Layered Ice Cream Cake

Like seven years ago or so I got this recipe from a hard copy of Family Circle Magazine and it became a favorite of my husband and I made it often for birthdays and special events. Pre - Feingold Diet I even made it once for the 4th of July using toxic food coloring to make red, white and blue layers. Not really quite sure why but the recipe kind of got put on the shelf and I have not made it in a year or two. Maybe because we live in Alaska now and I am always cold, not really thinking of things like ice cream or maybe because I did not want to go to the effort of trying to adapt it for the Feingold Diet (it was really easy to do so). Well I committed a major faux pas back in May and kind of overlooked my husband's birthday. I did not forget it. He was gone on business and me and the kids were gone to the lower 48 to visit family. We did call him and wish him happy birthday on his birthday, my eldest did get him a birthday present that he gave him at like 5am when he returned from his business trip, but we had said that we would pick a time to celebrate it when we were all together and we just never did. Because throughout 10+ years of marriage I have always made kind of a deal out of such events, unfortunately I think there were some hurt feeling from that. I know I cannot fix it but with Father's Day rolling around I wanted to make a big deal out of it. So we surprised my husband yesterday by celebrating Father's Day early. We will not be here for the actual Father's Day. We are taking a family vacation and are prepping for a big move. As part of the surprise Father's Day celebration I wanted to make a special desert and I thought this would be great. My husband's dessert of choice and comfort food is ice cream and for him I thought this would take the cake (no pun intended).  It was not hard to adapt it for the Feingold Diet although because the ice creams I used are natural without food dyes they do not have the colors that kind of pop out. Looking at the picture it might be hard to tell that it is actually layered with three different flavors of ice cream but it is. If you want to see a more professional picture of it you can look at this link I found referencing the original Family Circle recipe http://www.recipe.com/layered-ice-cream-cake/
I used vanilla, strawberry, and mint chocolate chip but you can use whatever flavor combination you choose.

Ingredients

15 Oreos (I made my own homemade oreos but there are pre-packaged brands for the Feingold Diet)

1 Tablespoon Milk

8-9 Ice Cream Sandwiches (I used Julie's Organic vanilla ice cream sandwiches)

1 Pint Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream (Breyers)

1 Pint Vanilla Ice Cream (Haagen Dazs comes in pint size)

1 Pint Strawberry Ice Cream (Haagen Dazs comes in pint size)

1 Container (8oz) frozen whipped topping, thawed (I made my own whipped cream adjusting the recipe to make 3 cups whipped cream but I think there are Feingold approved brands).

Directions

1. Oil Bottom and side of a 9inch round springform pan.  Line side with waxed paper, using oil to help adhere to pan.  Trim paper to height of pan.

2. Finely crush 12 of the cookies in a food processor.  Add milk; pulse until mixture holds together.  Set aside

3. Unwrap 4 ice cream sandwiches. Working quickly, cut each in quarters.  Stack strips of sandwiches on end, packing them snugly together, around waxed-paper lined pan.  Repeat with remaining sandwiches to form a stand up edge.  Spoon cookie crumbs into center of pan; press firmly over bottom.  Freeze one hour.

4. Remove all 3 flavors of ice cream or frozen yogurt from freezer and let soften for 15 minutes at room temperature. Transfer mint ice cream to a small bowl and stir until good but firm spreading consistency.  Repeat with vanilla and strawberry.  Remove pan from freezer.  Spread mint ice cream on bottom, then top with vanilla and strawberry, spreading all layers level.  Top with thawed whipped topping swirling top decoratively.  Crush remaining 3 Oreos and sprinkle over cake.  Return to freezer.

Oil springform pan and line side with wax paper.

Crush oreos in food processor, add milk, pulse until it starts to stick together.

Cut ice cream sandwiches in quarters and line sides of pan, add oreo mixture to the center and firmly press down to make bottom crust, freeze for an hour.

After stirring ice cream to spreading consistency add one flavor at a time, spreading to fill middle, making each layer level.

Then top with whipped cream which should come to the top of the pan, add broken up or crushed oreos, freeze, and when ready to serve remove side of pan and waxed paper.