Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream Cake

I made this yummy cake for my husband's first Father's Day last week. There is a whole story behind this cake that my husband thinks is hilarious. Me? Not as much! When we first started dating almost 10 years ago, my husband told me that he really wanted an ice cream cake for his birthday. I was pretty new to baking at first (I've always loved cooking, but baking is a whole different sport!), but I thought I'd give it a try. DISASTER. I'd read that you can easily cut through ice cream to make nice, even layers with a piece of dental floss. It ended up all over the place~ in my hair, on my clothing, and some even ended up on the cat. Pretty much everywhere but on top of the cake! The next year's attempt went only marginally better. I was pretty proud of the finished product, but when my husband went to cut it, he brought the knife up and along with it came the entire cake! Every subsequent year brought a different issue: wrong type of cake batter leading to a rock-hard product, melted ice cream, a mess of a crust...you name it, I experienced it. Finally, and I will give credit where credit is due, my husband suggested trying a brownie layer instead of cake. Voila! It was a magical combination of chocolate graham cracker crust, delicious mint chip ice cream and fudgy brownie. My one alteration for future cakes is to slice the brownies into a thinner layer so that the fork goes through more easily. SUCCESS AT LAST!

Ingredients:

Cooled brownies (make using a 8x8 pan and do not cut!) http://happiestbelly.blogspot.com/2009/05/mmmmmfudge-and-mint.html

1 container of ice cream (I used Edy's Slow Churned Mint Chocolate Chip)
2 cups of chocolate grahams (this is approximately 2 of the sealed packs)
1 stick of melted butter

Assembly:

Flip brownies out of pan in one piece. Using a bread knife, slice through the brownies horizontally, so you are left with two thin pieces. Trim edges so the brownies will fit into a springform pan. Reserve edges. Spray the springform pan with nonstick oil. In a food processor, pulse chocolate graham crackers until crumbled. Add butter and pulse until combined. Pour crumbs into the springform pan and use the bottom of a glass to press the crumbs into a crust (they should come about 1-2 inches up the side of the pan). Refrigerate for 10 minutes. Preheat oven to 350. Bake the crust for 10 minutes. Allow to cool completely. Let ice cream rest on the counter for about 10 minutes until it begins to melt. Scoop ice cream into the bottom of the pan and press with your fingers to form an even layer. Freeze for one hour. Add a layer of brownie and fill in edges with crumbled brownie reserved after brownie was cut to fit the circular pan. Add another layer of ice cream and freeze for 1 hour. Repeat if you have enough room in the pan. Make sure your top layer is ice cream. Thaw for 5-10 minutes before cutting.