Ice Cream Crunch Cake - Foodie Friday

From the kitchen of One Perfect Bite...I love recipes that draw children into the kitchen and involve them in food preparation. Supervision is, of course, necessary, but this dessert - an ice cream cake - can be made by a ten year old. The result is a cake worthy of a minor feast. Aspiring young chefs will need an apron or old clothes and you'll need lots of paper toweling and a smidgen of patience to pull this off. It's a messy but doable dessert. Their pride when the cake is unmolded is unmistakable. That alone would make it worthwhile, but the cake is actually good. Over the next two weeks I'll be working on the recreation of prize winning recipes. Some will be mine, some will belong to friends who've taught me grace in defeat. This recipe is an award winner from the Utica Old-Fashioned Ice Cream Festival. Wilma Griffin fashioned a cake that blends crisp rice cereal with chocolate and peanut butter to form a soft crunchy brittle that's worked into ice cream. You wouldn't want to serve this to the queen or your gourmet club, but it's great for any other occasion where family and friends gather to break bread together. There are no special ingredients here, but good ice cream and chocolate help this along. You'll want to make this at least 8 hours before serving. Once you've tried this you'll probably want to experiment with other flavors, but here is the basic recipe.

Ice Cream Crunch Cake ...from the kitchen of One Perfect Bite

Ingredients:
1 (12-oz.) package semisweet chocolate chips
2/3 cup smooth peanut butter
6 cups crispy rice cereal
1 gallon vanilla ice cream

Directions:
1) Melt chocolate chips and peanut butter in a large saucepan set over low heat. Stir in crispy rice cereal; mix well. Turn onto a baking sheet lined with waxed or parchment paper. Spread into an even layer. Let sit for 2 hours. Mixture will firm slightly but still be moist. Break into small pieces. Set aside 1-1/2 cups of mixture for topping.
2) Soften ice cream. Fold in all but reserved portion of cereal mixture. Spread into a 10-inch springform pan. Top with remaining cereal mixture. Freeze firm, about 4 to 6 hours. Remove sides of springform pan and transfer to refrigerator about 45 minutes before serving. Yield: 12 servings.

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