Triple Layer Chocolate Fudge Ice Cream Cake.
Oh hey! You ready for an epic (and sparkly) ice cream cake?!?
Cool, because I’m pretty excited about it.
OkOK, and I’m also pretty excited that it’s Friday. And not just any Friday, but the Friday before the 4th of July!! Ahh, I can’t believe it’s already almost July 4th. Time just PAUSE… for like two seconds… just so that I can catch my breath, pleaseeee.
Alright, so let’s talk Triple Layer Chocolate Fudge Ice Cream Cake!!
I’ve been way too excited for the past two weeks to share this cake with you guys. It’s kind of like cake heaven, and it’s pretty dang simple to make too. Simply make a chocolate cake, layer it with hot fudge sauce, cookie crumbs, and vanilla and chocolate ice cream. Crazy simple and basic, but umm, pretty close to perfection in my eyes.
I’m the type of person who loves a good piece of chocolate cake with a couple scoops of vanilla ice. I mean, chocolate cake and vanilla ice cream, classic right? Everyone loves that combo. So when the thought of combining the two into one developed in my head while on a hike one day, I was immediately SOLD.
I know this maybe is not the most creative cake in all the land (think DQ, Baskin Robbins and countless others), but it’s still pretty epic, and so fun to put your own twist on!
The base is my very favorite homemade chocolate cake. Don’t worry guys, this cake recipe is EASY, and very little fuss, yet still the best. I also stirred in some chocolate chips for a little extra YUM factor. The cake layer then gets smothered in a little homemade fudge sauce and sprinkled generously with crushed Oreo cookie crumbs. YESSSSS. Then I repeated the layer, but instead of chocolate cake used a layer of vanilla ice cream and a layer of chocolate ice cream.
I actually ended up using this leftover peanut butter cup ice cream for my vanilla layer, and a chocolate ice cream recipe from the cookbook for my chocolate layer. I can’t share full details on the chocolate ice cream just yet, cause I want that flavor to be a surprise, but just know that it was SOOO good. You can simply use regular chocolate and vanilla ice cream, or have fun mixing and matching your own flavor combos.
Then for fun I topped the cake with some upside down ice cream cones and called it a day. Done and DONE. The ice cream cone part is totally optionally, but if you’re looking to impress, it’s a cute, fun and easy way to do so!
Oh and seeing as I am totally promoting this cake as a MUST make cake for the 4th, I also added some sparklers. Gosh, I love sparklers. Is it weird that I stocked up on twelve boxes at Target? I’m fearful I won’t be able to get them once the 4th has passed…and you know I NEED them for fun cake photos in the future, duh.
Oddly, it worked out that I had this cake ready to eat on my brother Red’s 16th birthday on Wednesday. Even more oddly, was the fact that it was a cake he would actually eat. That picky kid has his limits when it comes to food, but he loved every bite of this cake.
How could he not though? For real, this cake is LIFE. 🙂
Alright guys and that’s it for me today. I am not posting Monday, so the next time we chat will be Tuesday! Whoa, that’s so far away! Make sure you let me know in the comments area below what you’re all are up to this weekend. And please, please please if you make any HBH recipes tag me on Instagram, or even better, send me snaps via snapchat (username hbharvest).
I get way too excited seeing the recipes you guys make!
OH and lastly, I am over on snapchat today talking about all things 4th of July, plus making some really GREAT food. So come hang out with me today!
Nutritional information is only an estimate. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.
Triple Layer Chocolate Fudge Ice Cream Cake.
By halfbakedharvest
Course: Dessert
Cuisine: American
Keyword: cake, chocolate, fudge, ice cream cake
You ready for an epic (and sparkly) ice cream cake?!?
Ingredients
- 3 cup vanilla ice cream softened (any vanilla based flavor can be used)
- 3 cups chocolate ice cream softened any chocolate based flavor can be used
- 2-3 cups crushed chocolate cookies crumbs Oreos
Chocolate Cake
- 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
- 3/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 egg at room temperature
- 1/2 cup buttermilk
- 1/4 cup canola oil
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup strong brewed coffee hot
- 1/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
Chocolate Fudge
- 12 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chopped
- ½ cup heavy cream
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- ½ teaspoon flaky sea salt
Instructions
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Line two (8 inch) cake pans with plastic wrap. Spread the vanilla ice cream in one even layer in one pan and the chocolate ice cream in one even layer in the other. Freeze until firm, 6 hours or overnight.
Chocolate Cake
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Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease one 8-inch round cake pan, line with parchment paper, then butter or spray with cooking spray.
