Salty Point: 30th B-Day's Deserve Ice Cream Cake!

I have a wee birthday tradition of having a Carvel ice cream cake on my birthday. Doesn't happen every year, but it seemed like my 30th was a good year not to skip. Unfortunately Carvel seems to have not expanded into New Zealand quite yet. So I ventured into unknown territory, inspired a bit from Mekayla's tradition, and decided to make my own ice cream cake. Fortunately the web is filled with ex-Carvel employees who are addicted to making their own cake and provide some great recipes to start from.

I should emphasize at this point that this "cake" is composed entirely of ice cream. There is no spongy cake layer to detract from the ice cream experience. Here, in exquisite detail, is my cake starting at the base:

layer of chocolate ice cream (ahh, I wish they sold coffee ice cream in NZ, maybe next year)
layer of crunchies (oreo's mixed with Magic Shell Chocolate, this is a KEY ingredient)
layer of vanilla ice cream with M&M's mixed in (this was actually a mistake, the M&M shells melt off too much, and they lose their crunchiness)
all frosted on the outside with freshly whipped cream
blueberry colored whipped cream to decorate the edges
M&M's to write "30" with.
More crunchies (including some made out of delectable Tim Tams)

The cake had to go through 4 freezing steps over the course of two days. We were freezing it out in the freezer in the garage, so I had to break out the head lamp occasionally to fetch it.

By the second day I think I was on a sugar high from eating too much whipped cream, as were the cats.

It turned out very well in the end, and even the Kiwi flatmates who were particularly horrified during this whole process seemed to enjoy the final result.

Of course Mekayla did try to melt the entire cake by insisting on putting thirty candles on it, but I swiftly averted disaster by blowing them all out (after basking briefly in their glow).