Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Ice Cream Cake

I will never let a birthday go by in this house without making some sort of cake. Until the day I die, I will bake my husband and kids a cake on their birthday. I just can't pass up the opportunity. My husband isn't the most enthusiastic person about his birthdays, but when I told him I wanted to make an ice cream cake for his birthday, having never attempted one before, he kind of perked up and said "Can it be cookie dough?"

Absolutely! A request! I love requests! 

I have personally never had an ice cream cake from Dairy Queen or any other dairy place, but that is where my husband is used to having them at. I knew it was going to be hard to get that "chemical" flavor into my cake, but I knew I could make a really tasty, wholesome cake that would please my man. 

Oh boy did it ever! This is a huge cake. It has a chewy cookie crust, and thick layer of homemade cookie dough ice cream, whipped cream on the top, and sprinkled with crumbles of more cookie. While the separate components are not all my recipes, the idea of how this cake came together is all mine!

I started with my chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream, for which I got my recipe from the Food Network. I did use milk instead of half and half, just because if I don't have half and half for my coffee in the morning, the whole day is ruined. 

I wasn't going to take a picture of this, but making ice cream is so, well, sexy! Velvety cream, the smell of vanilla heating on the stove. Oh Mama. 

This recipe has a lot of egg yolks. So it is more like a custard. To me, than means extra creamy!! I think it is also important to beat them with the sugar until it is light and creamy and all the sugar is dissolved. 

Then I tempered the eggs with the hot cream and whisked it all together to make this beautiful creamy liquid. I could drink this out of a mug, basically.  

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This went into the fridge to cool and the next day I churned it in my ice cream maker. I made the cookie dough per the recipe from food network, leaving out the egg. I chilled that as well, and when the ice cream was made I stirred in the cookie dough pieces and poured it all onto the next element: the crust.


I made a cookie crust. I may try something a little cake-like next time, because this was really hard frozen, but the taste was incredible. It also made the cake really decadent. I got this recipe from Sally's Baking Addiction. I love extra chewy, dough-y cookies. I put about 3/4 in the bottom of my spring form pan and baked it until just barely done, and baked the rest on a cookie sheet to crumble for the top. I also lined my pan with foil to make everything come out easier in the end.

I didn't get any pictures of my whipping the cream and putting it on top. I felt like it really wasn't necessary but now that I am sitting here writing the post I feel like I am missing it. So, next time I'll bore you with pictures of whipped cream. Unless you like food porn like I do. Then you'll appreciate it.

 Here is the finished cake! It was evening when we celebrated and it made its big reveal, so this picture isn't that great. You get the idea though.

Poor baby girl couldn't have any ice cream. She got cheerios. 

 These photos are much better, taken the next day. Despite all the work it took, I think my favorite part was the frozen whipped cream! I may just make that for myself sometime!

I like that this cake is unique to our family, and that my husband and everybody else that ate it loved it. Yes, I used real sugar, and no, it isn't the healthiest thing you can eat. However, birthdays come but once a year, and life would be awfully dull without treats like this! The important part to me is that I used whole ingredients and knocked the socks off any Dairy Queen cake we could have come by.

Cookie Dough Ice Cream Cake

For the crust, adapted from Sally's Baking Addiction

Ingredients:

2 and 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 and 1/2 teaspoons cornstarch

1/2 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup butter, softened

3/4 cup light brown sugar, loosely packed

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1 large egg 

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 cup chocolate chips or chocolate chunks

Directions:

1. Toss together the flour, baking soda, cornstarch and salt in a large bowl. Set aside.
2. In a medium size bowl, mix the butter, brown sugar, and white sugar together until no brown sugar lumps remain. Whisk in the egg and the vanilla. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix together with a large spoon or rubber spatula. The dough will be very soft. Fold in the chocolate chips. Cover the dough and chill for 2 hours, or up to 3 days. Chilling is mandatory.
3. Take the dough out of the refrigerator and allow to slightly soften at room temperature for 10 minutes.
4. Preheat the oven to 325F degrees. Press 3/4 of the dough into a foil lined spring form pan. Bake for about 15 minutes. It won't look quite done, but it'll bake a little more out of the oven.
5. Bake the other 1/4 in a big hunk on a cookie sheet. Bake for about 12 minutes. 
6. Place in the freezer so it is nice and cold before the ice cream goes on. 

For the ice cream layer, adapted from The Food Network

Ingredients

Cookie Dough:

1 stick of butter, softened
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup mini chocolate chips

Ice Cream Base:

2 cups half-and-half
2 cups heavy cream
1/2 vanilla bean, split lengthwise
9 egg yolks
3/4 cup sugar
Directions

Make the Cookie Dough: Cream the butter in a mixer fitted with a paddle attachment (or use a hand-held beater) until soft and fluffy. Add both sugars and mix. Add the vanilla. Add the flour, baking soda, and salt and mix. Add the chips and mix just until just combined.

Using your hands, push the dough into a disk 1/2 inch thick, wrap, and refrigerate. 

Make the Ice Cream Base: In a saucepan over medium heat, heat the half-and-half, cream, and vanilla, whisking occasionally, to make sure the mixture doesn't burn or stick to the bottom of the pan. When the cream mixture reaches a fast simmer (do not let it boil), turn off the heat and let the flavors infuse for 10 minutes. Whisk together the egg yolks and sugar. In a thin stream, whisk half of the cream mixture into the egg yolk mixture. Then pour the egg-cream mixture back into the saucepan containing the rest of the cream mixture.

Heat over medium heat, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon. At 160 degrees F., the mixture will give off a puff of steam. When the mixture reaches 180 degrees F, it will be thickened and creamy, like eggnog. (If you don't have a thermometer, test it by dipping a wooden spoon into the mixture. Run your finger down the back of the spoon. If the stripe remains clear, the mixture is ready; if the edges blur, the mixture is not quite thick enough.) When it is ready, quickly remove it from the heat.

Take out the vanilla bean and chill for 3 hours.

Freeze the cream mixture in an ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's instructions. Fold in the chocolate chip cookie dough (you may not need all of it). 

Pour this mixture on top of the frozen cookie crust. 

Whipped cream:

1/2-3/4 cup whipping cream
2 Tablespoons sugar

Whip cream in a mixer with the whisk attachment or by hand with a whisk. Add in the sugar when it is just starting to thicken and beat until you get stiff peaks. 

Pour this on top of your ice cream layer of the cake. Break up the extra cookie you made and place on top of the whipped cream. Freeze until ready to serve! Take out about 10 minutes before you want to serve it to let it soften a little bit. 

ENJOY!