Ice cream sandwich cake

What's this? Only the easiest cake I've ever made.  And what's hiding underneath that white top layer?  Yummy frozen deliciousness.  It's an ice cream cake and I made it in a time crunch last week when my kids announced last minute that we needed to make their "Mimi" a birthday cake.  This was of course on the busiest day of the week when I had errands, and work, and a parent teacher meeting.  It's Murphy's Law, the kids never spring something on you when its a quiet day.  But when they announced they needed a cake, I didnt panic.  I grabbed two ingredients at the grocery store and I was all set.  To make this cake, it only takes about 5-10 minutes, then it needs to set for a few hours.  I was able to make it in between errands and work, and then let it set between work and dessert time. 

You will need:
Ice cream sandwiches (usually a box of 12 works in a square glass pan.  I get 24 because I have backups for a spill, a drop, user error, or a bigger glass pan.)  You can use any brand, any flavor.  We used a box of chocolate and a box of mint chocolate chip, store brand, for this cake, because that's what my 5 year old wanted.

1 container of Cool Whip, light or regular.  I get the big container. You can use flavored, too, or add cocoa to it to flavor it up. 

You can also use candy toppings..... crushed peanut butter cups, jimmies, M&Ms, chocolate chips, caramel sauce, crushed oreos, etc) but for this one, we just did it "original style" without any fancy toppings. 

Take the frozen ice cream sandwiches and line them up in the pan.  You might have some leftover room that wont fit a whole ice cream sandwich.  Take a sharp knife and cut a sandwich or two into pieces that will fit.  You'll want the whole pan covered with ice cream sandwiches.

 

Ours were a little melted so this is the result, but it all tasted good in the end.

 

Now cover these ice cream sandiwches with a layer of cool whip.  You don't want it too thick, but make sure they are all covered.  The next layer can be your candy toppings, cookies, whatever, or you can skip this part.  Like I said before, ours was plain, and it still tasted yummy. 

 

Now take more unwrapped ice cream sandwiches and lay them on top of the cool whip, side by side, to fill the entire pan.  Cut some sandwiches to fill the odd shaped sides or any gaps there may be.  Then cover this layer with Cool Whip.  A thicker layer than before is fine, because this is your "frosting".  Put the cake in the freezer for atleast a few hours to freeze and set. 

 

When you are ready to serve the cake, you can then add toppings, write a message with frosting or a gel, add candles, toy decorations, etc.  The cake should be frozen enough that the ice cream wont be oozing out if you put any pressure on the top layer.  Now cut with a cake slicer or knife and enjoy!