Q: I am going to attempt an ice cream cake from scratch for my boyfriend's birthday. I have an idea of how to proceed, but I was also wondering if anyone has any helpful suggestions.
I plan to follow the general outline in Julia Child's The Way to Cook: Layer cake and softened ice cream in a springform pan, freeze thoroughly, and then frost. I'm thinking chocolate cake, buttermilk ice cream, and strawberries, with a white frosting. Does this combination sound good? Any troubleshooting tips? — Sent by Katherine
Editor: Katherine, that sounds delicious! One tip we like from this recipe for Peppermint Ice Cream Cake (pictured above) is to soften the ice cream then freeze it in a flat disc inside the same size pan that you baked the cake in. That way you're ensuring you get an evenly sized disc of ice cream. Unmold and place on the cake.
Other than that we don't have too many tips. Readers?
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I really think Katharine is trying to make us jealous.
It all sounds super yummy and I don't think the freeze would be a problem, just wrap it well so the cake stays moist.
You can also frost your cake with softened vanilla ice cream. We used to do that at the ice cream shop I worked at. I have also heard of people using cool whip. I think it will come out just find, it's really not too hard at all! To assemble, I would place the cake in a springform pan (or bake it in one), then add the softened ice cream on top, freeze a bit, then add the other cake layer. Freeze again before frosting. Don't forget to take it out for a bit before serving! Oh, and you can also make one in a bowl if you prefer a different shape...just line the bowl with cake pieces before putting in the softened ice cream. Good luck and enjoy!
I advise against using strawberries in the cake. I recently made an ice cream cake and mixed strawberries into the ice cream, but even after taking the cake out of the freezer to soften for a while the strawberries remained rock hard. Maybe a puree would work better, or just have a strawberry sauce to pour over the cake. But the icy chunks of strawberry in the cake were not very pleasant.
I agree with forked. Maybe put the strawberries on top of the cake after you take it out to serve?
I just made an ice cream cake for my son's birthday and used whipped cream as the frosting, it worked wonderfully. I thought buttercream would be too sweet with the ice cream and cake.
Love the whipped cream topping to less everything, sweet, calories, my niece wanted a banana and coconut cake for her birthday. I made a banana cake like banana nut bread with coconut ice cream with cool whip icing with coconut flakes in the topping. Was a big hit!!!!!
In regards to the strawberry cake. You could try the Strawberry cake mix with small strawberries diced in the ice cream. I make my ice Cream. Then make an icing with small diced strawberries. Then freeze. Delicious!!!! It worked for me.