What Is Ice Cream Cake

Dairy Queen’s Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup Blizzard Cake

When it comes to ice cream, the Dairy Queen takes the crown for one of the best soft serve settings around. The first Dairy Queen opened in Illinois in the year 1940, and unlike other ice cream stores on this list, sells hot dogs, hamburgers, and fries along with its frosty sundaes and scoops. Browse the extensive menu long enough, and you’ll find that Dairy Queen offers several cold ice cream cakes for any event. There are numerous ice cream cake flavors to choose from our favorite ice cream royalty, including the Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup Blizzard Cake.

This peanut butter delight is coated in a frozen white frosting, and inside, a base layer of Dairy Queens soft serve ice cream. The cake also has a smaller layer of crunchy bits and fudge before being topped with a layer of Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups Blizzard ice cream and the actual candy, finished with a drizzle of chocolate. This cake was great, and the peanut butter flavor was very prevalent, but was incredibly sweet, and paired nicely with the layer of fudge. The frosting was frozen, so a bit difficult to slice through, but other than that, a perfectly good peanut butter cake!

Reeses Premium Peanut Butter Ice Cream Cake

If youve got peanut butter cup lovers in your house, this is the ice cream cake for them. A layer of peanut butter cups runs through the chocolate ice cream base, which is iced with whipped peanut butter frosting, and decorated with an extra drizzle of fudge sauce and crushed peanut butter cups. The chocolate ice cream wasnt as rich as the one in the basic Carvel cake, but I think thats actually a good thing. Peanut butter and chocolate desserts can sometimes be super rich and almost too decadent. This option felt balanced. The marbled chocolate drizzle over the top is a nice touch and feels a little more elevated. This was my 14-year-old sons choice, and likely a good bet if youre serving a bunch of teens.

Buy: Reeses Premium Peanut Butter Ice Cream Cake, $14.98 for 46 ounces at Walmart

Is Ice Cream Cake Actually Cake

I think everyone can agree that ice cream birthday cake, if anything, is a bunch of delicious words and ideas stuck together. But what seems to be a point of contention is what actually constitutes an ice cream cake. Is it ice cream and cake? Or is it just ice cream you can slice? I want to know.

This exact discussion erupted recently when Tastemade that people had a lot of strong opinions about. This birthday cake doesnt actually contain any cake, and were not mad about it, Tastemade says in the tweet.

In the video, part of Tastemades The Scran Line, pastry gourmand Nick Makrides adds three flavors to separate bowls of condensed milk, whipping cream, and food coloring to make strawberry, boysenberry, and lemon cream.

After folding in rainbow sprinkles, the boysenberry cream is added to a prepared cake tin, leveled with a few taps, and then joined by the strawberry and lemon layers. After freezing the concoction overnight and then adding a finishing touch of whipped cream and chocolate drizzle, the colorful birthday cake is done. Theres only one problem: Folks dont think this counts as cake.

Some of the confusion seems to be that the creamy components look a lot like birthday cake frosting, leading some to believe its a giant pile of frozen frosting .

But more people were just confused. Where is the cake?

When I posed the question to my followers on Twitter with an unofficial poll, results were mixed but erred on the side of cake.

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Signature Select Mixed Berry And Moose Tracks Ice Cream Cakes

The other two Signature Select ice cream cakes that made this list were “Mixed Berry,” and “Moose Tracks,” flavors that are sold with the brand’s other three flavors. The Mixed Berry flavor is a dessert made with a berry ice cream filling, and a graham cracker-y crust on the bottom. It’s Moose Track variation is a chocolate crumble base, and is filled with a peanut butter cup ice cream. It is also topped with a thicker layer of vanilla frosting, and has peanut butter cups and a chocolate drizzle on the top.

The Moose Track and Berry ice cream cakes are a bit bigger and have way more ice cream than the chocolate and vanilla flavors, but they reminded us more of cheesecake made with ice cream instead of an ice cream cake. We preferred the Moose Tracks flavor, and liked the peanut butter cups on top, though the peanut butter cups in the ice cream weren’t as numerous. This isn’t helped by the fact that there is no actual cake in this dessert, which isn’t always a detriment, but when you’re going up against ice cream cakes made by world-famous ice cream creators, it might help to have something else going for you as a frozen treat.

Friendlys Premium Ice Cream Cake

Its impossible to miss the bright red packaging of a Friendlys ice cream cake in the supermarket. This ice cream brand has a rich history to it, being created by two brothers at the peak of the Great Depression, and according to the brands website, was the first ice cream sold by a half-gallon ice cream package, so that customers could bring it home. However, though Friendlys has an inspiring history, its Premium Ice Cream Cakes arent as inspiring to taste. These cakes are easy to find in stores, and are branded as having a layer of chocolate ice cream, a layer of vanilla ice cream, and a crunchy layer of something that seems like a crumbled cookie or cake in between.

