Birthday Cakes

Birthdays come once a year, and so do birthday cakes. I make a variety of custom-ordered birthday cakes for our family members, but when it came to my birthday, I wanted something different. So I stopped at an ice cream cake store to see what I wanted. They had an interesting variety, but included actual cake with the ice cream. I asked if the frosting on top was buttercream, and the answer was, "it's our non-dairy topping." ugh. What exactly is "non-dairy"? An oil-based, corn-syrup awfulness that really tastes like nothing.

So, I came up with a plan B. I would make my own birthday ice cream cake. This way, I could design it exactly how I wanted, no cake on the insides, just ice cream and chocolate crunchies. And I could have fabulous ice cream flavors! (I try to resist Ben & Jerry's for most of the year, but birthdays are special.)

This is what I came up with: in a springform pan (I've had them for years, a set of 3, and yet, they've never seen a cheesecake) I pressed ground up Newman O cookies (a trans-fat free Oreo substitute), a pint of Carmael Sutra Ben & Jerry's, (softened), cookie crumbs on top, homemade hot fudge on top of that, (a break for freezing at this point, since it was getting muddy), a pint of Phish Food B&J for the top layer, with the rest of the hot fudge, with the cookie crumbs sprinkled around the edge, for good measure.

The cake was awesome, and rich, and amazing. I wouldn't change a thing, I think I reached the pinnacle of ice cream cake design, and calorie consumption, all in one fell swoop.

Good thing birthdays only come once a year.