Ice Cream Cone Cake
Summer coming on...and what's a better fit for summer than an ice cream cake? Here's a 'no-ice-cream-maker required Ice Cream Cone Cake!
Servings: 16 servings
Calories: 548kcal
Equipment
- 3 sheets plastic wrap (to line pans before filling with ice cream)
- large piping bag + star tip (to decorate; linked is a set that contains both)
Ingredients
Ice Cream Cake layers
- 1 vanilla cake mix (I like Duncan Hines)
- ½ cup butter (melted and cooled)
- 1 ¼ cup buttermilk
- 4 eggs
Ice cream layers
- ½ gallon vanilla ice cream
- ¼ cup rainbow jimmies sprinkles
- 1-2 drops pink gel food coloring (optional)
Cream Cheese Buttercream Frosting
- 8 ounces cream cheese (one package, softened)
- 1 cup butter (two sticks, softened)
- 6 cups powdered sugar
- 1-2 Tablespoons milk
- 1 Tablespoon clear vanilla extract
- 1/4 teaspoon salt (if using unsalted butter)
- 3-4 drops pink gel food coloring (to decorate; save and add later!)
Decorations
- 10-15 Circus Animal cookies
- 3-6 Ice cream cones (I used large waffle cones for the top and a few small sugar cones for the sides)
- 1/4 cup nonpareil sprinkles (or rainbow jimmies; to decorate)
Instructions
Cake layers
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Prepare two of your 8 inch round pans with baker's floured cooking spray, or grease and line with parchment rounds.
- Beat cake mixes with butter, buttermilk, and eggs with a mixer or wire whisk until blended. Scrape down the bowl with a spatula and beat for another 2 minutes. Pour batter evenly into pans – I find a kitchen scale helpful to ensure the layers are the same thickness.
- Bake for 16-25 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes on cooling rack before removing from pans. Make sure to cool completely before adding on any ice cream. (More on that below, but this is a great time to make your frosting!) Place cake layers in the fridge or freezer to accelerate the cooling process if desired.
Cream Cheese Buttercream Frosting
- Beat together softened cream cheese and butter; slowly add in powdered sugar alternating with milk and vanilla until frosting reaches a spreadable consistency. Add salt if needed, and beat until well combined.
Ice cream layers
- When your cake layers have cooled completely, you’re ready to make and freeze your ice cream layers. Place a layer of plastic wrap in the base of all 3 cake pans, and place cooled cake layers into two of the pans (over the plastic wrap).
- Soften ice cream just enough that it can be scooped and spread - I stirred in some rainbow jimmies sprinkles as well. (Not nonpareils; the color can dissolve and turn the ice cream odd colors). I added white ice cream on top of my 2 cake layers and colored the remaining ice cream pink for a middle layer, but this is optional.
- Spread ice cream evenly over the top of your 2 cake layers (inside cake pans). The pans allow you to level the ice cream layers and make sure they freeze evenly. Transfer remaining ice cream to the last lined pan. Place all three pans into the freezer for at least 4 hours (or overnight) to make sure the ice cream is well-frozen and firm. (Frosting the cake will be *so* much easier if your cake layers and ice cream are well-frozen!)
Assembly
- Place a smear of frosting on your cardboard cake circle (to keep the cake from sliding while you decorate it) and center your first cake+ice cream layer in the center of the circle.
- Center your middle ice cream layer on top of your base layer. (I added some chopped Circus Animal cookies between the layers - loved the taste and texture, but they made the cake difficult to cut cleanly. Up to you!)
- Flip the remaining cake+ice cream layer over (so the cake layer is on top) and center on top of the middle ice cream layer. (I re-froze the cake for 10 minutes before starting the frosting process.)
- Now you're ready to crumb-coat! If you're unfamiliar with crumb-coating, it's just what it sounds like – spreading a thin layer of frosting over the entire outside of the cake to keep crumbs and ice cream smears out of your final layer. I noticed my ice cream edges starting to soften, so I froze my crumb coat for 15 minutes to make frosting easier.
- Add your final layer of frosting and smooth. I like to use an offset spatula and bench scraper for this part. Once your cake is covered, place it back into the freezer.
Now the fun part – decorating!
- Now the super fun part – final decorations! Color about half of your remaining frosting pink, and alternate spoonfuls of pink with white frosting into a large piping bag.
- Place a few large waffle cones on top of the cake (it helps to anchor them with a bit of frosting) and pipe a large swirl of frosting into the opening of each one. (I didn’t think of this until later, but I would’ve needed a lot less frosting if I’d filled the cones with animal cookies first!)
- Add a few sugar cones to the sides of the cake – I broke off the tops of a few of them so I’d have a couple of different sizes. Pipe frosting into the tops of the cones to resemble ice cream swirls. Add a few animal cookies to the top of the cake, and a few sprinkles onto the sides around the base of the cake if you’d like!
- Annnd you’re done! Freeze until ready to serve – and enjoy!
Video
Notes
(Please note nutrition information is an estimate and may not be exactly accurate.)
Nutrition
Serving: 1serving | Calories: 548kcal | Carbohydrates: 71g | Protein: 6g | Fat: 29g