Ice Cream Cake

Hi. It's Alex. Lisa's lazy, and, well, it was my birthday cake. We're putting it here as a kind of scientific report--that is, we wanted everyone to learn from our, ahem, my mistake.

So I had the bright idea to make ice cream cake like we used to get from Kroger so long ago--two layers (one chocolate, one vanilla) separated by a layer of crushed Oreos and caramel. Then we thought, "hey! We could make our own ice cream using our Cuisinart ice cream maker!" Brilliant. We halved the recipes for both vanilla and chocolate ice cream that come with the machine and lined a small bowl with plastic wrap. We poured in the vanilla, topped it with a hefty portion of crushed up Oreos, and topped those with some caramels we melted down. Once that was good and frozen, we topped it with the chocolate ice cream and froze it. Once the whole thing was complete, we put it on a platter, frosted it with Cool Whip (even using a pastry bag for edging), and threw some sprinkles on top. It was so pretty. After dinner that night, we pulled the cake out, and proceeded to cut into it. There was a bit of a problem--there was too much caramel. When I say "too much," I mean the stuff froze into an impenetrable barrier. Seriously. I had to use a knife and a hammer--that's how hard it was. Put it this way: trying to chew the little pieces you hack off is a hazard to your tooth enamel. Still, it was very tasty. I think I might go eat some now. (Mmmm, Ghirardelli chocolate ice cream and other stuff.)

So next time I think I'll put far less caramel (or maybe none at all), opting instead for more Oreos, which will be fine, I assure you. So go forth and make ice cream cake--just don't overdo the caramel.

This is Alex, signing off.