Vanilla coffee ice cream cake

Today is A's birthday and since he was enjoying himself in L.A., I wanted to make one of his favorites that is usually supplied by my mom. Mom runs an uppity little ice cream joint in Austin, so I decided to try my hand at an ice cream cake. I wanted to stick to for sure flavors and just to verify the technique, I called my giggly younger cousin Nidhi, who helps out my mom on the weekends. She kindly called me back during her wuss of a 15 minute break from her real job to school me on frozen cakes.

Hoppity-hop to the market to get the ice cream, there I was in front of the cooler. Staring away. Too many choices are no good for an already indecisive personality.

What to make, what to make? I had gone in for vanilla but suddenly that seemed too simple once I saw mango, cherry nut and java chip. What have I got myself into? Maybe this is what our president was referring to as a quagmire.

This was supposed to be a 5 minute trip to the store and back. No can do especially when you put a foodhead* anywhere they sell food. After a good 15 min of deliberation I did what I always do and resorted back to my first choice. I grabbed a pint each of coffee and vanilla. Really, why do I even bother?

Go ahead and try it out, it's a basic method and the combinations are limitless. Though this one turned out fabulous, I think I will experiment next time and make either a pumpkin pie cake with black walnut ice cream or german chocolate cake with cherry ice cream for a black forest feel.


Makes 1 loaf pan
Serves 6-8

The VIP’s:

- chocolate cake** made in a rectangular pan
Basically you will need 2 pieces of cake cut to fit in your loaf pan.
- 2 pints ice cream softened
- frosting optional


The play:

1. line a loaf plan with cling film so it hangs all the way out and over. It should be enough to cover the top as well. Then line with parchment.
2. place a piece of cake on the bottom and layer a pint of softened ice cream
3. cover with parchment & cling film & freeze for 2-3 hours or until firm
4. remove parchment and cling film and layer another piece of cake and then ice cream
5. cover with parchment and cling film again & freeze for at least 4 hours
6. remove cake by lifting the cling film out of the loaf pan and top with frosting or whipped cream if desired


Notes:
* foodhead = politically correct term as opposed to foodie
** I replaced the water in the cake with Frangelico