Linda's Ice Cream Cake

My mother-in-law does not spend much time in the kitchen but she has one specialty which is always in demand: Ice Cream Cakes!! That a wonderful niche! Living in Houston, she always uses Blue Bell ice cream and makes a large array of their fabulous flavors: Mint chocolate chip, Banana Split, Cherry Vanilla, Peanut Brittle, Moolenium Crunch, Peppermint, Butter Pecan.....the list is endless. Yum! A great treat in the summer! Thanks Linda!

I've listed the recipe for 1 cake, but it is so easy to make an assembly line and bake multiple cakes at the same time. Measure out your dry ingredients into several small bowls for each cake; powder several tea towels; Lay out your foil pieces for the pan and wrapping; keep water and eggs next to your mixer. When the first cake is in the oven, rinse out your mixing bowel and start beating the eggs for the second cake. It is amazing how fast this is!
Continue for recipe.


Linda's Ice Cream Cakes

For 1 cake:

1/4 cup cocoa (generous--eyeball it)
3/4 cup flour
pinch of salt
~1 t baking powder (eyeball it)
3 eggs
1 cup sugar
1/3 cup water
~1 t vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line jelly roll pan with foil. Spray foil with floured cooking spray for easy release.
Lay out a thin, pill-free tea towel. Generously spread towel with powdered sugar.
In small bowl, mix cocoa, flour, salt, and bp.
Place eggs in mixer, and beat on high for about 3 min, until light and fluffy.
Turn mixer down and add water, sugar, and vanilla.
Slowly add flour mixture until just combined.
Pour into prepared jelly roll pan and bake for ~12 min. or until a toothpick comes out clean.
Loosen foil from pan and quickly and careful dump the cake onto sugared towel.
Roll towel/cake up, starting with the short edge or edge that is thinnest.
Let this cool a little; not completely cool, but cool enough so that the ice cream won't melt.
Unroll your cake.
Pack with ice cream (use almost a full 1/2 gallon).
Roll up cake, using the towel to help keep it tight. Pack the ends with additional ice cream.
Wrap cake tightly in heavy duty foil and freeze for at least 5 hours before serving.
Serve directly from freezer.