For my birthday this year, I decided I wanted to do what we do for everyone else in the family – have their favorite dinner at home. So I made exactly what I wanted, exactly the way I wanted it. It was wonderful to do that for myself. For dessert, I decided I really wanted an ice cream cake. And since my husband and I are both gluten intolerant, it’s something we haven’t had for years. With the help of a springform pan, my Gram’s cake recipe, my favorite ice cream and some gluten free cookies, it was actually very easy to make. The chocolate cake made a dense fudgy layer. I’m a sucker for chocolate and peanut butter together and I also love almonds, so this met all of my cravings head on!

1/4 cup cocoa

1/2 cup Miracle Whip

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 tsp vanilla

1 cup flour (I used gluten free)

1/4 tsp salt

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 cup boiling water

7 oz bag of crunchy chocolate cookies or wafers (I used gluten free), crushed

2 pints peanut butter ice cream

1/2 full size container of chocolate ice cream

chocolate sauce

almonds

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Mix cocoa, salad dressing, sugar, and vanilla. Dissolve the baking soda in the water and alternate adding that the flour and salt to the chocolate mixture until combined.

Spray a 9 inch springform pan with cooking spray and add the batter. Bake for about 20 minutes, until a cake tester comes clean.

Cool completely.

Soften the peanut butter ice cream and spread on top of the cake. Sprinkle the cookies on top, reserving about 1/4 cup for later use. Freeze until hard, at least 2 hours.

Soften the chocolate ice cream and spread on top of the cookies. Freeze until hard, at least two hours.

Spread the chocolate sauce on top, using enough to cover the top (about 3/4 cup). I used generic version of Hershey’s and I would recommend using something else, more like hot fudge sauce, that is thicker and will harden better.

Sprinkle the remaining cookies on top. Make a ring around the edge with the almonds. Freeze until hard, at least two hours.

Run a hot knife around the edge of the pan before freeing the springform sides. Run the knife under hot water before cutting each piece.

You can use any kind of ice cream, sauce, or nuts for this. You could also swap out a vanilla cake for the chocolate cake, but if you do, use only half a recipe so you get a thin layer.