Ice Cream Cake Madness

I haven't been cooking as much in Singapore as I was in NY. Our kitchen is tiny and the oven seems to have two settings: going to take 5 years to bake cookies- and- burns them in 2 minutes. Add to the fact that I *think* the oven uses the metric system, every day baking can be a real thrill ride. So when I decided to bring a desert to a dinner party last weekend I was certainly taking a risk. And just in case using my oven properly wasn't going to be difficult enough, I had been craving Dairy Queen ice cream cake for a while, and decided that despite the fact I had NEVER made anything involving ice cream before, I was going to give it a shot. I did some quick googling and pieced together a recipe, ran to the store, pulled out my favorite spring form pan and we were in business- the official start to the worlds most disastrous cake! 

It really didn't dawn on me that making and transporting ice cream cake in tropical Singapore might be a bad idea. The instructions said to set out the ice cream for a bit to soften it up so you could get it in to the pan. Easy enough right? Well, not so much when your kitchen averages 120 degrees with the AC on, and I very nearly had ice cream soup in 2 minutes. With some luck I got the first layer of ice cream in and managed to get the oreo cookie crumbles in there as well. One of my favorite parts of DQ ice cream cake is the fudge layer in the middle, but of course there were no jars of chocolate fudge ice to be had, so I decided to wing it and make my own. Turned out great- only problem is that I didn't think about the logistics of pouring boiling hot fudge on top of already melting ice cream- oy. A little quick freezer action worked it out, and the next ice cream layer worked out too. So in to the freezer went a whole spring form cake pan full of ice cream- slightly bigger than I had planned, but oh well. 

Then it was on to the cakes.... and by some touch of luck, they turned out just fine! I did hover directly over the oven for the entire time they were baking, but you gotta-do-what-you-gotta-do. With the cakes baked, it was the moment to put it all together- then back to the freezer. Well, since I went a little overboard with the ice cream layer, and the cakes turned out nice and plump... the cake took on epic proportions. 

Check out the monster cake, pre-icing. 

 While DQ cakes have a whipped cream frosting- I decided that this cake didn't already have enough sugar and goodness in it, so I would improve upon the recipe and ice it with wedding cake style butter cream. OMG it was delicious, soooo decadently yummy. 

Getting ready to ice. 

So it turns out that icing a massive cake, with an ice cream center, is actually really hard work. Like a lot more work than I planned. And I had to do it fast-fast-fast since there was real risk of the cake melting! It wasn't the prettiest cake I've ever made- I am sure the cake boss would disapprove- and I was running late so there wasn't even anytime to pipe a decoration on top! But here is the finished product....

After all that work, I was really nervous about the ride over to the house party! But by some miracle of god, the cake made it intact, the hostess had kindly cleared out room in the freezer for the beast, and all was well. I wish I could say that the cake was a massive hit with my friends, but....it was noted that it was really rich! And it was a bit difficult to cut a melting ice cream cake in any normal, clean way. My deepest apologies to the hostess for making a bit of a mess while trying to serve it! I saved Dave a piece- and he gave it too thumbs up. But even he couldn't eat a whole piece in one setting- thats how you know it was REALLY sweet!