Quick & Easy Vanilla Ice Cream Cake
Sharing is caring!
This stunning vanilla ice cream cake is CRAZY quick and easy to throw together! Simply mix and freeze for a perfect make ahead dinner party dessert. Want to make it more special? Use homemade vanilla ice cream instead of shop bought!
This weekend I hosted a dinner party for close friends and I needed a really simple, make ahead pudding to take the stress out of it all. Then I came across this
Hand on heart, Its the most incredibly easy, quick and down right dirty and delicious showstopping dessert I have ever made in my entire life! Its sheer amazingness literally needs no further introduction.
What You Need To Make This Recipe
Ice cream I recommend using real dairy ice cream. Sometimes youll see ice cream labeled as frozen dessert, which might seem confusing. Ice cream is made from milk fats, while a frozen dessert uses vegetable oil fats instead. I find that frozen dessert does not soften as evenly and doesnt refreeze as nicely.
Chocolate cake you can use my favorite chocolate cake recipe and freeze the two extra layers in the recipe or a box mix. Its up to you!
Hot fudge again, feel free to use my hot fudge recipe or buy it from the store. The hot fudge sauce is not just to decorate the cake with but to help the Oreos stick to the cake layer. Using a substitute like chocolate syrup wont work as it wont firm up the same.
Make The Whipped Cream Frosting
Take one pint of heavy cream and whip it using the whisk attachment for your stand mixer.
Whisk it on high until there are stiff peaks. Then whisk in about 3 tablespoons powdered sugar and one teaspoon vanilla.
I don’t like to make the frosting too sweet because there is enough sugar in the ice cream and the crunchies. But if you prefer a sweeter taste you can add more sugar.
Next dissolve 2 teaspoons of unflavored gelatin in 3 tablespoons of hot water. This gelatin mixture should be a liquid consistency if not, put in the microwave for a few seconds.
Whisk the dissolved gelatin into the whipped cream.
Don’t Miss: Sam’s Graduation Cakes
How To Make Chocolate Ice Cream Cake Roll
The chocolate cake in this recipe is a homemade separated sponge cake. The separated part refers to separated eggs. Youll whisk the egg whites with sugar in one bowl and the yolks in a separate bowl. Egg whites lighten the cake batter and add a delightful spongey quality, while the yolks add richness and structure to the batter.
Before you even get mixing, its helpful to set a few things up to ensure your cake comes together smoothly.
First, make space in your freezer to place the rolled cake.
Secondly, assemble your ingredients and equipment. Youll need a parchment-lined jelly roll pan, three mixing bowls , as well as a clean dish towel, a wire cooling rack, an offset or rubber spatula, and an electric mixer with two mixing bowls.
Pro Tips For Making This Recipe
- Its best to slightly soften the ice cream before adding it to the cake pan so you can create a uniform layer, making it much easier to layer on top of the cake.
- Be sure to press out any air pockets in the ice cream when adding it to the cake pan.
- When lining the cake pan for the ice cream, be sure to leave some extra plastic wrap on the sides to make it easier to lift.
- Try to have your kitchen as cold as possible to make sure the ice cream cake doesnt melt as you work with it. If your kitchen is on the warmer side, youll have to put your cake back into the freezer often in between steps.
- To make cutting the cake easier, you can run your knife under hot water before slicing.
Read Also: Chi Chi’s Copycat Corn Cake
How To Store An Ice Cream Cake
This ice cream cake is actually a great recipe to make ahead. You can layer everything together, cover it and leave it in the pan you built it in. It should be fine sitting in the pan for about a week ahead of time. Then you can frost it the of or the day before you need it so that the decorations looks nice and fresh.
After decorating, its ideal to store it in a container in the freezer. If you dont have a container that size or space in your freezer, itll be fine for a few days in your freezer.
Make The Chocolate Crunchies
While the ice cream was thawing, I worked on making a layer of chocolate crunchies to go in between the two ice cream layers.
To make the crunchies I used chocolate graham crackers and chocolate ice cream topping that hardens when it gets cold. A common brand of this is Smuckers Magic Shell.
The easiest way to crush the chocolate graham crackers is to seal them in a gallon sized ziploc bag, place the bag on a large cutting board to protect your counter and pound them up a bit with the smooth side of a meat mallet.
