Homemade Oreo Ice Cream Cake - with Crunchies!

Because I'm the best wife ever, I wanted to make sure that my husband had the best birthday cake ever. So after I made his his Favorite Buffalo Chicken Lasagna, I made him an Oreo Ice Cream Cake. But the best part? An extra-thick layer of homemade crunchies!

You know, those little chocolate cookie-like things that they put in between the layers of an ice cream cake? Yeah, I made those. I made a damn thick layer of those. Why? Because crunchies are the best. My husband things that the ice cream is the best, but he's just wrong. It's crunchies for the win!

See that cross-section?

Just try to tell me that crunchies aren't the best

(just like me, the best wife ever).

Ice cream cake seems like one of those daunting, how-the-hell-am-i-supposed-to-make-that kind of foods, but it's actually REALLY easy AND requires no baking! Especially when you know the homemade crunchies (not so) secret recipe.

I used vanilla ice cream, Oreos, and store-bought icing. Basically you just layer everything into a springform pan and put it back in the freezer until you're ready to serve.

I used a 9-inch springform pan, but I think next time I will use something smaller. I may also use 1.5-2 pints of ice cream to make it a little thicker. This cake ended up being wide and thin.

Oreo Ice Cream Cake

1 package Oreos

1 bottle magic shell chocolate sauce

1 pint ice cream flavor of your choice (I used Edy's French Vanilla)

1 can chocolate frosting (I used a can of Duncan Hines, but if I had homemade available, I would have used that)

1. Spray a springform pan with nonstick cooking spray and set aside.
2. To make crunches, start by crushing two rows of Oreos in a food processor until they're finely crushed. It will probably take a few batches. Place crushed Oreos in a large bowl and add the entire bottle of magic shell. Mix with spoon (or hands) to meld ingredients. Set aside.
3. Place the last row of Oreos in a single layer on the bottom of the pan. I didn't have enough to cover the whole bottom, but that's fine. You can also skip this step and just crush all the Oreos or use some as decoration on top.
4. Spread half the ice cream over the Oreos. I used a spoon and my hands. The Oreos shifted around the pan when I tried to spread the ice cream, so it was more of a "plop and push" method - a spoonful and push it into the pan with my hands.
5. Add a layer of the crunchies and push into pan. I just did one layer of crunchies, but if you use a pan with a smaller diameter, you may want to make several layers. You'll need to distribute accordingly.
6. Add the rest of the ice cream using the same "plop and push" method. 
7. Place pan in freezer and allow to freeze for at least an hour. It will make frosting the cake easier.
8. Once ready, take the cake out of the freezer, release it from the pan onto a platter, and frost as you'd like. I only frosted the top because I found it difficult to frost the sides since the ice cream was melting and the frosting wasn't sticking. It looked a little messy, but that didn't matter.