stuck the Reeses on in an attractive arrangement. I wanted to try and make the stand up, but they melted as we stuck them on, so that didn't work.

Then, back in the freezer, for the last time.

It was now almost midnight. This is why most people just buy ice cream cakes.

But apparently I never learn. Either that or I'd just rather be cooking than doing anything else (like writing a research paper.) This is why I spent a solid four hours the next day making Nick corned beef and cabbage. I won't go into detail here, as corned beef and cabbage is really not half as good as ice cream cake, but suffice it to say that this required yet another call to my grandmother, the master. It was also pretty good, if you like that sort of thing. (Nick does. I'm less sure. And Dana and Vicky are vegetarians.)

We were unanimous, though, on the spectacular ice cream cake. Cutting difficulties aside, it was delicious. Granted, you can't go too wrong with ice cream, Oreos, peanut butter and Reeses.