Peanut Buster Ice Cream Cake

I remember my mom making this cake for my brother's birthday years ago when we were growing up. This year my son wanted an ice cream cake, so I decided to dig up an old recipe and make this just for him on his special day. And it was just as good as I remember it!

Ingredients:

Crust--1 package of Oreos (approx 14 oz.), crushed
           1 stick of butter, melted

Center--1/2 gallon ice cream; whatever flavor you like, I used vanilla, but another great option would                   be mint chocolate chip!

Peanuts (optional)

Topping--1 large can of evaporated milk
                1 stick butter
                2/3 c. chocolate chips
                2 c. powdered sugar

Start out by making the crust of the cake with the crushed Oreos and butter:

After you melt the butter, stir it into the crushed Oreo mixture and then place it in a 9x13" pan, pressing down to make a solid crust and freezing it for 1 hour.

After an hour (or more) is up, it's time to move on to the next layer of the cake, which is the ice cream and peanuts.  You may want to allow the ice cream to soften a bit at room temperature so that it's easier to scoop out and place on the crust. Once the half gallon is on the crust, go ahead and add the peanuts. (You can keep the peanuts whole or crush them...or not use them at all!).  Once again, place the ice cream cake into the freezer for a while after this step.

While the ice cream cake is solidifying more in the freezer, it's time to get started on the chocolate topping.  Gather your ingredients:

Place the butter into a saucepan and allow it to melt. Once melted, go ahead and add the remaining ingredients, stirring well.  You'll want to set the heat so that it's warm enough to boil the ingredients. Continue to stir so that it doesn't burn or get lumpy. Once the chocolate comes to a low boil, stir it frequently (at a boil) for 8 minutes. It will thicken up quite a bit over the course of those 8 minutes.

Prior to boiling:

Early on in the boiling process:

After 5 minutes of boiling:

After 8 minutes of boiling:

Once your chocolate sauce has thickened up, you need to allow it to cool before placing it on the ice cream cake. Once it's cooled, go ahead and pour it on top, spreading it evenly.  You'll need to freeze this cake overnight, so be sure to plan ahead!  Remove from the freezer about 10-15 minutes before slicing in to it.

I had forgotten how rich this dessert is, so I'd recommend serving conservative-sized slices--you can always have more if you want to!