Cherry Berry Chocolate Ice Cream Cake

Recently my husband celebrated a birthday.  I have mentioned previously that I oftentimes struggle to buy him gifts that are not only useful but also something he will actually like.   Not that he is picky or difficult mind you, he's just a very low maintenance guy and really never likes much of a fuss made over him. With his birthday falling so close on the heels of Christmas I again found myself in the same "presents" predicament.  Follow this up with the, "I don't know what I want for my birthday dinner/dessert." statement and I was up the proverbial creek, or crick as we some times say.  Say it with me.... crrrriiiiikkk. I feel better now don't you?  

After a while, a rather long while, I did however manage to bully and pester him enough to get him to admit under his breath that an ice cream cake might not go unappreciated.  Inside I cringed.  Let me just say that I have never been particularly fond of making ice cream cakes.  Eating them yes, making them, no.  For something that seems such a simple idea, it's actually always flummoxed/frustrated me.  How does one get the darn thing out of the pan?

Until I stumbled on this beauty of a cake from Call Me Cupcake, I didn't think I'd ever master the ice cream cake.  The secret, I found out,  is using a spring form pan.  Call Me Cupcake also lined the pan on the sides with some parchment paper taller than the pan in order to make the cake a bit higher. Genius!  If she lived closer I would have bought her a present or taken her out to lunch or something, so happy was I.  But then as I don't know her that would have been a tad bit on the awkward side. So, no.

I sallied forth, made the cake with my fingers crossed and low and behold it turned out! I was thrilled.  I made just a few slight changes to the recipe, and added some gorgeous blackberries to the mix.  This recipe takes two 6" cake pans and one 7" spring form pan to make. This required a trip to the store as I didn't have a 7" spring form. You could size the cake up to larger pans if you need to, just know the baking time will be a bit shorter and the cake won't be quite as tall.  That is unless you add more ice cream to the top.  One other thing, this cake is quite dense and thick.  It took about 45 minutes in my oven to bake.  I would bake it until it is just set, no longer as it could dry out.  Also, it does make cutting a bit of a challenge when it's frozen. A strong man and a sharp knife dipped in hot water are definitely a good idea when it comes time to cutting.

Please take a moment to head over to Call Me Cupcake and see her beautiful site, the original recipe and her simply gorgeous photography. Then go make this cake!

Cherry Berry Chocolate Ice Cream Cake

2 quarts Vanilla Bean Ice cream (I used Breyer's)

220 g. butter

300 g. dark chocolate chopped

300 g. dark brown sugar

2 tsp. salt

6 eggs

220 g. dark cocoa powder

190 g. all purpose flour

8 oz. fresh cherries and black berries, some cherries pitted and sliced in half

Preheat your oven to 300 degrees F.  Butter and line the bottom of the 6" baking pans with parchment paper and set aside.  In a large saucepan, melt the chocolate and the butter over medium low heat, stirring periodically.  Remove from heat and add the brown sugar and the salt.  Stir thoroughly then add the eggs one at a time beating until incorporated.  Sift the flour and the cocoa powder over the mixture and combine.  Divide the batter into the pans evenly, using an offset spatula to smooth the surface. Bake 35-45 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean.  Cool for 20 minutes on a cooling rack and remove the cakes from the pans to cool further.

Once cool, divide one of the cakes in half horizontally into two layers.  Set aside.  Line your spring form pan with parchment paper on the bottom and on the sides, extending 3 inches above the top of the pan.  Use tape to secure the parchment along the seam.  Soften the ice cream at room temperature for a bit, then put in the bowl of a stand mixer.  Mix ice cream on low until spreadable and combined.  

Dollop 1/3 of the ice cream mixture on the bottom of the pan.  Carefully set the first cake layer on top, then layer with some of the sliced, pitted cherries.  Cover with the second 1/3 of the ice cream and repeat.  You'll need to move a bit quickly here to prevent the ice cream from becoming a big melty mess, but it's doable.  Smooth the surface with an offset spatula and put the cake in the freezer for 6-24 hours.

Just prior to serving, remove the cake from the pan, and then the parchment from the sides. Crumble the second cake into large pieces and decorate the top with it and the remaining cherries and blackberries.  You will have some left over cake, but really is this ever a problem?

Recipe doubled and slightly adapted from Call Me Cupcake.