CJ's Birthday (More catching up!)

CJ's birthday was May 30. I actually wrote a very long post about/to him that day. Then on June 2, my parent's came and we celebrated with a cookout and ice cream cake. We had lots to eat and had a really good time.

CJ decided he wanted ice cream cake, but I personally think it is ridiculous what those things cost, so I made one myself. I didn't do any fancy decorating this year, it was very plain - but it tasted oh so good! I'm including the recipe following the photos.

It's really not an easy feat getting this now 13 year old boy to cooperate for the camera, but I did manage to get a couple good shots. That doggone hat covers his face in half the pictures I take of him though! But I get tired of sounding like a broken record with him, constantly telling him to look at me, so I'm learning to let it go - MOST of the time. When he looks back one day, hopefully he will realize I really did try to take more pictures of him!

I don't know where my head was - I didn't manage to get any pictures of Nana and Poppy with the birthday boy - I can't believe that! Maybe I need to start making a checklist of pictures that need to be taken at events!

And I forgot the buy candles! I was going to get a number 13 and totally forgot! I scrounged around and found some, but not enough. So we did 1 and 3 for 13 - whatever works! Chip was willing to run out and get some, but I thought that was unneccessary - but how sweet of him! (He'll do just about anything to make me happy!)

And here's the recipe for the Ice Cream Cake - it is very much like Dairy Queen's ice cream cake! (I found it online)


Butter the cake pan of your choice, then press wax paper over the bottom of the pan.

Spread 1/2 gallon icecream (softened enough to work with) in the bottom of the pan. (I used chocolate on the bottom.) Sprinkle with crushed Oreo cookies. (I used about 1 sleeve, and it was more than enough.) Then spoon hot fudge sauce (at room temperature) over the top of this. Set in the freezer until frozen.

Remove from freezer and add second layer of ice cream. (I used vanilla for the top layer.) Smooth it evenly with the top of the cake pan. Return to the freezer and freeze until very hard.

Remove from freezer and frost with a mixture of equal parts ice cream and thawed Cool Whip beaten together. Return to freezer until serving time.

I used an 8-inch round, 3-inch tall cake pan. You want a deep pan, or you will have a very short cake.

If I were to do this again, I would either use a spring-form pan or cover the entire inside of the pan with plastic wrap to make it easier to remove the cake, as that was a bit tricky.

When I went to spoon on the hot fudge sauce and tried to spread it around, it became quite messy. I think next time I would slightly warm the sauce and add it after the first layer had been put back into the freezer for a while.

You have to ice it very quickly, as it will try to melt! For the decoration part of the cake (border and writing), I didn't feel the frosting was stiff enough. I added a large can of Betty Crocker whipped white frosting. I think I would frost the entire cake in this next time. It tasted very similar to the frosting Dairy Queen uses.

I also found that when putting the ice cream into the pan, my hands worked best to smooth it out - maybe because I didn't let it get soft enough, I'm not sure, but it worked!

And you do need to let it sit out for a few minutes before trying to cut it - and I dipped my knife in hot water to make cutting easier. But it was VERY good!