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In a medium size bowl combine the flour, sugar, unsweetened cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
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In the bowl of a stand mixer (or use a hand held mixer) beat together the eggs, buttermilk, canola oil and vanilla until smooth. Slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients with the mixer on low until there are no longer any clumps of flour. Stir in the hot coffee and mix until combined. Batter should be pourable, but not super thin. Stir in the chocolate chips.
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Pour the batter evenly into the cake pan. Bake 25 to 30 minutes, until the tops are just set and no longer wiggly in the center. Remove and let cool five minutes, then run a knife around the edges of the pan. Grab 1 large flat plate, line it with wax or parchment paper and invert the cakes onto the paper-lined plates. Cover and let the cakes cool, then freeze 4 hours or overnight until firm.
Chocolate Fudge
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In a medium size sauce pan, combine the chocolate and cream over LOW heat. Cook stirring often until melted and smooth. Remove from the heat and stir in the butter, vanilla and salt until smooth. Let cool to room temperature. Keep stored in the fridge.
Assemble
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Place the baked, frozen chocolate cake on a cake plate. With a knife or offset spatula, spread the top with 1/3 of the fudge sauce. Sprinkle with 1/3 of the cookie crumbs. Remove the vanilla ice cream layer from the freeze and carefully remove it from the pan and discard the plastic wrap. Place the layer on top of the chocolate cake. Spread the top with 1/3 of the fudge sauce. Repeat with the chocolate ice cream layer and spread with the remaining fudge sauce, allow excess to drip down the sides. Finish with a sprinkle of cookie crumbs, then immediately return to the freezer. Freeze until firm, about 4 hours or overnight. If at any point, your cake starts to get too soft to work with return it to the freezer to firm back up for an hour or two.
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Remove the cake 5-10 minutes before slicing to allow it to soften a bit. Slice and serve!
Have a great 4th of July guys… and eat lots and lots of cake…and ice cream! ???
Oh my… This is too much greatness for me to handle.
Thanks Lovisa!
how do you keep the layers from sliding? and btw, YUM!
Hi! When the cake freezes the layers freeze together. the fudge sauce helps hold them tightly together as does the ice cream. I had no problems with my layers sliding. Just be sure to firmly pressed down on the layers as you assemble the cake. You should have no problems. Let me know if you have any questions. Hope you have a great Fourth of July, thanks so much!
This is officially the most epic cake you have created so far. Especially love the first photo!
Thank you Rachel! That is so nice to hear!
Good lord what kind of heavenly concotion is this???? I don’t think I have ever seen anything as enticing as this!!! Well done, you!!
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Thank you so much Miranda! That is so sweet. I hope you enjoy this!!
I am drooling. Love this!
Thank you Lucia!
Completely epic is right!!!!! Omg, this cake is amazing and so perfect for any summer occasion but especially this one!!! I’m in love with the fact that you used reeses ice cream and infused cake layer with chocolate chunks! Have a great holiday!
Yes! Thanks so much Tori!!
Happy Birthday to red!
The cake looks super yummy.
I hope you got to the deadline about your book this week so you can truly enjoy your weekend. I know there is more to come.
It’s just me this weekend but I plan on making up a picnic basket and taking it to a river park so I can watch the boats and read a book.
That sounds like an amazing weekend to relax! Thanks so much Nancy!
Oh this satisfies on so many levels. I love that you can take this recipe and mix it up with different cake and ice cream flavors and put a different spin on it to suit whatever you’re craving, though it looks pretty perfect as is. Thanks for the inspiration. Have a great holiday weekend. Enjoy the time off!
Thanks so much Jean! That is so nice to hear that you enjoy! I hope you enjoy your weekend as well!
Why make three baked cakes? You appear to use only one…
Hey Tony, sorry about that I did only bake one cake those are typos that I’ve already fixed within the recipe. Let me know if you’ve any questions. Hope you have a great Fourth of July!
What an incredible cake!! Have a great Fourth, Tieghan!!
Hey Deborah! Thank you, I hope you do as well!
This looks amazing! The perfect summer dessert and a great way to stay cool!
Yes!! A perfect way! Thanks so much Andrea!
This cake is everything!! All I can say is wow well done!
Thanks so much Lili! So nice to hear! (:
E-PIC!! That is all..leaving now to try and find some ice cream, somewhere…anywhere!
Amazing. Ice cream cake looks delicious
Thank you!
I love sparklers too – I was cleaning the top of my fridge the other day and found a package of them, and I was way too excited about it. 😀
It is actually Canada Day here today. To be honest, I am staying right away from all the celebrations around town (it usually gets pretty obnoxious pretty fast I’m afraid), but I will be celebrating my love of my country in my own way at home, and sparklers will definitely be my own personal fireworks.
