Cookies and Cream Ice Cream Cake

If you love to pick the crunchy crumb topping off of baked goods, this ice cream cake is for you. One batch of crunchies—richly flavored with Dutch-process cocoa powder and espresso powder—is used three ways: pressed into a crust to add structure, folded into vanilla ice cream for a dreamy cookies-and-cream filling, and scattered across the cake as a Flintstones-like pebbly topper. Feel free to swap in another ice cream flavor if vanilla isn’t your speed; chocolate and coffee are obvious top contenders.

To keep your fudge and ice cream layers crisp and distinct, don’t rush the freezing process. Giving each section enough time to set before adding the next layer ensures clean lines in the final slices. If you’re in a time crunch (or aesthetics are less important to you), you can get away with loading the pan up a little faster. The components might intermingle, but is anybody mad at a fudge ripple?

Like most ice cream cakes, this treat needs a full night’s chill in the freezer to firm up completely before serving. Once you do bring it out to slice, keep an eye on it; as it’s almost entirely ice cream, the cake will lose its structure quickly. Pop it back into the freezer as needed to re-chill. 

For an ice cream cake with literal cake (of course our editors have a lot of thoughts on this), look no further than this sprinkles-laden recipe.