Brooke Herren: I scream. You scream. We all scream for ice cream...cake!

I'm behind in blogging because I didn't have Internet at my house for about 1 1/2 weeks, so there may be quite a few blogs in the next few days...or maybe not. We'll see.

So, a couple weeks ago Pacen participated in his First Holy Communion. For those of you that don't know, First Communion is a Catholic ceremony. Yes, my family is Catholic. All of my grandparents are Catholic, except my Grandpa Herren who is non-denominational. I was raised Catholic and confirmed into the Catholic Church when I was a junior in High School, but I don't practice it. A choice I made when I realized how many different religions there are in the world and started questioning what I believe. My mom is bound and determined that I raise Pacen as a Catholic and since I don't attend church or practice the Catholic religion (something she has finally accepted) she has taken over in the religion department of Pacen's life. So far he doesn't mind (he doesn't like going to church, but what kid does?) and if he chooses to follow in my footsteps in the future that's just fine. A person has every right to believe what they want and follow any religion they want.

Pacen with Father Berger

Okay, enough about religion. To help Pacen's celebration better I made him a home-made ice cream cake. I found a recipe that was similar to Dairy Queen's ice cream cake (supposedly) and went from there. So, my recipe is as follows:

Similar to DQ's Ice Cream Cake

2 quarts ice cream (one Vanilla and the other any flavor you want. I used Moose Tracks.)
Oreos (or cheap version)
Fudge topping (comes in a jar)
1 recipe Whipped Cream Frosting

Put a 10" springform pan in the freezer. While the pan is chilling take the Vanilla ice cream out of the freezer to soften (15 minutes or so). When the ice cream is soft, but not runny, remove the pan from the freezer and quickly (yeah right) spread Vanilla ice cream around the pan wall (not too thick but not too thin...maybe around 1/8") with a rubber spatula. (I had to put the pan back in the freezer a few times before I was able to cover the entire wall.) When the wall is completely covered put the pan back in the freezer.

Now remove the other ice cream from the freezer to soften. Remove the pan and empty the entire quart of other ice cream into the pan and spread evenly. Put the pan back in the freezer.

Crush some Oreos in a bowl (slightly large chunks). I don't know how many Oreos I used so go with what you think would cover the first layer of ice cream. Now pour some fudge topping in the crushed Oreos and mix well (again use as much as you think is necessary).

Take the pan out of the freezer and pour the Oreo/Fudge mixture over the first layer of ice cream and spread evenly.

Since your Vanilla ice cream is already soft (probably way soft by now) pour the rest of the quart on top of the Oreo's and spread evenly. Put the pan back in the freezer. Now whip up a recipe of the Whipped Cream Frosting. If you are planning on using different colors go ahead and mix your colors and put the colored frosting in pastry bags. Remove the cake from the freezer and put a layer of white (or whatever color) frosting on top of the Vanilla ice cream and spread evenly. Put back in the freezer for about 10 minutes. Remove and finish decorating.

(I took the following picture after I transported the cake to Harrison and the cooler I had it in (DQ ice cream cake cooler) touched the letters and screwed it up.)