Make Your Own Ice Cream Cake

For many years Mister has requested an ice cream cake for his birthday. He didnt care if it was a purchased treat or not so I of course took a stab at making it myself. Ice Cream cakes can cost upwards of $25, you bet yourself a layer of chocolate crunchies I was going to at least try making it myself. That first cake was made about 9 years ago so I am happy to report that my method makes a yummy cake!

This is a method, not necessarily a recipe. You can make this with any combination of crust, ice cream flavors, filling, and or frosting. This is what I typically do and what my 8 year old requested for his recent birthday. It is not hard but takes several short steps with the freezing and creating layers.

I use a springform pan. This specific pan is a 10 inch but make it for whatever size celebration you are having. I start by making the crust. I cruch chocolate sandwhich cookies and toss with a couple of tablespoons of butter. Bake this at 350 for about 10 minutes.

While the crust is cooling take the first of the two layers (if using two) of ice cream and let it sit on the counter to soften. Once softened dollop and spread the ice cream on top of the crust. I like to use a large ofset spatula for this. Pop this in the freezer to harden for about an hour.

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If you are using a candy layer between the two ice cream layers now is the time to chop it up and spread evenly on the top of the first layer. You could also use a thin layer of chocolate fudge or ganache. You just want something that wont be too hard to cut and eat when frozen. I tried this with peanut butter one year and it was awkward to slice and eat because the peanut butter was frozen solid compare to the ice cream. While this is freezing take your second layer of ice cream out to soften on the counter.

Next, dollop and spread the second layer of ice cream on top of the middle layer. Put back in the freezer for a while to harden.

While this is happening I make my frosting. My favorite frosting for ice cream and any other kind of cake is Barefoot Contessa’s Chocolate Butter Cream frosting. Once the frosting is ready and the cake is frozen, take it out and use a knife to run around the edge to loosen, then unlatch the pan. I have busted a springform pan by not loosening it before so dont skip this step.

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Frost the cake just with an even layer with an offset spatula.

To decorate this sepcific cake I printed out a large number 8 and cut it out. I placed it on the cake and used sprinkles to make the number on the top. Then I piped some stars on the top. I added a second row because i was messy with the sprinkles.

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Pop the cake back in the freezer one more time and keep it there until you serve it.

I paid $1.88 for each quart of ice cream, less than $2 for the cookies. My rough estimate is that the frosting cost about $10 for the entire batch and I only used half of it. So for under $13 I made a really yummy ice cream cake that rivals any store bought version. That’s a win in my book!

Have you made your own ice cream cake? Share your tips with me in the comments below!