Ice Cream Cake with Homemade Hot Fudge

Okay. Think of an ice cream sandwich. Yum. Now, make it bigger and more cakey and pour homemade hot fudge over it. Yum. Now, add a dollop of whipped cream and a strawberry. Yum! This dessert is cheap to make, pretty easy to make, and delicious to eat. My mom and my brother were over for dinner tonight, and they gobbled it up. I think it was the first time all day that my two kids were quiet for longer than one minute. It's a good, classic dessert. The thing that I love about is how versatile it can be. You could do red velvet cake with cream cheese ice cream. You could do white cake with Strawberry ice cream. The possibilities are endless. My mom took one bite and said, "I think this should be our new family birthday cake for every birthday." There's no need to spend 35 dollars on a Baskin Robbins ice cream cake when you came make this for less than five dollars.

Ice Cream Cake with Hot Fudge Sauce:
adapted from "Great American Favorite Brand Name Cookbook"

1 box cake mix- any flavor
1 carton ice cream

Fudge Sauce:
1 12 oz. can evaporated milk

1 3/4 c sugar
4 oz. unsweetened chocolate (not cocoa)
1/4 c butter
1 1/2 t vanilla
1/4 t salt

whipped cream
strawberries or Marachino cherries







Bake the cake in a parchment-lined 9x13 pan according to the package directions. I lined the bottom of the pan with parchment to help remove the cake after it's baked. Once the cake is cool, cover it with aluminum foil or plastic wrap and stick it in the freezer for about an hour. This makes it easier to cut the cake.

After an hour or so, take the cake out of the freezer. Run a butter knife around the outside of the pan to loosen the sides of the cake from the pan. Put a cutting board over the 9x13 pan and flip it over. The cake should fall right out. Remove the parchment. Use a long, serrated knife and cut the cake in half horizontally. I use a thin, flexibile, plastic cutting board and slide it in between the two layers. I put one layer back in the pan.

Next, get the ice cream out of the freezer. One recommendation- get the ice cream that is in a rectangular cube container. It's make this a lot easier. Tear open the container and start cutting. I cut the cube of ice cream into seven slabs. I had half of one slab left over. You can see how I arranged the ice cream below. It's a good thing I was a compulsive Tetris player as a child.

Slide the other half of the cake on top. Those crazy zebra stripes are from the parchment paper on the bottom of the pan. Sorry- I don't have an animal print cake texture thingamajig.
Stick the whole thing back in the freezer.

make the hot fudge sauce:
Combine evaporated milk and sugar in a saucepan and heat over medium. Bring to a rolling boil. Continue to cook for one more minute while stirring constantly. Add the unsweetened chocolate and stir until it's melted. It took about 15 minutes for it to completely melt and look smooth. Turn the heat off. Add the butter, vanilla, and salt. Stir until the butter is melted. Let it cool slightly before dumping it on the cake.

Once it is cool, cut the ice cream cake into squares. Pour some hot fudge on top. Top with whipped cream and a strawberry. Indulge. This is simple but delicious.