Cheryl's Ice Cream Cake [Rhonda]

Degree of Difficulty: so easy a toddler could be your sous chef on this

Time: 10 minutes to let ice cream soften, 10 minutes to assemble

Serves: 10

First off, who the heck is Cheryl?

That would be Cheryl Pollack, one of the prettiest blondes to ever walk the planet, a buddy from TV commercials and modeling days who wound up in Ridgefield, CT, not far from our place in South Salem.

She prefers being a photographer now, capturing exquisite portraits of children. Back in the day, all the photographers' lenses were trained on her.

This ice cream cake can go in a thousand different directions, depending on quality of ice cream and the flavors you pick. And, of course, presentation. Finish out a summery meal with it or claim it as a Christmas beauty (feather the warm chocolate sauce with a toothpick and a squirt of raspberry sauce or heavy cream and they'll think you're Iron Chef).

Boys, you'll have to shop ahead for a springform pan. Don't wait until the ice cream's running everywhere to hit Target. But look at it this way. It's a make-ahead kind of thing that serves a lot of people, tastes great, and can be pinkie-up with a few adjustments. (Remember. Feather that sauce.)

Cheryl's Ice Cream Cake
Ingredients:

9 1/2 inch springform pan

1 box Famous Chocolate Wafers, ground up into crumbs
2 quarts ice cream--coffee and chocolate are sensational
1 12-ounce bag of Heath Bits of Brickle (can't find it? smash up some Heath bars as a decent sub)

Chocolate sauce:
8 ounces semisweet chocolate
1/2 pint heavy cream
1 tablespoon dry instant coffee
1 tablespoon cocoa (optional--I like a bitter bite to my chocolate sauce)

While the ice cream is softening, make the chocolate sauce by dumping those four ingredients in a sauce pan and heating until chocolate is melted. Stir. Set it aside and don't eat it.

Lightly oil the springform pan. Put 1/2 of the wafer crumbs on the bottom, then 1 flavor of ice cream on the crust, then 1/3 of the sauce over that layer, then more crumbs, then second flavor of ice cream. Spread another 1/3 of the chocolate sauce over that, add crumbs, some sauce, then top with brickle, cover, and freeze.

Heat the last third of the chocolate sauce to pour over when cut and served. Remember to feather in a little heavy cream if you're looking for fancy.

Suggested soundtrack: Lady Gaga's "Edge of Glory." I know, I know. Bleckkk. But it keeps playing in my head. And this is a glorious dessert.