Dump the chocolate graham cracker crumbs into a small mixing bowl, squeeze in the Magic Shell, and mix it all up.
As the ice cream approaches the right consistency, dump it into a large mixing bowl and stir it up with a stiff spatula.
Then smooth it into the bottom of the springform pan in an even layer.
Next sprinkle half of your chocolate crunchies mixture in a nice thick layer on top of your first vanilla layer.
Now place these in the freezer for an hour or more so they can firm up for a bit.
While this is happening go about your day this vanilla ice cream cake recipe involves some waiting between phases.
You can leave the other half of your chocolate crunchies mixture out at room temperature until the next step.
Don’t Miss: Shoprite Baby Shower Cakes
Second Roll: With Ice Cream
The second roll is the ice cream roll. First, take your ice cream out of the fridge to let it soften up a bit. It should be soft but not melted. You will use the full 1½ quarts of ice cream for this recipe.
Before unrolling the cake, get your tools ready. Youll need large pieces of parchment and aluminum foil to wrap the cake after rolling, as well as a rubber or offset spatula to spread the ice cream evenly.
Next, unroll your cake on parchment paper for easy clean-up. Youll need to work quickly as the ice cream will melt. Cover the full surface of the cake with ice cream, all the way out to the edges.
Tip: Ive found the easiest way to spread the ice cream is to put large dollops of ice cream across the cake and then spread the dollops together.
Now roll the cake up as smoothly as you can, following the same roll pattern as the first time.
Note that some melted ice cream may ooze out the ends as you roll no worries. Just keep going. Finally, wrap the ice cream-filled cake in the parchment and aluminum foil and freeze.
Before glazing, trim the ends for better presentation , and slice the cake with a serrated knife to minimize crumbs.
How To Make A Strawberry Ice Cream Cake
After your strawberry shortcake crunchies are made, its time to layer the cake. But first lets talk about the cake pan. I used an 8 by 3 inch cake pan, because I like a taller cake. You could definitely use a 9 inch pan though, and a springform pan would certainly be convenient. Either way is fine
Once youve got your pan, youll want to line the inside of it with clear wrap. Youll use the clear wrap later to help lift the ice cream cake out of the pan. From there, add your strawberry ice cream and spread it evenly into the pan.
Add about a cup of the strawberry shortcake crunchies to the ice cream and spread evenly, then freeze everything for a couple hours, until fairly firm.
Add the vanilla ice cream layer on top, then freeze the whole cake until firm.
From there, youll make your whipped cream and frost the outside of the cake. The ice cream does melt quickly, so feel free to pop the cake in the freezer as needed. I did a quick outer coat, froze it for about 20 minutes, then did the final layer. I popped it back in the freezer for another 20 minutes before adding the crunchies, but you want to be sure not to wait too long or it might be harder for the crunchies to stick to the whipped cream.
Finally, add some freeze dried strawberry powder to the remaining whipped cream and pipe a border onto the top of the cake.
You May Like: Buy Cake Pops In Bulk
Classic Chocolate Vanilla Ice Cream Cake
Have you always wanted to make an ice cream cake but the idea of actually DOING it seemed intimating to you?! Yup. Me, too. I love ice cream cakes but always resorted to buying them from the store for special occasions simply because they seemed too technical to make at home .
It wasnt until this summer when I decided to face the task head-on and try my hand at making my own. Luke turned two last month and ice cream coooooooould be his favorite thing on planet earth. Well, ice cream and ice pops. So frozen desserts in general are a big win and on constant repeat in our house. I decided to make him an ice cream cake for his little family birthday celebration and it turned out so well and was SO EASY that I actually have made another one since! Seriously you guys, if I can make one of these so can you. If I would have known how easy they actually are to make, I would have been making them a long time ago. All you need is time so with a little planning ahead, you can make a delicious ice cream at home too.
I topped my ice cream cake with a delicious whipped cream frosting and rainbow sprinkles! These cakes are awesome because you can make them way ahead of time and just keep in the freezer. They are absolutely perfect for birthday parties, end of summer barbecues or football parties! Im not much of a cake decorator but you could really let your imagination run wild here with some icing pens on top.
Place cake back in freezer for a couple hours before frosting!
