Ice Cream Cake!

It’s party time. So you’re looking for an impressive dessert for the 4th of July. If you’re the host or not traveling far, consider an ice cream cake. You don’t have to go to the freezer section or buy one of those expensive pre-made jobs. You can do this yourself! This cake is so simple; it’s embarrassing when you get all the compliments! Flavor combinations are limitless, but some of my favorites are:

Chocolate cake with coffee ice cream
Chocolate cake with mint chocolate chip ice cream
Chocolate cake with chocolate swirl ice cream
Chocolate cake with black raspberry ice cream
(Are we sensing a pattern here?)

Other options:
White or yellow cake with sherbet
White or yellow cake with strawberry ice cream
Yellow cake with butter pecan ice cream
Marble cake with chocolate ice cream

You get it – take your personal favorites and combine for a custom-made dessert!

______________’s Ice Cream Cake
(Your name here)

1 recipe for an 8” cake OR 1 cake mix
½ gallon ice cream, softened at room temperature for about five minutes
1 pint heavy or whipping cream
1 tsp. vanilla
¼ cup confectioner’s sugar


Bake an 8” round, 2 layer cake from a mix, or half a scratch recipe for your favorite cake.
You’ll need one of the layers for this cake. Freeze the other for the next spectacular dessert – perhaps a trifle! OK - make sure you line the cake pan with parchment or wax paper, cut to fit. Spray the lined pan and sides with cooking spray. This makes for easy removal when cooled.

After the cake comes out of the oven, let cool for 15-20 minutes and remove from pan to cool completely on rack.

Wash pan and line with saran wrap, allowing an 8-inch overhang all the way around. Spoon ice cream (whatever flavor you prefer) into the pan, pressing down and allowing it to soften a little more until the pan is full to the rim with packed ice cream. Seal it up with the overhanging saran wrap. Place in freezer to firm up.

Let cake and ice cream freeze for about four hours or longer.

Remove cake from freezer. On serving plate, slice in half horizontally. Remove ice cream from freezer and unmold. Take frozen disc of ice cream and place between two layers of cake. Loosely cover and return to freezer. After making icing, remove from freezer and frost quickly. Back into the freezer to freeze hard, uncovered, until serving time. Wrap and freeze any left-overs.

Make icing:
Option 1: Whip heavy cream with 1 tsp. vanilla and ¼ cup confectioners sugar until medium-stiff peaks form – so that it can be spread and holds its shape.

Option 2: Mix one container of thawed Cool-Whip with 1 small package of vanilla pudding mix prepared with just one cup of milk. Fold pudding into Cool-Whip until completely blended.

Photo credit: http://www.nr-gize.com/flag%20fireworks.jpg