Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream Cake

Summer! I've never appreciated the summer heat more than I have after living through my first Midwestern winter last year. Record breaking cold and snow is pretty hard for a SoCal girl to come to terms with. Let's just say that I rediscovered the meaning of drinking a cup of hot chocolate and snuggling in a warm blanket on a rainy snowy day. So now that the sun is out again, I decided to make the most of these hot days (and S's chocolate obsession) by making this mint chocolate chip ice cream cake.

I'd been thinking of making a dessert just for the two of us for a while. We both deserved a treat after after adjusting our sleep schedules (or rather, lack-of-sleep schedules, haha) with Baby. I wanted to make something special for S for being so helpful on those nights. I wanted to try to combine the two things he loves most - chocolate and ice cream. I was browsing through recipes online and came across this recipe for a pie. It looked perfect but the only problem was that I didn't have a pie tin... Yeah, I know, I'm going to go shopping soon. I tried to move on, but I kept thinking back to that pie and how perfect it would be. My next thoughts literally were - thats it, I'm gonna make this into a ice cream cake. 'Cause yes, I have like 10 different cake trays.

So today, I'm going to share with you my take on this recipe. It was yummy. It was gooey. It was chocolatey. It was messy. It was perfect.

Some things to keep in mind-

• It is an ice cream cake so it will melt. This is for immediate serving and immediate eating! If you want to store it, store it in the freezer.
• Without further ado...

Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream Cake

Serves 8 (We finished it over a couple extra days, don't worry :P)

Ingredients

1 box chocolate cake mix

¾ c. water

¼ c. canola or vegetable oil

1 (16 oz.) jar chocolate fudge frosting, divided

Preheat the oven to 350º.

Mix together all of the above ingredients (only 1 cup of the frosting) in a standing mixer at low speed for 15-30 seconds. Then increase the speed to high and beat it for 2 minutes until all the ingredients are combined into this gorgeous fluffy mixture. No raw eggs so you can eat it too! 

Pour it into a 9" springform pan and bake it for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Don't be worried if your cake has a crack or a domed top or anything, it'll all be hidden in ice cream.

To assemble the cake, you'll need

1/2 gallon of ice cream, softened
8 oz whipped topping, softened
the rest of the frosting

Combine the whipped topping and ice cream as best as you can, save a little of the whipped topping for decorating the cake. At this point, you can heat the frosting till it is warm and melted and stir it in for an extra chocolatey touch. I didn't in order to keep the light green ice cream color.

Then, we start assembling. Don't forget to work fast. Cut the cake in half, leaving the bottom half still in the pan. Layer half of the ice cream on and smooth it out.

Add the second half of cake on top, and layer the rest of the ice cream on top. Smooth it out and stick it in the freezer for 4 hours or overnight before serving. Decorate it with the leftover whipped topping and chocolate drizzle. Run a knife under hot water and run it around the edges of the pan to loosen it. Clean and repeat to slice the cake.

Enjoy!