The under-appreciated ice-cream cake

[minas6907]

Fat Guy, does that Dairy Queen cake fall into the category of "the crap ones you buy at the chain soft-serve places"?

[Snadra]

For Christmas dessert last year I made an ice cream cake that had a thin layer of lime zest flavoured sponge on the bottom and was topped with a thick layer of rhubarb semifreddo (based on this recipe). I topped it with rose persian fairy floss and fresh strawberries (raspberries would have been better but I couldn't get any decent ones).

Universally loved by a very fussy group.

I was also thinking about making something like a Concorde, but with a chocolate semifreddo filling this coming summer. The nice thing about a semifreddo is you don't need an ice cream maker.

[LindaK]

This topic has stuck in my head, so thanks to everyone here I'm making an ice cream cake for a pre-hurricane birthday party tonight. Four chocolate layers, a little syrup flavored with rum, a thin layer of seedless raspberry preserves, vanilla ice cream, chocolate buttercream icing outside.

It's a little late to ask, but how do you form the ice cream layers? In the past I've softened the ice cream to a spreadable consistency, spead it over the cake, and gotten it in the freezer asap. Today I think I'll try something new--use the cake pans to form the layers (lining them with plastic wrap first). In theory, it will let me form ice cream layers of the exact diameter which I can then refreeze to firm up a bit before inverting them onto the cake layer. I've always worried that the softened ice cream could make the cake a little soggy before it all freezes again. Plus, no crumbs to deal with when spreading the ice cream. Has anyone tried this? Any other suggestions for assembling ice cream cakes?

[cookingofjoy]

LindaK - did it work well?

My reply's late, but I worked at baskin robbins as a kid, and we'd make the ice cream layer by just using a wire to cut off a round of a 5 gallon tub. That round was the whole ice cream cake for the fudge rounds, or it was paired with a same size actual cake, or it was cut to size for the loaf size cake. It was really quick and clean, and no issues of icy ice cream.

[Blether]

... Any other suggestions for assembling ice cream cakes?

I used to do Baked Alaskas - something of a meme for me back then - by cutting cold, hard ice cream into chunks and building the ice cream layer like assembling an igloo, or laying out the cheese for toasted cheese. Quite easy to do.

[minas6907]

Hey Fat Guy

I was looking at my commment, and I think it came off more sarcastic then I really meant it to be, I was just saying from the comment in your first post. Didnt mean to sound like a jerk or anything, sorry man.

[ambra]

I would looooooooove my Aunt's "famous" Mud pie.

It was coffee ice cream on top of hot fudge on top of crumbled chocolate cookie crumbs.....which she surbed with home whipped cream. Second Favorite birthday cake ever.

[threestars]

One of the very first topics I ever started on eG was "how to make an ice cream cake".

Its here, along with the picture of the first IC cream I ever made. My neice loved it.

That was a nice looking cake! I bet that's yummy too!

The Dairy Queen cake of Fat Guy looks great as well! I love chocolate cakes!

[Snadra]

This topic has stuck in my head, so thanks to everyone here I'm making an ice cream cake for a pre-hurricane birthday party tonight. Four chocolate layers, a little syrup flavored with rum, a thin layer of seedless raspberry preserves, vanilla ice cream, chocolate buttercream icing outside.

It's a little late to ask, but how do you form the ice cream layers? In the past I've softened the ice cream to a spreadable consistency, spead it over the cake, and gotten it in the freezer asap. Today I think I'll try something new--use the cake pans to form the layers (lining them with plastic wrap first). In theory, it will let me form ice cream layers of the exact diameter which I can then refreeze to firm up a bit before inverting them onto the cake layer. I've always worried that the softened ice cream could make the cake a little soggy before it all freezes again. Plus, no crumbs to deal with when spreading the ice cream. Has anyone tried this? Any other suggestions for assembling ice cream cakes?

Actually, that's exactly how I made the cake I described above. I tried it once when my ice-cream machine was still working too - just transferred it to a lined tin straight out of the machine before it hardened.

Your cake sounds great!

[LindaK]

It worked remarkably well and made the assembly so much easier. I don't know why I never thought of it before.

And the cake was good! No under-appreciation here, it was happily devoured by adults and kids alike.

[abooja]

After toying with the idea for years, and then reading about it here, I finally made myself an ice cream birthday cake. It was a four-layer affair -- two layers of chocolate chiffon cake in between a layer of salted butter caramel ice cream, and a layer of toasted coconut (Tahitian vanilla) ice cream with toasted almonds and dark chocolate stracciatella. I frosted it with hot fudge. (Many thanks to David Lebovitz and Rose Levy Beranbaum for their recipes.) I guessed right that a chiffon cake would work well in an ice cream cake. My husband's recollection of once witnessing the tip of a knife break off in someone's homemade brownie ice cream cake was a stern warning to steer in the opposite direction.

No photo because it looked a mess. I didn't freeze the cake long enough before coating it with fudge.

[Emily_R]

...It was a four-layer affair -- two layers of chocolate chiffon cake in between a layer of salted butter caramel ice cream, and a layer of toasted coconut (Tahitian vanilla) ice cream with toasted almonds and dark chocolate stracciatella. I frosted it with hot fudge. (Many thanks to David Lebovitz and Rose Levy Beranbaum for their recipes.).

Oh my god. WOW. This is the most delicious sounding thing I've heard about in looooong time. You had me at the salted caramel ice cream, and then once I heard toasted coconut I nearly started to cry. Going to go look forlornly in our freezer now...

[abooja]

Oh my god. WOW. This is the most delicious sounding thing I've heard about in looooong time. You had me at the salted caramel ice cream, and then once I heard toasted coconut I nearly started to cry. Going to go look forlornly in our freezer now...

Why, thank you! I thought it had potential, and it didn't disappoint.

I decided to take a photograph last night, and it was a terrible one, but here it is anyway:

[StephMac]

Another small tip for easier ice-cream cake making: springform pan.

A college roommate first did this when making a coffee ice-cream cake (fabulous, btw), and it makes it pretty simple to bake, layer, freeze in one pan, then just remove the sides to frost and serve. One of those "wow, why didn't I think of that" moments for me

[threestars]

That looks nice abooja! I don't think it's a mess! I bet that is one yummy cake!