Friendlys cake has a small frosting exterior, which is a plus if you prefer Ice cream over frosting. However, the crumbled cookie-cake layer, while branded as being decently sized, was almost absent from the cake itself, resulting in just two large layers of chocolate and vanilla ice cream covered by a thin layer of frosting. Target reviews also back up this claim, with some customers having the same problem that we found. If this is what we had wanted, then we would have just made ourselves a chocolate and vanilla ice cream sundae at home.

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How To Make Homemade Whipped Cream

The taste of homemade whipped cream is far better than store bought which is why we are going to make it from scratch! If youve never made homemade whipped cream before, dont worry, its very simple. Here are some tips on making the best whipped cream.

Keep it chilled: Keep the cream in the fridge until right before you need to use it. and stick the bowl and whisk in the freezer for 10 minutes before mixing. If the cream is too warm, the fat becomes ineffective as a stabilizer, and the cream will fall flat.

Use a mixer: The easiest way to whip cream is in a stand mixer with a whisk attachment, or with an electric hand mixer. It should only take a few minutes of whipping to get a nice consistency. After it starts to form a soft peak where its barely hanging on to the whisk, watch it carefully. If the cream is overmixed, itll turn into butter!

Simply Recipes / Cambrea Gordon

Carvels Fudgie The Whale Ice Cream Cake

This next cake was one of the more fun-looking cakes on the list. Carvels Fudgie the Whale cake was a cute, chocolatey dessert that stood out on freezer shelves with its adorable whale shape and frosting smile. Carvel is known asAmericas first ice cream franchise, created by none other than Tom Carvel. The website describes this ice cream as having a lighter, creamy taste. With that in mind, this cake tasted just as great as it looked. The standard Carvel cake comes with two layers of vanilla and chocolate ice cream that are separated by a layer of Crunchies, though these are customizable. With milk fudge and a whipped frosting, this cake gave us a whale of a time, and should make for a cool chocolate treat at a birthday party. Something we noticed, however, was that the fudge would often be cracked, and the crunchy middle was disproportionate throughout. Besides that, this cake is great for any sea-themed parties you want to plan!

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Try Different Flavor Combinations

Using different flavors of ice cream, kinds of cookies or fillings can really allow you freedom in creating a unique and super delicious ice cream cake. Here are a few ideas! The sky really is the limit here.

• Mint Chocolate Chip: Mint Chocolate Chip ice cream + crushed thin mint cookies + hot fudge filling
• Butter Pecan: Butter Pecan ice cream + chopped pecans and shortbread cookies + butterscotch filling
• Chocolate Brownie: Chocolate Brownie ice cream + chopped brownie filling + chocolate sauce filling
• Reeses: Reeses Peanut Butter Ice Cream + chopped Reeses Peanut butter cups and chopped peanuts + hot fudge sauce filling
• Ultimate Oreo: Oreo ice cream + chopped Oreos + hot fudge filling

Peach And Butter Pecan Ice Cream Icebox Cake

If you love a dessert that’s a little bit salty and a little bit sweet, this is the one for you. Ritz crackers add a buttery, salty note that’s perfectly balanced with peach jam and store-bought butter pecan ice cream. This fuss-free ice cream cake recipe is easy to prep in advance and serve at your next outdoor dinner party.

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Top It Off With More Ice Cream

Lauren Habermehl for Taste of Home

While the previous layers firm up in the freezer, remove the vanilla ice cream again and let it soften on the counter. Once the chocolate layers have firmed up, spoon the remaining softened vanilla ice cream over the other layers. Use the offset spatula to smooth the vanilla ice cream evenly over the other layers. The vanilla layer should come to the very top of the springform pan.

Once thats done, freeze the cake for at least four hourse, though overnight is best.

Editors tip: Reserve 1/4 cup of vanilla ice cream to use after freezing your cake. You can use the leftover vanilla to fill and smooth out any thin patches or spots that get damaged after removing the outside ring of your springform pan.

Can This Be Made Gluten

Absolutely. To make this recipe gluten-free, swap all ingredients for gluten-free varieties. There are many gluten-free ice creams, chocolates and Oreo-like cookies on the market, so swapping for these can be done in a 1:1 ratio. One ingredient youll want to pay close attention to is the powdered sugar for the whipped cream icing. While most powdered sugars are gluten-free, some include a starch that may contain gluten.

For a vegan recipe, opt for dairy-free and vegan-friendly ingredient alternatives. Everything can be done in a 1:1 swap with great success. There are so many vegan ice cream brands to choose from that as a vegan its 100% possible to have your ice cream cake, and eat it too!

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Learn How To Make Every Delicious Aspect Of This Iconic Slice Of Cake

The Spruce Eats / Bahareh Niati

Cake defines a party. And, if that cake is ice cream cake then its a sure sign of a good party. As a kid, I pleaded for ice cream cake . Specifically, I dreamed of Dairy Queens iconic ice cream cake. Even if youre not a diehard fan, you still know its distinguishing qualities. Thick layers of creamy chocolate and vanilla ice cream divided by rich fudge sauce and irresistible chocolate cookie crunchies. Its all coated in a luscious whipped topping for the perfect ratio of textures and pops of flavor.

