Since you asked….

Here is what we do for our ice cream cakes:

Two half gallons of child’s favorite ice cream. As I mentioned, we use Breyer’s when it is on sale. In the bottom of a large glass dish {I use glass to bake with since it safer than the chemicals that are emitted from plastic or aluminum} we put crushed Oreo’s or graham crackers. I used to use a cookie crust or graham cracker crust recipe, which, of course, included adding more butter. One day I decided to skip the crust recipe and just layer the bottom with crushed crumbs from either graham crackers or Oreo’s. It’s worked great.

We then cut the ice cream into slices and lay them on top of the crumbs. We make the layer about a little over an inch thick. Obviously, you can make them as thick as you want. After the first layer is down on the crumbs, we then pour our homemade hot fudge sauce on top of that layer. Of course the hot fudge has to be cooled, but it cannot come out the fridge, because in the fridge it hardens. So it has to have been warmed and then cooled, to pour it on the bottom layer.

On top of the hot fudge layer we put a layer of peanuts. We love nuts in our family, and although it would be really fun to use pecans or walnuts, peanuts are our affordable nut of choice.

Then we layer it again with slices of the other flavor of ice cream. On the very top we drizzle hot fudge and some peanuts and some cookie crumbs. We then freeze it for a few hours. It slices easily after frozen.

Below is our “Secret” recipe for Hot Fudge….We have been making it for years and years and years so I don’t use exact measurements. It is really one of those, “it tastes best to us with this” kind of recipes….but here’s the basic idea.

We use two bags of SEMI-SWEET chocolate chips….{Hershey’s is my personal favorite, but use generic when I can’t find Hershey’s on sale.} Melt the chips in a pan on a low, low heat…stir as they melt.

Add about a quarter of a cup of real butter….and melt it with the chips..Stir in some confectioner’s sugar…..this is where it gets a bit more tricky. Too much sugar and that’s all you can taste. I like it to taste more like semi-sweet, since the ice cream we place it on is sweet enough. So I start by putting about 1/2 cup of 10x sugar in the heating mixture.

When I add the 10x sugar, I then add some milk. Occasionally I use 1/2 and 1/2. {yumm}…but mostly just 2%. Put about 1/3 cup in….you will need to as soon as you put the sugar in….look and see what you think. Taste it.

If you like it sweeter add a bit more sugar. And remember the old rule of thumb: You can always add more, but you can’t easily fix it if you add too much. Little bits at a time works best!! It may need more milk, do it slowly. You decide how you like it. The mixture should have a thickness to it. It can not be watery….so add liquid slowly.

We keep it stored in the fridge to use on ice cream. Ice cream and hot fudge makes a great {easy} dessert when we have company. We almost always have ice cream in the freezer and hot fudge in the fridge. It is far cheaper than store bought and tastes so much better.

I pray that you enjoy this recipe and pass it on.

PS Great question, Mo….10x sugar is what they used to call confectioner’s sugar when I was a girl….so it’s the same thing as what’s pictured – confectioner’s sugar…sorry!! xo