I’ve wanted to make an ice cream cake for a while now, as I dream about the cookie crumb filling that Dairy Queen layers in their ice cream cakes! I’m drooling, just thinking about it. I found the perfect imitation of it, and it is so simple- just Oreos and fudge/ganache. It provides a crunchy base for this bright vanilla ice cream cake.
I’m not a huge fan of vanilla ice cream, but I swear I can taste rainbows when I bite into this one. It’s like a magical explosion in your mouth. With that explosion from the colour, and they the overwhelming delight with the cookie crust, this cake not only looks amazing, it tastes fabulous! If you’re not a fan of vanilla like me, you could replace the vanilla ice cream with pretty much any light flavoured ice cream that would work to dye.
The only difficulty when assembling this cake is getting your ice cream to be the perfect consistency in order for it not to be a melted mess, but soft enough to be able to mix the colouring into it. I brought the ice cream out about half an hour before I wanted to make the first layer, and just left it out while I did each layer. It was kind of a sloppy mess at the end, but it worked!
Rainbow Ice Cream Cake
Ingredients
- 18 cups vanilla ice cream + extra for topping
- 1 package Oreos, crushed
- 1 cup chocolate ganache or store bought chocolate topping (recipe for ganache here)
- Americolor Gel Paste- red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple
- 6 ice cream cones
- Confetti Sprinkles
- Maraschino Cherries
- Vanilla Buttercream (recipe here)
Procedure:
Take ice cream out of freezer to soften. In a medium bowl, combine Oreo crumbs and ganache. Mix together and press into a plastic wrapped 9″ springform pan. Set crust into freezer for 10 minutes to solidify. In a bowl, measure out 3 cups of ice cream and mix in red gel paste. Spoon onto crust when crust is set. Set into freezer for 20-30 minutes until red layer is firm. Measure out 3 cups of vanilla ice cream and colour with orange gel paste. Pour and smooth out on top of red layer. Set into freezer for 20-30 minutes to freeze. Repeat four more times for each colour of ice cream (yellow, green, blue, purple).
When all six layers are assembled, freeze for 3-4 hours, or overnight. While cake is freezing, cut one third of the side of the cone off, leaving two thirds to press into the side of the cake. Do this to all 6 cones.
To remove cake from pan, prepare a hot water bath in a large pan. Place cake into water for 2-3 seconds and remove. This will release the ice cream from the sides of the pan and allow you to slide the bottom of the pan through the mold.
Once removed from the pan, remove the plastic wrap, and touch up any areas needed with a icing spatula.
Press cone portions onto side of cake, and top with additional scoop of ice cream. Top each ice cream scoop with a maraschino cherry and sprinkles. Finish by piping a buttercream border around the top, connecting the ice cream cones. Add another scoop in the centre of desired.
**You can buy the Americolor Gel Pastes from Amazon, or if you’re in Canada, I buy them from Golda’s Kitchen.
I’m making this cake for my son’s 15th birthday and i’m just wondering how long before eating it do i take it out of the freezer
You want to bring it out early enough that it has time to soften so you can cut it, but not so long as for it to melt. The time will depend on the room temperature.
I’m making the cake and it’s like done but if I put the cones and stuff on it could I put it in the freezer still?
Hey! So I am in the process of making the cake but my 1st layer is just not setting up it’s been 2 hours and it won’t set.
I was wondering if my ice cream was to soft to begin with but I didn’t think it would take this long to set. Have you ever had a issue like this? Thank you so much!!
Once ice cream has thawed, it might take a while to solidify. I haven’t had that problem, but I have a separate cake freezer for my creations.
Hi Jenn! Just wanna say that you’re videos are amazing! All the things you make look so tasty! I made this ice cream cake and took it up to my grandparents and they loved it! It was a hit with everybody! Thank you so much for making these awesome videos! xox love from Australia!
Thank you so much! I’m glad they liked it!! Thanks for watching 🙂
Hi! I’m from Spain and I tried to make this cake for my birthday.
How are the cups you use? What size? A normal cup of breakfast? Or a cup of coffee?
I hope you understand my questions and you can answer me soon.
I love your recipe!
You can do your conversions for a “cup” with the help of this link…http://cookiescupcakesandcardio.com/?page_id=3348 Good luck! I hope you like them.
Thank you!!!!
Can we use wilton colors to color the ice-cream?
Thanks!
You can use whichever brand you prefer. I prefer Americolor as they have squeeze bottles.
Thanks for your reply!
Hi! I love your videos and your blog! I tried this cake, and it was delicious!!! I used dairy free ice cream, and it turned out AMAZING!!!
Super happy to hear that! I’m so glad that you were able to make it work for you with the dairy free ice cream!