An Insanely Delicious [ice cream] Birthday Cake

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[dropcap style=”font-size: 60px; color: #9b9b9b;”] I[/dropcap]’ve always been glad that my birthday doesn’t fall around the Christmas and New Year’s period. It must be tough sharing your special day with all the other holiday goings on. So I’m surprised I didn’t plan my blog’s birthday a little better…

Back in November 2005, I decided I was going to take the plunge and start a food blog. I even had a name picked out. But I decided to wait until I was on holidays to actually kick things off since it was probably going to take me a while to figure it all out.

Little did I realize that 7 years later Stonesoup would still be going strong and celebrating her 7th birthday. The thought that I would be blogging full time for a living didn’t even cross my mind.

So Stonesoup’s official birthday is the 27th December. And since you’re hopefully going to be on holidays then, I thought we’d have a little early celebration which of course means…cake!

The Birthday Cake!

Being a summer baby, it only seems right that there be ice cream cake. So I put my thinking cap on and ‘borrowed’ an idea from the ice cream magicians, Ben & Jerry. My all-time favourite ice cream from their range is the ‘Cookie Dough.’

And so I present you with my super easy Cookie Dough Ice Cream Cake…

Stonesoup 7th Birthday Cookie Dough Ice Cream Cake

I’ve kept it simple by using a commercial vanilla ice cream but feel free to make your own ice cream if you like.

This cookie dough recipe has been specially formulated to make sure there aren’t any raw eggs AND that it tastes great frozen. Be warned, it’s not going to bake out to the best cookies ever.

If you’re looking for a great classic chocolate chip cookie recipe, this is still my all time favourite.

enough for 8-10
1L (2 pints) vanilla ice cream
150g (5oz) butter, softened
150g (5oz) brown sugar
150g (5oz) plain (all-purpose) flour
150g (5oz) dark chocolate, chopped

1. Remove ice cream from the freezer to allow it to soften.

2. Line the base and sides of a loaf pan (22cm x 11cm OR 8.5in x 4.5in) with baking paper or cling wrap.

3. Whizz butter and sugar in a food processor with 3 tablespoons water until the mixture is light and fluffy.

4. Stir in the flour by hand and add chocolate chunks.

5. Scoop chunks of the ice cream and scatter over the base of the loaf pan. Top with little scoops of cookie dough and continue to layer ice cream and cookie dough until both are all used up. Smooth the top of the surface and cover with more baking paper or cling wrap.

6. Freeze for at least 3 hours before slicing and serving.

VARIATIONS
short on time? – use commercial-baked choc chip cookies. It won’t have the same cookie dough vibe but will still be delicious.

vegan / dairy-free – use margarine or coconut oil instead of the butter and choose a coconut sorbet to replace the ice cream. Or use your favourite non-dairy vanilla ice cream.

ice cream ‘cup cakes’ – freeze the mixture in muffin or cupcake trays lined with paper.

gluten-free – replace flour with corn or maize flour or any commercial ‘gluten-free flour.’

Video version of the recipe.

With love,
Jules x

ps. I’ve moved to a new email service provider so if you notice anything odd… please just hit reply and let me know. Thanks!