Though its much easier to buy a pre-made ice cream cake, we all know homemade just tastes so much sweeter. Plus, you can make it just how you like with your favorite ice cream flavors, toppings, and more. That said, once you make homemade hot fudge and those oh-so delicious cookie crunchies, youll see the virtue of this recipe. It all comes together very quick with most of the time spent hands-off chilling the cake.

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How To Make An Ice Cream Cake

1. Line an 8-inch cake pan with plastic wrap. Transfer all the ice cream to your lined cake pan and then cover with another layer of plastic. Press down into a flat layer and freeze.

2. Prepare and cool an 8-inch chocolate cake and cover the top with the chocolate fudge sauce using an offset spatula.

3. Sprinkle chopped cookies on top of the hot fudge.

4. Remove the ice cream layer from the freezer, unwrap it, and place it on top of the fudge. Cover the whole thing in plastic and place in the freezer while you make the whipped cream.

5. Combine cold whipping cream, sugar, and vanilla and mix starting on low. Gradually increase speed to high and mix until very soft peaks form. Finish off by whisking the whipped cream by hand until the peaks firm up. See my Whipped Cream Recipe for more instructions.

6. Cover the cake with the whipped cream and transfer the rest to a piping bag fitted with a large closed star tip.

7. Pipe a drip of chocolate onto the edge of the entire cake.

8. Pipe a scalloped pattern onto the top edge of the cake with the reserved whipped cream. Press crumbled cookies onto the bottom edge, and the cake is ready to serve.

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How To Cut An Ice Cream Cake

Lauren Habermehl for Taste of Home

The secret to cutting an ice cream cake easily and cleanly? Using a warm knife!

Begin by removing the ice cream cake from the freezer and letting it sit on the counter at room temperature for 10-15 minutes. While the cake softens, place a large, sharp knife in a glass of hot, steaming water. When the cake has softened, remove the knife from the water and wipe it dry on a clean cloth. Slice the cake, starting from the center and cutting in a smooth downward motion toward the outer edge. Use a cake server to lift the first slice from the cake. Continue cutting the cake, cleaning the knife with a cloth between each slice and warming the knife in the hot water bath as needed.

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.

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Ice Cream Cake Recipes You Can Absolutely Make At Home

Store-bought ice cream cakes have made many birthdays happier, but these homemade ice cream cake recipes have the power to transform any gathering into a joyful celebration. These frozen, creamy delights are packed with flavor and textureplus, they offer the option for full customization based on your own preferences. Swap out the flavor of the ice cream, riff with your favorite mix-ins, or follow the recipe line by line for our test kitchen-approved flavor combos. Below, you’ll find a few of our favorite ice cream cake recipes, including seasonal options loaded with fruit, easy freezer riffs on the icebox cake, and sophisticated desserts for your next summer dinner party.

How To Store Ice Cream Cake

This ice cream cake should be stored in the freezer. It will melt quickly if not kept in the freezer. It will stay good wrapped carefully with plastic wrap, or in an airtight container in the freezer for up to 7 days. Ice crystals will form on the cake and lower its quality after that amount of time. I recommend serving the cake within 24 to 48 hours after making the ice cream cake.

If you have any leftover ice cream cake, you can store the leftovers for up to 6 or 7 days in the freezer after serving. Store the leftovers by placing the remaining cake in an airtight container. Or by slicing up individual pieces and wrapping them first in plastic wrap, then in a freezer safe bag.

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Why I Think That Ice Cream Is Better Than Cake

I have a lot of reasons to support my claim that ice cream is better than cake. I have mentioned them below.

1. Ice Cream Is Easy To Prepare

If you have ever baked a cake, youll know that it is a fuss to bake a cake. You have to measure ingredients very carefully. But there is a possibility that you might have made a mistake. The cake might sink while baking. There is also a chance of the cake burning. Also, nobody likes a dry cake. Youll have to make frosting or ganache for it.

Its a lot easier with ice cream. You just need your basic ingredients and an ice cream maker. You just have to churn the ice cream and freeze it. The preparation process is easy and doesnt leave you with a mountain of dishes.

2. Ice Cream Is Easily Accessible

It is not possible to get a cake anywhere. Youll have to find a bakery for it. Also, it should be a good one as you wouldnt like a cake that is too dry or too soggy.

Ice cream, on the other hand, is a lot more accessible. You can easily get it at a store.

You can also get any flavor you like. Ice cream is also a lot easier to carry around and eat, unlike cake.

3. Ice Cream Can Be Used To Make A Lot Of Things

Ice cream is a lot more flexible than cake when used as an ingredient. You can make a different variety of dishes with ice creams. You can make smoothies, milkshakes, sundaes, fruit bowls and even cake. You can also use ice cream as a topper for dishes like waffles and pancakes.

4. Ice Cream Has A Lot Of Variety