Ice Cream Cake

16 servings
Prep Time 30 minutes
Cook Time 0 minutes
Freezing Time 6 hours
Total Time 6 hours 30 minutes

Easy Ice Cream Cake is made from scratch with chocolate and vanilla ice cream, Oreo cookie crumble, strawberry topping, and copycat ice cream shop frosting!

Homemade Cake makes a birthday extra special! Our Vanilla Ice Cream and Chocolate Ice Cream are the star of the party in this tasty and easy no-bake frozen treat.

Ice Cream Cake with slice missing

ICE CREAM CAKE

Your birthday cakes are about to get an upgrade! This easy Ice Cream Cake is completely made from scratch with simple yet flavorful layers. The chocolate and vanilla ice cream, Strawberry Topping, cookie crumb center, and even the yummy grocery store style frosting are homemade.

While this isn’t an official copycat Dairy Queen Ice Cream Cake, it’s pretty darn close! It’s more like a cross between a DQ Oreo filled cake and a grocery store ice cream cake frosting. Unlike a DQ cake, this Ice Cream Cake has a fruity strawberry filling instead of a chocolate fudge layer. You can always swap in Chocolate Ganache if you want to make it more like a Dairy Queen Cake!

Ingredients in prep bowls for Ice Cream Cake

Just like the popular ice cream shop treats, there is not really an actual baked cake layer, instead it is filled with a chocolatey Oreo crumb layer. Once the ice cream, strawberry filling, and Oreo crumb mixture are made, you just layer everything and freeze. This would be a great cake for young kitchen helpers to make, they can do all the spreading for you. The hardest part is waiting for the layers to freeze so you can frost the cake.

The grocery-style frosting for this cake is made with shortening which keeps it creamy even when it is frozen. This shortening buttercream frosting is easy to spread but it also holds it’s shape really well so it’s perfect for decorating birthday cakes. You can color portions of the frosting and use a piping bag to make the decoration extra special. Another easy decoration for your cake, besides rainbow sprinkles, is to give it a Hot Fudge Sauce drip and top layer.

SOME DELICIOUS TOPPING IDEAS:

Tips for Making Ice Cream Cake

  • Soften the ice cream to make it easier to spread but don’t melt it completely. If your ice cream is too melted, it will get soupy and when it freezes again, the consistency will be off.
  • Grab ingredients like heavy cream, vanilla, and sugar in bulk to save money. You will need enough cream, eggs, and sugar to make 6 cups of ice cream total.
  • When making the chocolate ice cream and vanilla ice cream, you can start with one large batch of custard first and then divide in half to add the chocolate.
  • Give yourself a day or two to prepare the ice cream ahead of time so it’s less work the day of your party. If you make the ice creams the same day, allow to freeze for a couple hours after they’ve gone through the ice cream machine.

Ice Cream Cake with white frosting and sprinkles

VARIATIONS ON ICE CREAM CAKE

  • Cake Center: Bake a 9 inch round cake with your favorite cake mix. If you are making a traditional cake to go with your Ice Cream Cake, prepare extra batter and make a thin cake for the center.
  • Crumb Center: Instead of Oreo cookie crumbs try other hard or crispy cookies like Chocolate Chip CookiesShortbread Cookies, vanilla wafers, graham crackers or Thin Mint Cookies.
  • Ice Cream: Use any of your favorite ice cream flavors or you can add mix-ins to your ice cream like crushed Oreos, mini chocolate chips, candy pieces, fresh berries, or chopped nuts.
  • Fillings: Other fillings you can use instead of strawberry topping and the cookie crumbs are brownie pieces, chocolate pudding, soft cookies, fruit jam, Salted Caramel Sauce, or Lemon Curd.

Ice Cream Cake with white frosting and sprinkles

MORE TASTY EASY FROZEN TREATS!

HOW TO STORE ICE CREAM CAKE

  • Serve: Allow the Ice Cream Cake to freeze for at least 2 hours before serving so that it doesn’t melt when you serve it. Keep frozen until you are ready to serve.
  • Freeze: Wrap your cake with plastic wrap and store in a freezer safe, air tight container for up to 3 months.

