So ever since we began dating, I’ve always celebrated my husbands 1/2 birthday. Do I celebrate everyone’s 1/2 birthday?? No haha just his! I felt bad because by the time his real birthday comes around everyone is already “celebrated out” with Christmas and then New Years is just around the corner. So I don’t go all out with a huge party or presents but I just make him a fun dessert. It’s usually been peach cobbler for the past 4 years but this year he wanted to try something different and so I made him an ice cream cake.

I’ve made one or two ice cream cakes before but they were never that fancy or was basically just ice cream with frozen chocolate sauce. I wanted to go big with this one!! I am not a cake fan, give me a cookie or brownie any day! So I knew I had to start with that for my base. So I layered brownie, ice cream, peanut butter, ice cream, brownie and then a caramel sauce on top! Ooooooo my goodness it was HEAVENLY!! And it was SUPER easy as well!! So just because it has lots of layers intimidate you from making it. It does take time to bake and assemble but is very easy….everyone needs this in their life!!

Ingredients

Brownie Layer (Modernhoney.com)

(You can totally just do a box brownie for this but I have found this homemade recipe that is to die for and so I knew I wanted to do that for my layers)

• 1 cup Butter softened
• 2 cups Sugar
• 1 cup Brown Sugar
• 4 Eggs
• 1 Tablespoon Vanilla
• 1 cup Flour
• 1/2 cup Cake Flour
• 1 cup Cocoa Powder
• 1/2 teaspoon Salt
• 1 1/2 cups Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chunks or Chips

Ice Cream Layer

2 (1.5 qt) tub of ice cream

(I use 1 (1.5 qt) tub of ice cream plus a little extra from another tub to make the layers equal. You can mix and match flavors or keep them the same.)

Peanut Butter Layer

1 cup peanut butter

2 cups powder sugar (more or less)

Caramel Layer (Sallysbakingaddiction.com)

• 1 cup sugar
• 6 TBS salted butter, room temperature cut up into 6 pieces
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 1 tsp salt

Directions

Brownie Layer

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. In a large mixing bowl, cream together butter, sugar, and brown sugar for 3-4 minutes or until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Add vanilla.
3. Stir in flour, cake flour, cocoa, and salt until mixed together.
4. Fold in chocolate chips.
5. Pour into 9 x 13 pan and spread evenly.
6. Bake for 28-36 minutes. It’s ok if the middle is a little soft because that will make a great layer next to the ice cream. Set aside and allow to cool.

Caramel Layer

1. Heat granulated sugar in a medium saucepan over medium heat, stirring constantly with a high heat resistant rubber spatula or wooden spoon. Sugar will form clumps and eventually melt into a thick brown, amber-colored liquid as you continue to stir. Be careful not to burn.
2. Once sugar is completely melted, immediately add the butter. Be careful in this step because the caramel will bubble rapidly when the butter is added.
3. Stir the butter into the caramel until it is completely melted, about 2 minutes. If you notice the butter separating, remove from heat and vigorously whisk to combine it again. (If you’re nervous for splatter, wear kitchen gloves.)
4. Very slowly drizzle in 1/2 cup of heavy cream while stirring. Since the heavy cream is colder than the caramel, the mixture will rapidly bubble when added. Allow the mixture to boil for 1 minute. It will rise in the pan as it boils.
5. Remove from heat and stir in 1 teaspoon of salt. Allow to slightly cool down before using. Caramel thickens as it cools. Set aside

Assembly

1. Cook brownies and caramel according to directions above and allow to cool. Cover the caramel and put in the fridge until ready to serve with the ice cream cake.
2. Take out ice cream and scoop into a large bowl and set aside.
3. Line two normal size bread pans or any deep dish with tin foil or parchment paper. This will allow you to lift it out of the tin once frozen and assemble the caramel layer on the finished plate. I did two strips of tin foil; one going each direction.
4. Cut long strips of the middle part of your cooled brownie. (Avoid using the edges as they are more hard and tough). Place in the bottom of the pans on top of the tin foil and squish to make a slightly thinner layer than a normal size of brownie. You can do a “patchwork” of sorts by piecing individual pieces of brownies together. They will freeze up together in one solid layer. Put the pans into the freezer for 15 minutes.
5. Stir/mash the ice cream until it is slightly thawed and easy to form. (I used about 1.5 tubs of ice cream).
6. After the brownie layer has been in the freezer for about 15 minutes take out and scoop an equal size ice cream layer into the pans over the brownies. Spread so that the brownies are completely covered. Put back into freezer for 15 minutes.
7. Combine the peanut butter and powdered sugar together in a bowl. (You will need to judge the stickiness of the peanut butter to determine if you need extra powdered sugar. I kept adding my powdered sugar a little bit at a time until I got a nice smooth, non sticky dough of peanut butter.) Take pans out of the freezer and divide the peanut butter dough into two. Spread the dough into each pan and return to the freezer for 15 minutes.
8. After the peanut butter layer has firmed up in the freezer, remover the pans and add another layer of ice cream to the two pans. And return to the freezer for 15 minutes.
9. Finally remove the pans one final time once the ice cream layer is semi firm and press another layer of brownie to the top of the pans. This should be near the top of your bread pans. Again you can press individual pieces together until there is one solid layer of brownie. Cover with tin foil and freeze overnight.
10. When ready to serve, remove the pans from the freezer. Lift the cake out by using the tin foil or parchment paper sheets surrounding the cake. Carefully pull back the paper and flip the cake onto a large plate or serving dish. (You need to flip it so that the smaller part of the cake is at the top).
11. Warm up the caramel sauce and drizzle over the cake. Sprinkle with chocolate chips if desired.
12. Run a large knife under hot warm for several seconds and then proceed to slice pieces. Run the knife under hot warm after a couple of slices to help in the slicing process.
13. Enjoy!!

 

This makes 2 normal size bread pans. I sliced the extra cake and placed in a freezer container for layer use.