Strawberry Ice Cream Cake

Strawberry Ice Cream Cake
Dorcas Annette Walker

August is the hot humid month of summer when outdoor temperatures soar. Now-a-days the month of August is also the start of another school year. Each year school is moved up into what we used to consider summer vacation time. Of course back then we didn’t have air conditioning only open windows and fans stirring the hot air as we sweltered in the heat trying to get our minds focused on textbooks once again. I’m very thankful today for modern conveniences such as central air during these hot summer days. This week I made up a Strawberry Ice Cream Cake; an ideal summer dessert.

Aluminum foil is a widely used household item for wrapping food, grilling, crafts, etc. The earliest production of aluminum foil was in France about 1903. Commercial foil was made from a thin leaf of tin in 1910 at a Switzerland plant near the foot of the Rhine Falls that used water energy to produce aluminum since 1886. This foil was pliable and easily bent or wrapped around objects. Here are some aluminum and tinfoil facts:

- Tinfoil is stiffer than aluminum foil.

- Aluminum is prepared in thin metal leaves.

- Tinfoil is fragile and sometimes laminated to plastics or paper.

- In the United States the commercial production of aluminum foil began in 1913.

- Aluminum foil supplanted tin foil in the mid 20th century.

- World War II established aluminum foil as a major packaging material.

- In North America aluminum foil is also called Reynolds Wrap after Reynolds Metals- the leading manufacturer in the USA.

- In 2003 the annual production of aluminum foil was approximately 666,000 tons.

- Aluminum foil is extremely durable and is 100 percent recyclable.

- Americans throw away around three pounds of aluminum foil annually.

- It takes roughly 400 years for aluminum to break down naturally in a landfill.

- Recycled aluminum takes 95 percent less energy to produce aluminum.

My Strawberry Ice Cream Cake is a light sweet summer dessert containing rich creamy strawberry ice cream with a crunchy graham/chocolate cookie base surrounded by cool whip. You can substitute the chocolate graham cookies with chocolate or Oreo cookies. Other fresh fruit such as peaches, blueberries, etc could be used instead of strawberries. Preparation time for my Strawberry Ice Cream Cake is around twenty minutes (not counting the freezing time) and this recipe serves twelve.

Strawberry Ice Cream Cake

1 lb strawberries
1 (14 oz) can sweetened condensed milk
1 (16 oz) container of cool whip
1 (12.5 oz) pkg fudge covered graham cookies

In a medium-size bowl crush ¾ of the strawberries. Stir in the condensed milk and ½ of the cool whip with a Wisk and mix well. Pour into a tinfoil-lined loaf pan. Crush half a pack of the cookies and gently press into the entire top of the strawberry mixture. Freeze overnight (or at least six hours until firm). Turn out onto a serving dish, peel off the foil, ice the cake with the remaining half of the cool whip, and garnish with sliced strawberries!

Weekly tip: For easier lining of tinfoil in a pan cover the outside of the pan first. Also a cardboard covered with tinfoil makes an excellent cake dish!

Dorcas Annette Walker is a published author, columnist, speaker, freelance magazine writer, and photographer from Jamestown, Tennessee. Contact her at: dorcasannettewalker@gmail.com For more recipes check out her Creative Tennessee Mountain Cookin blog at: www.dorcasannettewalker.webs.com