Cookie Ice Cream Cake

I wanted to do something special for my husband for Father's Day to let him know how much both my daughter and I appreciate him. I rented one of the Sandra Lee Semi-Homemade Dessert books from the local library and thumbed through it and saw this Cookie Ice Cream Cake that looked cool to make and something I knew my husband (Mr. Chocoholic) would love. It looks like a giant Oreo cookie and instead of the creamy filling in the center, is Cookies & Cream ice cream.

I've never made a ganache before and this recipe called for a ganache on the top of of the round cakes, so I went to the store to buy my ingredients (heavy cream and semi-sweet chocolate chips), and could not find anything but heavy whipping cream. I grabbed it anyhow and got home and my daughter and I went to work on her father's Father's Day surprise. The ganache was incredibly easy to make and came out very good (a bit too rich for my tastes but my husband was going to love it!). So we put that off to the side along with the two round cakes we had already made, and when the ganache thickened, we poured it on the tops of the round cakes and smoothed it out. We also had put together our ice cream center by this time, which was very easy to do. Initially going into this recipe I thought it was going to be very hard, but it was actually quite easy. We let the ganache set overnight and in the morning my daughter and I drew little lines around the edge of the cake and four tiny squares in a pattern on the cake top. I wrote "Oreo" for good measure. We put the cake together and served it to my husband early on Saturday night and he LOVED it. So much that it was gone by Monday!




Frozen Chocolate Cookie Cake

Ganache and Filling:
1/2 gallon cookies and cream ice cream, softened
1 cup heavy cream
1 (12-ounce) bag semisweet chocolate morsels

Cake:
Butter, for pans
Flour, for pans
1 (18.25-ounce) box devil's food cake mix
1 1/2 cups water
1/2 cup vegetable oil
3 eggs

Line 1 (9-inch) cake pan with plastic wrap, with 3 inches overhanging. Spread softened ice cream into lined pan in a smooth, even layer. Freeze for 3 hours, or until frozen solid.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Butter and flour 2 (10-inch) round cake pans and set aside. In a stand mixer or with a hand mixer, beat cake mix, water, oil and eggs in a large mixing bowl on medium speed for 2 minutes, or until well blended. Using a spatula, divide batter between the 2 prepared cake pans. Bake for 25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Let cakes cool in pans on a wire rack for 15 minutes. Run a knife around the edge of each pan to loosen cakes and remove from pans.

While cakes are cooling, heat heavy cream in a small heavy saucepan over medium heat until bubbling around the edges. Remove pan from heat, add chocolate morsels, and stir with a whisk until smooth. Refrigerate for about 30 minutes, until cool and slightly thickened, stirring occasionally. Spread ganache on top of and around sides of both cake layers, keeping layers separate and not fitting together yet. Refrigerate entire cake for 1 hour, or until ganache is set.

Place 1 cake layer, ganache side up, on a serving platter. Remove ice cream from pan, peel off plastic wrap, and place on top of cake layer. Place second cake layer on top of ice cream, ganache side up. Freeze until ready to serve, but let stand at room temperature 5 minutes before serving.