recipe: ice cream cake (but not like you think)
If you’ve been following along, you’re probably aware that I collect cookbooks. Specifically, cookbooks created by New England civic organizations between 1950 and 1980 for fundraising purposes. With yard sale season in full swing, I find myself solvent with new recipe ideas, among them one I found in this vandalized and water-damaged collection.
The picture on the cover somewhat suggests the architecture of Calvary Baptist Church in Easthampton, but I bought the book in Millbury and it has no date (I’ve never been to that Church, I just tried to do some due diligence in my googling). Nevertheless, it *does* include a chocolate cake recipe with a secret ingredient: ice cream.
And hey, no cake flour or fancy measuring required, because we’re using cake mix.
I let my ice cream soften by scooping it up into small chunks and letting it sit a few minutes. At teaspoon size, your mixer will take care of any further softening required right quick.
The recipe calls for greasing & flouring a tube pan. Since I’m making chocolate cake, I dusted with cocoa powder instead of flour so my cake won’t look dusty. In fact you can do this with any chocolate cake, with the added bonus of a little extra kick of chocolate, and hey, that’s the name of the game, right?
After 4 minutes of beating, the batter kinda just looks like . . . well, melted ice cream.
This is one of those situations where a process shot gives a much clearer picture of the character of the dish than the final picture can. Connie Aubuchon, the contributor of this recipe, assures that the cake is “very moist, rich and chocolatey.”
She was right. This is about as moist as a cake gets without being outright wet, and it even has this spongy noise as you cut into it. In short, it is the most delicious chocolate cake you ever had.
I wanted to see just how chocolatey I could make this, so I stayed true and made a chocolate cake mix with chocolate ice cream. But I was *thisclose* to trying chocolate cake with mint or ginger ice cream, and other combos that come immediately to mind are vanilla mix with mango ice cream, yellow cake mix with strawberry ice cream, and funfetti with pretty much any ice cream. What combo would you make?
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Chocolate Ice Cream Cake (but not like you think)
with thanks to Connie Aubuchon
1 box chocolate cake mix (or any other flavour)
1 pint chocolate ice cream, softened (again, any other flavour)
3 eggs
1 c water
Preheat oven to 350o. Grease a tube or bundt pan, then dust with cocoa powder.
Beat all ingredients together for 4 minutes, pour into pan and bake 45 minutes. Serve with a dusting of confectioner’s sugar, a thin icing, whipped cream or the frosting of your choice.
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approximate nutrition summary (will vary depending on the brands used): 230 calories, 6g fat, 1g fiber; about 5 weight watchers points
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I tried this last night, followed directions exactly, baked it at the specified temperature for the specified time … and it could not have been a worse disaster. The batter, as it baked, expanded over the top of the tube in the pan, spilling through and onto the bottom of my oven. The cake only baked about halfway through — it was still gooey and ‘raw’ more than 1/2 inch beyond the outside edge. And it didn’t just fall, it imploded when I took it out of the oven. I know my oven temp is correct, there has never been any problem with it before. I really wish it had turned out, and I may bite the bullet and try it again at some point, but I just wanted to say I’m glad all yours turned out well, as I was very disappointed. If anyone has a clue what happened, I’d love some ideas.
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this very well could replace masturbation. Not recommended I’m sure, but it could. I’m making it tomorrow- after I, well, you know.
I found this recipe from Stumbleupon.com. I had a box of white cake mix that I’d had forever. A pint of Ben & Jerry’s Chunky Monkey changed that. It was by far the best cake. I think I might go baking happy right now… How does white cake & green tea ice cream sound?
[…] cake. But don’t be fooled by the name: you bake this ice cream cake. I got the recipe from Omnomicon, and added the bananas for a little twist. Ya, because there’s no way this could blow up in […]
I tried this today, and it turned out awesome! Do NOT try to remove it from the pan though, unless you want to burst into tears…then start eating it off the plate with your hands like a hobo.
http://grubbygirls.wordpress.com/2010/05/23/i-scream-you-scream-we-all-scream-for-ice-cream-cake/
Ive made this cake twice now in less than a week. The first was a marble cake with the chocolate side made from white cake mix and bunny tracks ice cream. it was really good, but i had to cook it for almost 1 and a half hours (i did use two boxes of cake mix). My second cake, was a devils food cake and cherry ice cream. O.M.G. add a little diced and sweetened cherries on top and you have a cake people will line up for. I made the second in a 9×13 sheet cake pan and it turned out perfectly at 45 minutes.
