The Perfect Ice Cream Cake

It's summer and that means cool ways to end a meal. One of the best and most fun is ice cream cake. you can buy it at the store or your favorite ice cream parlor. A better idea is making it yourself. It's not only cheaper but can be made with a variety of flavors and fillings.

Before you even buy or  ice cream for it you should have some kind of mold. I have two. Below is a smaller mold perfect for two servings.

 This is a loaf mold used for baking breads but it's the perfect mold for ice cream loafs. Both were bought on Amazon.

As for the ice cream, you can use store bought or if you;re ambitious make it. Since it's summer , make it easy on yourself and just buy it. I usually go for the vegan and use either Soy Delicious coconut based ones or Stop & Shops. Last time I made a kind of Neopolitan loaf with a layer of strawberry  and vanilla coconut ice cream.  Crumbled chocolate wafers mixed with melted I Can't Believe It's Not Butter. served as the base and then middle. If you're using two flavors make sure they complement each other. Don't go for a strawberry / mint chocolate chip pairing. The strawberry will be good with another fruit filled ice cream or just chocolate and vanilla. The mint chocolate chip really only goes with chocolate.

 My  next cake will be chocolate with a caramel and wafer middle.As for the crunchy middle and base, you can also use  vanilla snaps for vanilla and fruit ice cream cakes, Do not use sandwich cookies. The fillings will make the middles and bases lumpy Go for  snaps , wafers or shortbread. For more of a crunch try the brand Jules Destrooper. It offers buttery crisps along with crunch almond crisps and ginger tiles. As for the "frosting", think chocolate sauce or a hard shell topping.  I usually finish mine with coconut milk whipped topping.Since I'm creating a chocolate and caramel cake, it will have the extra topping of grated dark chocolate.

Ice cream cakes are a fun summer dessert. They're easy to make and fun to decorate. Create one for that special warm weather barbecue.