How to make an easy ice cream cake at home

I’m afraid the days of me baking the children cakes for their birthdays might be over. Both of their birthdays are in November and it’s hot and they’re busy with after school activities. They only ever eat the icing and decorations so it’s a waste of time and money. From now on it’s an ice cream cake so I’m going to show you how to make an easy ice cream cake at home.

It really couldn’t be any easier. The only trouble I have is that in our hot summer, it’s melting as soon as you put it on a plate so you’ve got to be quick. To buy an ice cream cake from the store could be anywhere from $10 PLUS and you control just how big to make it and what flavour to make.

Easy Ice Cream Cake

First job is to choose your ice cream. I prefer a better known brand as the cheaper brands are more water than cream so they won’t refreeze as nice. I asked my son, who’s 10th birthday it was coming up, and he chose a Cookies’n’Cream flavour. Leave it out on the bench to soften.

Next choose your add-ins. I don’t like to buy special candy or ingredients when I’m cooking, rather opting for using what I have but it was a special birthday so I let him choose his favourite chocolate bars. You can add anything you like. 

• Fresh, frozen or canned fruit
• Chocolate chips
• Leftover candy
• Nuts
• Cookie dough
• Crushed cookies
• Nut butters (like Nutella or peanut butter)
• Crumbled cake
• Sprinkles or 100s & 1000s

Next step is to choose your mould. It doesn’t have to be anything special. I used a cake pan. It can be a plastic container, a baking dish, plastic or silicon mould, just about anything that can be lined with plastic cling wrap.

Pour the contents of the melted ice cream into a mixing bowl and add all your extras. I also found a few cookies in the cookie container so crushed them up and added them.

Pour it into the mould. You can also add a swirl of ice cream topping if you like or something like fruit puree or melted chocolate.

Ready for the Freezer

Cover with plastic cling film and return to the freezer, preferably overnight.

When ready to serve, turn onto a plate and remove the plastic cling wrap. I added chocolate shell topping and more crushed chocolate bar to serve. It was really yummy. The best part was everyone ate this. No cake wasted and it was easy for me. The premium ice cream was on special for $4.50 for 2 litres and the chocolate bars were $2 so for $6.50 I got this huge ice cream cake which lasted quite a few nights. I know a cheap version of an ice cream cake from one of our supermarkets is about $15 and it doesn’t even taste nice.

 

Save yourself some time and energy for your next celebration cake with this easy ‘make at home’ ice cream cake. Your kids will love it!

Recipe

• quantity of premium ice cream in your favourite flavour
• suggested add-in ingredients (as above)
• extra chocolate shell or ice cream topping
• extra candy or nuts for decorating

1. Leave the ice cream out to melt.
2. Pour into a mixing bowl.
3. Add your extra flavourings.
4. Return the melted ice cream mixture to a mould which has been lined with plastic cling film.
5. Cover with plastic cling film and return to the freezer until required, preferably overnight.
6. Top with extra chocolate shell topping or ice cream topping and candy or nuts.

Make your own almond croissants at home

One good thing about ‘making do’ is when the craving hits, you’re able to come up with a quick solution. This happened a little while ago when I was craving an almond croissant. I didn’t have croissants or frangipane to make them but I mentioned it to my husband and when he ducked into the supermarket, he picked up a packet of croissants. I just had to make this frangipane. It’s so easy to make your own almond croissants at home.

Don’t worry if you don’t have almond meal. Having almonds does help and I usually have a good supply of different nuts in my pantry. Grab a handful and blitz until coursely ground.

They should resemble cookie crumbs.

Mix half a cup of ground almonds with 1/4 cup sugar, 1/2 tsp vanilla extract, 4 tablespoons of softened butter and 1 beaten egg.

What you’ll get is a mixture similar to butter. This is what’s called ‘frangipane’ and makes a delicious filling for a baked pastry tart.

I didn’t make my croissants. I never have and knowing what goes into making them, I probably never will. There is a lot of rolling and folding and chilling pastry. It just wouldn’t be worth all that effort for my little family. My son and I ate these almond croissants but my daughter will only eat them plain or with cheese. The supermarket variety are quite alright and they freeze really well too.

Split the croissant lengthways and spread with the almond butter mixture (frangipane). 

Top with the other half of the croissant and bake in a 180 deg C oven for approximately 20 mins or until heated through.

Again, if you don’t have flaked almonds, it’s pretty easy to roughly chop slithers of almonds into flakes. They may not be as fine as the store bought ones but they do. You don’t have to worry about removing the skins either. I quite like the look and flavour of the skins on almonds.

Sprinkle the warm croissants with the flaked almonds and a lot of icing (powdered) sugar. Yum, yum! My craving was satisfied. Absolutely delicious.

Any leftover frangipane can be frozen until next time a craving hits.

I should count myself lucky that I don’t have a French patisserie near me as this is one French delight I’d always go for. Maybe not so lucky to have a lovely husband who will always pick up what I need (or crave) at the supermarket. Definitely one to try for a brunch or late breakfast.

Recipe

(Based on recipe from Kitchn)

• 1 cup dry roasted or raw almonds (or 1/2 cup almond meal)
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 4 tablespoons butter, softened
• 1 large egg, beaten
• croissants
• flaked almonds, for topping
• icing (powdered) sugar

1. If you don’t have almond meal, blitz whole almonds (with skins on if necessary) until they resemble biscuit crumbs.
2. Mix togehter 1/2 cup ground almonds with sugar, vanilla, butter and beaten egg.
3. Cut croissants in half lengthways and spread with almond butter mixture (frangipane).
4. Place top of croissant back on and bake in a 180 deg C oven for approximately 20 minutes or until heated through.
5. Top with flaked almonds and a lot of icing sugar.