Hi!
I made it with strawberry ice cream and vanilla cake mix, it was awesome!
Thanks a lot!
Just put my yellow cake with dulce de leche ice cream in the oven!
This sounds great! I’m going to make this for my best friend for her birthday except im going to try vanilla cake with cookie dough ice cream!
I have made this twice before. Fabulous recipe. My grown daughter raved about and wants it again for her birthday tomorrow. Hint use a rich good ice cream.
This is for ceallaig above or anyone else out there who might have had trouble with overflow.
For our first cake, we took a lemon-flavored mix and added strawberry ice cream. This was topped with a glaze my wife cobbled together from butter, powdered sugar, and strawberry preserves. It turned out beautifully and was a big hit.
We had another gathering and I was left at home to make a cake with caramel mix and vanilla-toffee ice cream. I was minding our son, so I didn’t notice that this combo of mix/ice cream exceeded the 2/3 level on my bundt cake pan, and it overflowed into the oven, making almost a small round-cake’s worth of excess glop. Further, at 45 minutes, the inside was “raw” and the cake fell apart when half of it came out of the pan.
So on my second go-round, I carefully kept the batter at around 2/3 and made 6 cupcakes as well. It turned out well, but I made sure to let the cake bake an extra 10 to 15 minutes (with periodic checks, so that might have let some warm air out of the oven). It was also stubborn coming out of the pan, but it eventually let go with some extra cooling.
The difference, I think, has to do with the quality of ice cream. Our first cake was a Breyers ice cream that was pretty cheap (on sale at $2 for 1.5 quarts), while the second used a $3.50 pint of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream. Perhaps higher-quality ice creams produce a “fluffier” batter and/or make the cake rise more? I’ll leave it to the chemists in the audience.
But I’ll say this: That caramel cake/vanilla toffee ice cream combo is to die for. The wife cruelly added some caramel topping and crumbled Heath bars. I’m going to look like a 6-foot Oompa Loompa in a month…
This is INSPIRED.
My best friend had a birthday today – what luck! She wanted lemon cake, so we picked strawberry ice cream. (With strawberry bits in!) I “frosted” the cake hot – so it glazed beautifully and melted in/off. This was an excellent choice.
The whole thing turned out just frighteningly tasty, and so moist we couldn’t actually stand forks up in it.
I might not be able to escape making birthday cakes for EVERYONE this year.
Thank you for sharing this recipe! (Thank you also, Mr. Williams, for linking to this page!)
Has anyone tried this with sherbert?
This cake looks absolutely perfect…I’ll bet it is very moist!
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I get to eat this cake today!!!
Does any one know the time/ temp for 2 round cake pans?
OMG!! This was great. Made choc cake w/ choc ice cream for Father’s Day and he LOVED it!! Great recipe…can’t wait to experiment with diff flavors! Thanks!!!!
[…] not an icing fan), but it contains a pint of ice cream in it! The recipe is actually called “Chocolate Ice Cream Cake (but not like you think).” Click link for […]
This has been a great hit with my friends and I. The next time I make it I want to try coffee ice cream!
Update:
I made the chocolate and chocolate cake for my mom’s birthday, my very large and loud Italian stopped talking for a solid 5 minutes to just eat it. Followed by them telling me how good it was. I sh*t you not they even stopped fighting to just eat this cake.
This cake… is magical o_0
oops! I meant to say ‘family,’
“my very large and loud Italian family”
Does this cake need to be refrigerated? How far in advance can you make it?
Try it with Phish food or Fossil Food and you get delicious chunks of chocolate left in after baking.
Is that 1c of water 1 cup = 250ml?
Thanks……….
[…] 8. Ice Cream Cake. But not how you think! A simple cake that you mix ice cream in. Makes it super moist. I must try this asap too! […]
Just made this cake and Im waiting for my mom to get home so we can dig in. I made it just chocolate on chocolate with a creamy white frosting. While it was cooking, there was so much batter it baked all the way out of the pan, but quickly deflated when it was cooling.
Yum!
