Layered Ice Cream Cake Recipe

I have had a few people request the recipe for the ice cream cakes I made for the quints 3rd birthday, so I decided to post it. I originally invented the cake a few weeks ago. Some previous house guests had left three full cartons of strawberry ice cream in our freezer and we were having some people over for dinner, so I decided to dream up a way to use up some of the ice cream. I generally think that all desserts should involve chocolate (see my post HERE to read more about that), so I created this "chocolate covered strawberries" cake.


1 box Devils Food Cake Mix
1 1/4 cup semi-sweet Chocolate Chips (divided)
1 1/4 cups Water
1/2 cup oil
3 eggs
1 1/2 cartons strawberry ice cream
1 tub Cool Whip
3 Strawberries for garnish (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Finely chop 1 cup of the chocolate chips and set aside. Combine cake mix, water, oil and eggs in a mixing bowl. Mix on low speed for 30 seconds, then for 2 minutes on medium speed, scraping bowl as needed. Stir in chopped up chocolate chips. Pour into two 8-inch cake pans. Bake at 350 degrees for 31-35 minutes.

Remove pans from oven. Cool in pan 10 minutes, then transfer to cooling rack to cool completely. When cakes are cool, use a large knife to slice off any peaks that formed when cooking. Wrap each layer in plastic wrap and freeze.

Once cakes are frozen, remove from freezer and slice each cake in half to form a total of four circular layers. Re-wrap and freeze each layer. Build the cake by working on one layer at a time. Soften 1/3 of the ice cream (1/2 of a container) in a large bowl. When softened, use spoon to mix it up a little so that there are no hard lumps. Remove one layer of cake from the freezer. Spread ice cream over cake layer and return immediately to the freezer. Repeat with the next 2 layers, adding them to the top of the previous layer when finished. Top with the remaining cake layer. Freeze until solid.

Remove frozen cake from freezer. Using a rubber spatula, evenly spread cool whip on cake. Cut strawberries with a V to remove stems, then in half lengthwise to make a total of six "heart" shaped halves. Place strawberries in a circle on top of the cake. Place the remaining 1/4 cup chocolate chips in a Ziploc bag. Microwave in 20 second intervals at 50% power until chips are melted. Knead bag with fingers to mix, then snip a small corner of the bag. Drizzle chocolate over the top of the cake. Return cake to freezer.

Freeze until hard. When ready to serve, run a large knife under hot water and dry it off for easier slicing. Enjoy!

The "Chocolate Covered Strawberries" Ice Cream Cake

For the quints birthday party, I made two cakes, a "boy" cake and a "girl" cake with the quints colors of ice cream. For the girl cake, I used strawberry (pink), Dreyer's Take the Cake (yellow) and vanilla which I colored purple with food coloring.

The "girl" cake---pink, yellow and purple

For the "boy" cake, I used mint chocolate chip ice cream (green) for two layers, and vanilla ice cream colored with blue food coloring for the middle layer.

The "boy" cake--blue and green

Layered Ice Cream Cake Recipe