This ice cream cake is so easy to make and infinitely adaptable. My mom has been making it for over 40 years for her 4th of July party, and there are people who come every year just for this cake. It’s the perfect summer dessert for a hot day.
No two ice cream cakes are the same
There is no set “recipe” for this cake, more like a methodology. Every cake is slightly different depending on the flavors and toppings you choose, but every cake is amazing. The cake is made up of a cookie crust, three kinds of ice cream, toppings, and sauces all smushed together, forming perfection in a pan. Depending on the size of the crowd or the amount of leftovers you want (remember, ice cream cake does not go bad!), it can be made in a loaf pan or a springform pan.
Choose your flavors
The cake is made up of three ice cream flavors that will mesh well together. This usually involves a lot of overthinking for me at the grocery store! If you are using a loaf pan, you will need at least 3 pints, whereas the springform pan uses 3 half gallons. But no one in my house has ever complained when we have extra ice cream.
Choose your toppings and Sauces
Once you have your ice cream flavors, pick out toppings and sauces to complement them. Add hot fudge, butterscotch, strawberry, or caramel sauces. Grab some fruit preserves as well. Nuts, pretzels, toffee bits, sprinkles, and candy all make great mix-ins. All the flavors in the cake get mushed together, so imagine the perfect sundae, only in cake form.
Some Ice Cream Cake Ideas
- Chocolate, Coffee, and Salted Caramel Ice Cream with caramel sauce and hot fudge and chocolate cookie crust
- Mint Chip, Chocolate, and Cookies in cream with hot fudge, mini chocolate chips and mint oreo crust.
- Caramel, Butter Pecan, and Moose Tracks ice cream with peanut butter magic shell, caramel sauce, and chopped peanut butter cups on a chocolate cookie crust
- Strawberry, Lemon, Peach Ice Cream with strawberry sauce, peach preserves on a golden oreo crust
- Strawberry, Peanut Butter Chocolate, and Cookies in Cream with strawberry sauce, hot fudge, and chocolate cookie crust.
The art of smushing ice cream
The key to making this cake is the smushing. The cake starts with a cookie crust, followed by layers of ice cream, sauces, and toppings, all smushed together. After each layer of ice cream, use wax or parchment paper to press down hard, compressing and spreading the ice cream. You can use the same parchment for all the flavors since the goal is to smush everything together. After smushing the ice cream, add sauces and toppings, and then smush again. The ice creams, sauces, and toppings all marble together with each smush. Fill to the top of the pan. I usually try to add some decorative sauce and toppings on the very top, but they always get absorbed and mixed in when covered with plastic wrap.
Ice Cream Cake
Ingredients
- 3 Flavors of Ice Cream
- 2 Sauces
- Toppings optional
- 1 Cookie Crust (sandwich cookies and butter)
Instructions
- About 20 minutes before starting, move the ice cream to the fridge to soften.
Cookie Crust
- For a loaf pan, line the pan with plastic wrap so the inside is completely covered. For a springform pan, wrap the outside with foil to prevent any ice cream from leaking out.
- For the loaf pan, crush about 20 sandwich cookies into a fine crumb and mix with 3 tablespoons of melted butter. You can do this in a food processor if you have one. Then press the mixture into the bottom of the loaf pan, forming a crust about 1/4–1/2 inch thick.
- For a springform pan, use 30 cookies and 5 tablespoons of butter.
Assemble the cake
- Pull out one ice cream flavor and scoop it into the pan, forming a single layer. Some gaps are okay. Using either parchment or wax paper, smush the ice cream down to form a solid layer.
- Add a thin layer of sauce. It sometimes helps to warm the sauces slightly if they don’t want to pour or spread.
- Add in any toppings.
- Pull out the next flavor of ice cream, scoop, and smush like the first one. It’s fine if the sauces and ice cream mix together. Then add a layer of sauce and toppings.
- Repeat with the last flavor of ice cream, smushing it down to fill the pan to the top.
- Wrap in plastic wrap and place in the freezer for at least 24 hours.
- Place the ice cream cake in the fridge about 30 minutes before serving to make it easier to cut.