I’ve made this cake (with variations of ice cream and cake mixes) one of our FAVORITES is golden cake mix with Dulce de Leche ice cream and then when the cake is right out of the oven-I start pouring caramel sauce down the sides of the bundt pan-inside and outside. It SOAKS up the caramel and then I take it out of the pan and dump the rest of the caramel over on top. Sprinkle with some chopped toasted pecans – or not ;-)…
I made this last week friend with my friend and it was incredible! I’m making it for my other friends’ birthday this coming Thursday, and I’d like to know if it HAS to be in a bunt pan. I am not sure if my parental units have one of those…
[…] I don’t like cake at all (I know, weird right) but this cake from Omnomicon looks […]
Just use custard (Ice cream is frozen custard), then you won’t have to wait for the ice cream to melt.
Such a cool idea! I know that my sweetheart is gonna force me to make it immediately…not that it will take that drastic an action.
Subscribed!
This is the only recipe I use for cake and I have made it with many different kinds of cake mix and ice cream. The best I’ve made by far is this: Duncan Hines Dark Chocolate Fudge cake mix, Starbucks Coffee ice cream and coffee instead of water. I frost it with hot fudge and it is the most delicious chocolate cake I’ve ever eaten. People absolutely destroy it when I take this cake to parties.
THANK YOU SOM MUCH FOR PUTTING UP THIS POST!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I KNOW IT’S KIND OF LATE BEING THAT YOU POSTED THIS LIKE 2 YEARS AGO BUTH THIS TOTALLY HELPS ME WITH MY HYPOTHESIS FOR SCIENCE FAIR AND THIS IS PRETTY MUCH THE ONLY THING I’VE FOUND ON ICE CREAM ADDED TO CAKE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 🙂
Hi, just wanted to let you know we actually did this for my sons 1st birthday! We did vanilla cake, and (lol..) birthday cake ice cream (I know I know..had to do it though). Bonus perks:The cake itself turned out this awesome green color, from the sprinkles and what-not. I’m glad we got to try it before my son absolutely demolished it. I wish I could post pictures..I have to say, I was surprised by how *heavy* it was, we did a 2 layer “block” then decorated it with his name, to look like a childs wooden block =)
Thanks so much, keep it up!!!
I’m making this right now with a gluten free chocolate cake mix and a dairy free ice cream. I will let everybody know how this goes!
Have made different variations of this cake MANY times for my family and friends. I don’t think I’ll ever make cake any other way again. Our favorites are Ben and Jerry’s New York Super Fudge Chunk with Betty Crocker Super Moist Fudge Supreme; and Haagan Das All Natural Strawberry with Duncan Hines Strawberry Supreme. I made the chocolate one once with a little Chambord replacing some of the water and it was to die for! We love, love, LOVE this recipe!!!
[…] talking souffle, here. This is just cake…and from a mix! You can try it for yourself at http://www.omnomicon.com/ice-cream-cake. People rave about it. The friend who sent me the recipe also […]
Like someone else above, I tried this and it immediately imploded when removed from oven. Followed recipe to a T; use expensive ice cream (HD), and it was just O.K. I didn’t think it was any moister than the regular cake mix. I’ll try again.
I made a vanilla with blueberry pomegranate ice cream. Soooo tasty. Up next. Peach ice cream with vanilla mix and a layer of jam. Then cherry ice cream and chocolate mix =)
I’m doing a dark chocolate cake with haagen dazs “bananas foster” ice cream. yummy
Gods. I have made this twice with the gluten free cake mix and the coconut based ice cream and it is still wonderful. There is no weirdness in the baking though it doesn’t seem to be as sturdy a cake (more crumbly). I’m going to try and make it again this week!
Do you think this recipe could make a chocolate muffin?
You should state whether it is in degrees or Fahrenheit.
So after seeing this recipe I wanted to make this with chocolate cake and mint chocolate chip ice cream. Glad I’m not the only one with this idea. I’ll try it out tonight on my cast girls slumber party, my room of willing guinea pigs. Thank you so much for this recipe!
May I make a request, from an overseas perspective? Could you edit the original entry to specify what size/weight/volume box of cake mix is standard? These things can vary a lot from country to country, and while I’m sure Connie Aubuchon only expected the recipe to be read and used locally, you have an international audience.
I don’t mean that in any sort of snotty YOU SHOULD HAVE KNOWN way because why SHOULD you have known?
Fabulous – wonder if I could skip dinner and have an extra slice?
Stunning photos!! The cake looks mouth watering! Great post and recipe. 🙂
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