Cake or Ice Cream?

First, I have to say Happy Birthday to Dale. My wonderful hubby turned 29 yesterday. Yes, we know that he looks older, but he is still in his 20s...for now. Since we knew with work and everything that our Monday would be insanely busy, we decided to celebrate Dale's birthday on Sunday. Well, I guess I had better clarify--I decided to celebrate his birthday on Sunday. Dale really could care less about his birthday and he especially did not want a "party" or anyone to know. So, I am a wonderful wife and decided to invite the neighbors over for dinner. Dale agreed to this as long as (here is the BIG disclaimer) I didn't tell them it was his birthday dinner. Ha! Forget that! I walked over and that is the first thing that I told them and then I invited them to celebrate and eat with us...

Ok, so time to back the story up for just a moment. Dale and I easily get frustrated with each other because are both so laid back and indecisive. So, a couple weeks ago, I asked him what kind of cake he wanted or if he wanted cake at all. His reply was "I don't know. It doesn't matter." Well, I know that this should make it easy for me because he will be happy with whatever I make, but it is HIS birthday and we don't have cake or desserts very often since there are only 2 of us (Sorry, RJ doesn't count in the dessert realm, yet). Anyway, I continued to ask him off and on throughout the last couple weeks, and I always received the same reply. So, I finally made an executive decision and decided to make this new ice cream dessert recipe that I came across. I had found it and it looked yummy in the picture and sounded easy to make. So, is it cake or ice cream? Or both?

I will say it did turn out yummy. Here is the recipe.

3 3/4 Cups crushed cream-filled chocolate sandwich cookies
1/2 Cup butter, melted
1 jar (16 oz) hot fudge ice cream topping, warmed
1/2 gallon "coffee" ice cream, softened
1 carton (8 oz) whipped cream, thawed
Chocolate curls or sprinkles, optional

1. Combine cookie crumbs and butter; press onto the bottom and 1 inch up the sides of 9x13 dish. Freeze for 1 hour or until firm.
2. Spread hot fudge topping evenly over crust; freeze for 30 minutes.
3. Layer with ice cream and whipped topping. Cover and freeze for 8 hours or overnight. Garnish with chocolate curls or sprinkles if desired.

Here are my variations. I used strawberry swirl ice cream instead of coffee; I only used maybe 1/3 of the jar of hot fudge (probably more like 1/4); and I garnished ours with sliced fresh strawberries instead of chocolate.

Anyway, I am not sure what to call the thing, but it was yummy, and we had a great evening with friends.