Happy Birthday to my intelligent, thoughtful, gentle, caring, super-hot husband Ben! This year we celebrated a bit early, as we were having some friends over tonight for a get-together and BBQ. Knowing we wouldn’t be able to would devour an entire cake between the two of us by tomorrow, I decided it’d be best to let others help us celebrate on the cake-eating-end. I searched Pinterest and the archives of my favorite blogs to find the perfect cake recipe, and finally settled on this one.
You really can’t go wrong with ice cream cake. Especially not the kind with layered brownie, peanut butter, hot fudge, graham cracker, and fudge tracks ice cream. Oh, and marshmallows on top. This is a ridiculously low-maintenance cake that looks way fancier than it is! I love the broiled marshmallows on top that give this ice cream cake that “by the campfire” feel (minus the smoke and pointy sticks!)
You’re welcome, world.
I got the inspiration for this baby years ago when I made a similar cake using an incredible recipe from Bon Appétit (that link isn’t the exact recipe I used, and I didn’t use coffee ice cream, but it’s the closest I could find as this was years ago!) I made it for Ben‘s birthday while he was visiting me one summer in CT. (He actually doesn’t remember said cake, which is extremely hurtful as I recall staying up super late the night before he arrived to spread layers of melty ice cream and hot fudge, one at a time, every hour, before putting them back in the freezer to set).
This variation has a more campfire feel, is a bit more simple, and can be made in a regular loaf pan lined with wax paper. Add as many or as few layers as you want, just make sure to allow the hot fudge layer to set in the freezer for at least 30 minutes before adding another layer of ice cream (otherwise it will all melt together into a sloppy mess!)
- 1 large loaf pan (this was larger than a regular kitchen-sized loaf pan) lined with parchment paper
- 4 prepared, homemade, or leftover fudge brownies, sliced thinly
- 2 tbsp peanut butter, melted
- 8-10 graham crackers
- 1.5 qt container of fudge tracks slow-churned ice cream, softened (sitting in the car on the way home from the store was enough for me!)
- hot fudge topping (you may need to nuke in the microwave for 20 sec or so to make it pourable with each layer)
- 3/4 cup mini marshmallows
- Begin by lining loaf pan with parchment paper and pressing it closely to all sides of the pan.
- Press brownie into bottom of paper until you’ve formed a tight “crust.”
- Spread peanut butter evenly on top of brownies.
- Crumble 2 or 3 of the graham crackers on top.
- Add a little over 1/2 of the softened ice cream, spreading evenly over graham crackers.
- Sprinkle 2 or 3 more graham crackers over ice cream.
- Pour about 2/3 of the hot fudge on the ice cream (do this quickly as it will melt the ice cream and begin to mix in!).
- Immediately freeze for at least 30 minutes to set.
- When the hot fudge is hardened, add some more graham crackers, followed by the rest of the ice cream, and finally the last layer of hot fudge.
- Top with enough marshmallows to cover the entire top of the cake. Press the marshmallows down into the fudge and sprinkle any remaining graham cracker crumbs over top.
- Freeze at least 4 hours, and until ready to serve.
- Preheat broiler on high. Broil the cake in its pan for 1-2 minutes (watch carefully!) until marshmallows are toasted.
- Remove from pan by lifting the parchment paper and slicing immediately.
Totally not food-related, but I am so proud of these custom corn hole boards I had made for him as his birthday gift (also given a day early)… enjoy some of these shots from this evening!
Happy Birthday, Ben! Happy Summer!
Claire Tastes 
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