Ice Cream Cake slice on plate with fork

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Ice Cream Cake

Easy Ice Cream Cake is made from scratch with chocolate and vanilla ice cream, Oreo cookie crumble, strawberry topping, and copycat ice cream shop frosting!
Yield 16 servings
Prep Time 30 minutes
Cook Time 0 minutes
Total Time 6 hours 30 minutes
Course Dessert
Cuisine American
Author Sabrina Snyder

Ingredients
 

Ice Cream Cake Filling:

Oreo Crumb middle:

  • 1 1/2 cups Oreo Cookie crumbs
  • 1/4 cup sugar
  • 1/3 cup unsalted butter melted

Grocery Store Frosting:

  • 1 cup shortening
  • 1/2 cup unsalted butter , softened
  • 4 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 7 cups powdered sugar , about 2 pounds
  • 1/8 teaspoon salt
  • 4 tablespoons water

To Finish:

  • 1/4 cup Rainbow Sprinkles

Instructions

  • Line a 9" x 3" springform pan with a large sheet of plastic wrap that hangs over all the edges (you may need to use two pieces).
  • Add the chocolate ice cream and spread evenly.
  • Spread strawberry topping evenly over ice cream.
  • Stir together Oreo crumbs, sugar and butter until well mixed.
  • Sprinkle the mixture over the strawberry topping.
  • Add the vanilla ice cream and spread evenly.
  • Fold the plastic wrap over the top and freeze for 6 hours.

For Frosting:

  • To your stand mixer combine the shortening, butter, vanilla and water until light and fluffy.
  • Add powdered sugar and salt on the lowest speed setting until just combined.
  • Raise speed to high and beat for 10 minutes.
  • Once cake is frozen, remove from plastic wrap and place onto serving plate.
  • Ice cake with frosting then garnish with sprinkles.
  • Keep frozen until ready to serve.

Nutrition

Calories: 657kcal | Carbohydrates: 95g | Protein: 3g | Fat: 31g | Saturated Fat: 14g | Trans Fat: 2g | Cholesterol: 45mg | Sodium: 133mg | Potassium: 159mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 80g | Vitamin A: 507IU | Vitamin C: 3mg | Calcium: 67mg | Iron: 2mg
Keyword: Ice Cream Cake

Ice Cream Cake collage

About the Author: Sabrina Snyder

Sabrina is a professionally trained Private Chef of over 10 years with ServSafe Manager certification in food safety. She creates all the recipes here on Dinner, then Dessert, fueled in no small part by her love for bacon.

Sabrina Snyder is a professionally trained personal and private chef of over 10 years who is the creator and developer of all the recipes on Dinner, then Dessert.

She is also the author of the cookbook Dinner, then Dessert – Satisfying Meals Using Only 3, 5 or 7 Ingredients, published by Harper Collins.

She started Dinner, then Dessert as a business in her office as a lunch service for her coworkers who admired her lunches before going to culinary school and becoming a full time personal chef and private chef.

As a personal chef Sabrina would cook for families one day a week and cook their entire week of dinners. All grocery shopping, cooking and cleaning was done along with instructions on reheating. As a private chef she cooked for private parties and cooked in family homes in the evenings for families on a nightly basis after working as a personal chef during the day.

Sabrina has been certified as a ServSafe Manager since 2007 and was a longstanding member of the USPCA Personal Chef Association including being on the board of the Washington DC Chapter of Chefs in the US Personal Chef Association when they won Chapter of the year.

As a member of the community of food website creators Sabrina Snyder has spoken at many conferences regarding her experiences as a food writer including the Indulge Food Conference, Everything Food Conference, Haven Food Conference and IACP Annual Food Professionals Conference.

Sabrina lives with her family in sunny California.

Dinner, then Dessert, Inc. owns the copyright on all images and text and does not allow for its original recipes and pictures to be reproduced anywhere other than at this site unless authorization is given. If you enjoyed the recipe and would like to publish it on your own site, please re-write it in your own words, and link back to my site and recipe page. Read my disclosure and copyright policy. This post may contain affiliate links.

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