Double Frosted Strawberry Ice Cream Cake

I could barely lift this heavy, monstrous ice cream cake.  It serves at least 20 people.  Of course I did not have that many people to feed.  This means we will have ice cream cake for dessert for a whole week!

And the draw back of course, is storage space.  It occupies 75% of the space in our freezer.  Why did I make a cake so big? You’d probably ask…

I have a problem with estimation.  And I have issues with small, miniature things.

I am stuck in some kind of pattern.   I seem to always cook or bake for a large number of people; even though there are only three of us in our family.  And then I get stuck with all these foods, wishing I have friends and family to invite over…

I don’t like waste.  I especially hate throwing food away.  And yet I cook so much that most leftovers end up in the trash.  A vicious cycle I fall into over… and over… again!

Last year, for Ramon’s birthday, I bought a small ice cream cake from Dairy Queen.  The ice cream was good.  But the cake was hard and dry as a cardboard!  So I told myself… I bet I can make ice cream cake better than the ones I bought at the store.  I decided then and there that next year, for Ramon’s birthday, which was last Sunday, I will make an ice cream cake.  And this is exactly what I did.   I made the cake two days before.  Stored them in the freezer and the next day, frosted the layers with strawberry frosting and filled the layers with strawberry ice cream.  The cake stayed in the freezer until the next day for final frosting of whipped cream.

Of all the flavors I could choose from, why strawberry?  That’s because my son loves strawberries and strawberry flavors.  Though he complained that the strawberry icing for this cake is a bit overpowering.  It sorta overpowered the taste of the strawberry ice cream.

OK… so lessons learned.  This is my first attempt at making home made… really, more like semi-home made ice cream cake.  So for next time, I might just double up on the whippped cream frosting and use that in place of the store bought frosting.  But then again, Ramon said he wants a strawberry cheesecake next time.

So… for my next ice cream cake… It’s going to be all about what I want… And I want a French vanilla cake filled with Ben and Jerry’s Heath Bar Crunch and Americone Dream.  Mmmmm!  I can already feel it.  I’m going to have a seizure!

Here’s what you need…

Boxed cake mixes, frosting, and instant vanilla pudding.

Extra large eggs, water and canola oil.

Combine all ingredients in the bowl of a stand mixer.

Mix on low speed for about 45 seconds.

Increase speed to medium and blend for about 2 minutes or until mixture is smooth, creamy and free of lumps.

Please note:  Before you begin mixing the cake, preheat the oven to 350°F and butter two 10 inch cake pans and dust them with granulated sugar.

Pour cake batter into the prepared pans.

Bake cakes in a preheated oven at 350°F for 30 minutes.  Reduce the oven to 325°F and bake the cakes for another 30 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.

Cool cakes in the pan for 1 hour.

Loosen the cakes from the pan by scraping the sides of the pan with a thin knife before freezing.

Freeze cake for at least eight hours before slicing.

Cut cakes in half, horizontally.

Frost the cakes.

Frost each layer with the canned frosting.  I used about half a can for each layer.

Take the tub of ice cream about 10 minutes.  Just so it’s spreadable.

Spread about 1/3 of the ice cream on the first or bottom layer.

SStack the cakes as you fill each layer with ice cream.

Align and press the cake down.  Freeze ice cream filled cakes for 3 hours, unwrap or uncovered.  After three hours, pull the cake from the freezer and cover or wrap with plastic wrap.

Freeze the ice cream filled cake overnight.

Prepare the Heavy Whip Cream Frosting:

Here I have heavy whipping cream, powdered sugar, and vanilla extract.

Whip heavy cream until frothy.

Add powdered sugar.

Whisk for a few seconds.

Add vanilla extract.

Whip heavy cream and powdered sugar mixture until thick.

Take a spatula and generously spread whipped cream over the frozen cakes, from the top down to the bottom.

Like this…

At this point, you can decorate the cake if you like.

I don’t bake this type of cake often, and therefore do not have the tools for decorating pastries, and this cake.  So I left it plain…

Take the cake out of the freezer no longer than 15 minutes before serving.

Slice the cake and enjoy.

The RECIPE:

Please note that I used a stand (Kitchen Aid) mixer to mix the cake.  I’m sure you could manually mix these, it would just take longer.  And if you do, a wooden spoon is a great tool.

Please also note that I used two 10 inch cake pans and took 1 hour to bake the cakes:  30 minutes at 350°F and another 30 minutes at 325°F.

Fail Proof Cake Recipe:

2 (18.5 ounce) box cake mixes, any flavor you like

1 (3.4 ounce) box vanilla instant pudding

7 extra large eggs

2 1/3 cups water

5/6 cup canola oil (a line below 1 cup)

Place oven rack on the third shelf from the bottom.  Preheat oven to 350°F.

Butter two 10 inch cake pans and dust them with granulated sugar.

Using the bowl for a stand mixer (Kitchen Aid), combine all the ingredients as listed above.

Using the paddle attachment, mix the cake on low speed for 45 seconds.  Increase the speed to medium and mix the cake for 2 minutes.

Pour batter, equally, into the prepared cake pans.

Bake cakes in a preheated oven at 350°F for 30 minutes.  Reduce the oven to 325°F and bake the cakes for another 30 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.

Remove cakes from the oven and cool them in the pans for 1 hour.

Loosen the cakes by scraping a knife all around the pans.

Freeze cakes in the pans, covered with aluminum foil.

Frosting and Filling the Cake with Ice Cream:

2 (16 ounce) cans frosting, strawberry or your favorite flavor

Half gallon strawberry ice cream or your favorite flavors

Remove the cakes from the freezer and cut them in half, horizontally.

Spread half a can of frosting on each layer.

Spread 1/3 of the ice cream on the first/bottom layer.  Do the same with the second and third layer.

Align and press down the cakes after each layer had been filled with ice cream.  Freeze the ice cream filled cakes.

Whipped Cream Frosting:

2 cups heavy whipping cream

½ cup powdered sugar

2 tsps. vanilla extract

Using the bowl for the stand mixer, whisk heavy cream until frothy.

Add powdered sugar and vanilla extract.  Whisk cream and powdered sugar until thick and it clings to the whisk.  This process will take about less than 2 minutes.

Spread whipped cream over the top and sides of the frozen ice cream filled cakes.

Remove the cake from freezer no longer than 15 minutes before serving.

Tess’ Kitchen Secrets:

#1 – Bake and freeze the cakes two days before you need them.  Slicing a frozen cake eliminates if not reduces the chance of the cakes crumbling.

#2 – To easily remove the frozen cakes from the pan, place the cake pans over hot water for a few minutes.

#3 – To easily and cleanly slice the cake, have a glass jar filled with boiling water.  (Please be sure the jar can withstand very hot water.)  Place a large knife in the hot water.  Slice the ice cream cake with the hot knife.

Enjoy and Happy Cooking.  Or should I say baking?

Tess Harris