Fried Ice Cream Cake

Fried Ice Cream Cake
original recipe by ilovecooking

1/2 cup butter (1 stick)
1 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 cups crushed cornflakes
1 1.75-quart container vanilla ice cream (no substitutions – it has to be real ice cream)
1 8-ounce carton frozen whipped topping, thawed
3/4 teaspoon cinnamon
Honey for drizzling

Set ice cream out to soften up at room temperature for about 30 minutes. Or longer if your freezer is set on 'Cryogenic Clone Storage'. You want to be able to slide a butter knife into it without too much resistance.

Meanwhile, melt butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat then add sugar and salt. Stir and continue cooking until the sugar is thoroughly incorporated into the butter and the mixture starts to bubble (about 2-3 minutes). Add cornflakes and continue cooking, constantly stirring, for 5-6 minutes or until the cornflakes are slightly caramelized and browned. Be careful not to cook too long or the sugar will burn.

Add a little more than half of the cornflakes to the bottom of a 13x9 baking dish (more than 1/2 but not quite 2/3). Using your hand, pat the cornflakes into a level crust in the bottom of the dish. Let crust cool to room temperature.

In a stand mixer using the paddle attachment or large bowl using big ole spoon, mix ice cream, whipped topping and cinnamon just until thoroughly combined.

Spread ice cream mixture evenly over cornflake layer. Sprinkle top of ice cream evenly with remaining cornflakes. Cover and return to freezer. Freeze “cake” for 4 hours before serving.

I was able to serve and enjoy this straight out of the freezer. The ice cream layer was soft and fluffy but, again, if your freezer is set on some subarctic dinosaur preserving setting, you may want to let this set in the fridge for an hour or so to soften up before serving.

Drizzle each portion with honey before serving.