Happy ice cream cake

There are a lot of great things about ice cream cake.  Mainly, how great they taste.  Also, how easy they are to make and how they are basically impossible to screw up.  I enjoy baking and usually like an excuse to make a cake or cupcakes but having a whole cake or two dozen cupcakes around our house of three just doesn't make a lot of sense.  There is a reason we have about a dozen of chocolate chocolate cupcakes in our freezers from my birthday and my Grandpa's (maybe also because a lot of people are crazy and don't appreciate chocolate chocolate cake when it's clearly the best kind).

Last year I was on crutches for Matt's birthday so I went with the easiest cake possible.  Ice cream cake.  I made this while on crutches when the grand total of my kitchen work for 6 weeks was a few batches of mac n cheese, this cake, and heating things up.  That should tell you how easy this is.  It's not something you can start and have ready for guests in 30 minutes but the hands on time is very low.  And this whole thing is soooo customizable.  Remember that.

Easiest Ice Cream Cake Ever
yield: one cake
Ingredients (remember, customize!  Pretty much all of this besides the ice cream is changeable!)
-1 package oreos (or knock-off, I use Aldi brand almost everything)
-2 TB oil (I had coconut I wanted to use up but have used canola in the past.)
-1 container of ice cream in flavor of your choosing
-ice cream toppings (please don't hate me if I say I used homemade fudge sauce and homemade caramel sauce this time, both of which I already had in the fridge!  Neither made just for this.)

Directions
1) Blend whole oreos in a food processor with the oil (I have tried using a blender both time I've made this and it hasn't gone well.  It's possible but use a food processor if you can.).  Press all or most of the mixture in the bottom of a pan.  (I've used my 9" springform pan but it's almost too big.  A pie plate might not be deep enough though.  I might try my 8"x8" square Pyrex next year.).  I used all the oreos for the bottom this year because I wouldn't have had enough to fill it otherwise.  Place in freezer until hardened.
2) After about an hour, get out your container of ice cream and let sit on the counter for 10-15 minutes, until soft enough to spread.  I also set out my fudge sauce so it would be soft enough to pour.  Spread about half the ice cream on top of the oreo crust and drizzle ice cream toppings of choice on top (not all the toppings, no more than half). Put back in the freezer for about an hour.
3) Repeat with ice cream and toppings.  If you didn't use all the oreos in the crust you can add the rest in the middle or sprinkle on top.  Put back in the freezer.  I usually make this at least the day before so it can be in the freezer overnight.
4) Let sit at room temp for a few minutes before serving.  ENJOY!

The top picture is this year's cake (when I told Matt specifically to save that piece because it was the most photogenic of the few we had left).  The one above is last year's; when Luke saw it he asked what it was and why I was eating on the floor. There is no wrong way to eat ice cream cake. 

Source: Modified from The Stripe

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In the summer I aim to make a different homemade ice cream each week and report back here, good or bad!  I call it "Ice Cream of the Week".  You can follow the "ICOTW" tag to see them all chronologically or go to my "Recipes" page and scroll down to the "Ice Cream/Frozen Things" section for my favorites!