Chocolate Vanilla Ice Cream Cake
This easy Chocolate Vanilla Ice Cream Cake is a quick and easy no-bake dessert idea. A delicious crumb base with layers of chocolate fudge, crumbled cookies and vanilla and chocolate ice cream. So good!
Living in Italy makes me eat lots and lots of ice cream! Especially when the heat is, and trust me on this, non stop! Non Stop since the beginning of June.
And of course not just because its hot but because the ice cream is absolutely amazing. But to tell you the truth, I think pretty well all ice cream is worth eating especially served as a Cake!
Recommended Reading: Wedding Cake Pool Steps For Sale
How To Cut An Ice Cream Cake
Once youve built a gorgeous ice cream cake, learn how to slice it into beautifully, crisp pieces. Heres a biggie tip: if youre serving your cake to guests, slice the cake ahead of time, leave it on the plate, and put it back into the freezer.
Remove it from the freezer 10 minutes before serving. You want the ice cream cake to soften every so slightly to make your job easier but not melt!
Dip the blade of a large metal chefs knife in a tall glass of warm water. You know how people dip ice cream scoops in warm water to help them glide through a pint of ice cream? Dipping a chefs knife will help it slice through your layer cake neatly. Just make sure to dry off the blade completely with paper towels.
Place the tip of the knife into the center of the cake first. Then press the back of the blade downwards to make an even slice.
Dip the blade in water and dry it. After every cut youll want to re-dip the blade in water and dry it off. Otherwise, you risk messy results.
Different Ways To Make It
If chocolate isnt for you then you can substitute:
- For the cookie base digestive cookies, graham cracker crumbs, shortbread crumbs or your favourite.
- For the fudge sauce butterscotch, strawberry, maple syrup, caramel or even chocolate
- For the ice cream strawberry, vanilla, ripple or of course any of your favourites.
Also Check: Wilton Cake Sizes Chart
Frost The Ice Cream Cake
Take your whipped cream frosting and carefully spread it evenly all over the sides of the cake.
Try not to get too many crunchies mixed into the frosting. It’s a little tricky.
Use a piping bag or silicone frosting bulbs to pipe a decorative edge around the top and bottom of the cake.
Once you have frosted the ice cream cake, place it back in the freezer for the frosting to set.
As you can see, there is a lot of waiting and in and out of the freezer with this recipe. But, it is relatively easy to make. There is no baking involved at all.
Enjoy!
Serving Size:
Amount Per Serving:
Occasionally, you will find nutrition information provided with recipes on AlmostPractical.com – this information is created from online calculators and is an ESTIMATE only. I am not a nutritionist or registered dietician. Nutritional information can vary depending on the brands and the actual ingredients that you use. By using this site and it’s contents, you agree to hold harmless AlmostPractical.com and its owners for any loss or damage you incur that results from your use of the nutritional information provided by this site.
Making Chocolate Sponge Cake
When your ingredients and equipment are ready to go, its time to start mixing. First, combine the dry ingredients.
In a large mixing bowl, whip the egg whites on medium-high speed until they form stiff peaks. This is what gives the cake its airiness.
To check your peaks, simply stop mixing and lift the whisk out of the egg whites, turning it upside down. If the egg whites droop, keep whipping. If they cling to the wire whisk and stand up straight into a peak, youre good to go.
Its important to use the whipped egg whites fairly quickly after they reach stiff peaks. Egg whites tend to separate if they sit around for too long.
Next, beat the egg yolks with the sugar and vanilla. Add the dry cake ingredients to the egg yolks. Then gently fold a quarter of your whipped egg whites into the batter just to lighten it. Folding in a little bit initially helps to incorporate it more easily without deflating the egg whites.
Then gently mix the remaining whipped egg whites into the batter and fold until just combined. No streaks of whites should be visible, but you also dont want to mix any more than is necessary. The dough should be light and airy.
When spreading the cake batter into your prepared pan, make sure to spread it as evenly as possible. If the edges are too thin, they will bake up as a crispy cookie rather than a cake. Then when you go to roll the cake the edges will crumble.
Note: Be sure not to over-bake the cake. You need it to be soft and pliable to roll up easily.
You May Like: Sam’s Club Cupcakes Order Form