“Cake” layers of ice cream is a completely inspired idea! I love that you came up with this idea on a hike. I truly believe some of the best creative notions come out of exercising in nature.
Happy 4th of July weekend!
haha! Too funny! Thank you so much, Kate! Have a great weekend!
Haven’t eaten anything yet today, and this cake is so calling my name haha.
Haha cake for breakfast? or lunch! lol. Thank you Natasha!
This cake is EPIC!! Seriously, I don’t think I could handle having this cake around me. I would end up eating waaaaaay too much of it! Happy belated birthday to your brother, and happy 4th of July!
I know. I had to stop myself because its just that good! Thank you Amanda, Happy 4th of July to you and your family as well!
Looks so delicious! I’d love to dive in!
Thanks so much Kari!
This looks delicious! I’m planning on taking your idea of cutting peaches into stars for a fruit tart I’m making this weekend! Thanks for the inspiration!
Hey Barbara! That sounds awesome, happy I could help! (:
NOTHING UNTIL TUESDAY?! I’m having withdrawals already… lol. At least I have snapchat 😉
Yes! Snapchat is great and I love that you follow me on it! Thanks Jordan!
I love the festive sparklers! I really need a good stash myself but I don’t think you can buy them in California:( ! Yay for that cake ! On point!
Thanks so much Florentina!!
This is one of the most epic chocolate cakes I’ve ever seen. How fun for the holiday weekend!
Thanks so much Jennifer!
Hey! How long can this cake stay in freezer once done ?
And can the chocolate ice cream and vanilla icecream and chocolate cake stay in freezer for over 4-6 hours as well?
Yes, just to make sure they are completely frozen prior to assembling. Thanks!
Hey Felicia! I would say in can keep, well covered, for up 1 month. Let me know if you have any other questions, hope you love this! Happy 4th!
Thank you so much! I loved your layered Brooklyn black out cake it came out great can’t wait to make this one today
I love recipes like this. They’re quick to create, fun to look at and even better to devour.
By the way was that you at Kemosabe Saturday evening. I was at a table with my husband and son. I almost said something but decided not to just in case.
Hey Vicki!
Nope, not me! Lol! Happy 4th of July!
My 4th of July so needed this cake! Those layers are everything!
I wish you had it Laura!! Would have loved it!! Next time? (:
Hello! Im going to make this recipe for my husband’s birthday.. While I was reading the recipe I noticed that for the chocolate cake it calls for melted chocolate..
“In the bowl of a stand mixer (or use a hand held mixer) beat together the eggs, buttermilk, canola oil, melted chocolate and vanilla until smooth.”
Although its not written in the ingredients.. Should I just avoid it?
Hey Cecy! I am so sorry, that is a typo, thank you so much for point that out. Fixing the recipe now. Thanks!
I am in the middle of making this cake, I have my two ice cream and cake layers in the freezer. I taste tested the cake when I levelled it and it is so amazingly delicious, I found the batter super runny after I added the coffee, I added more flour and it turned out great! Can’t wait to try the finished product tomorrow! Thanks, Tieghan!
YAY SO happy you make this Mary!! I hope it was delicious!! Its one of my favorites!!
Hi … I am planning to make this cake for a birthday … for the cake layer it calls for 1/4 cup semi-sweet chips. Should they be melted or put into the batter? I don’t see instructions as to where they should be added. BTW I love your website I have made many recipes ans they always turn out awesome! One being the Chocolate Bourbon Carmel Macaron cake … it was to die for!
Thank you!
Kim
Hey Kim! So sorry for the confusion, the chocolate chips should be stirred into the batter. I will adjust the recipe now. Please let me know if you have other questions. Thank you SOOO much and I hope you love the cake!
Hi! I’m not a big fan of coffee, and I don’t want to have to buy coffee just for this recipe. Is there something I could substitute it with? Thank you!
Hey Sasha! Yes, you can replace the coffee with water, that will work just great! Let me know if you have questions. Hope you love the cake!
I made this today, my whole family loved it! I will be making it again very soon…it was delicious !
Thank you Meghan! I am so glad you loved this!
This looks amazing! I’m going to use it as inspiration for my LO’s birthday party! He’s going to have his own mini ice cream cake for smashing! I think to save time and effort, you could do most of this at once in a “cheesecake” pan, freezing it all at the same time.
Thank you Melissa! Happy Birthday to him! I hope you all love this!
This looks yum! I’m wondering how the cake layer tastes frozen, does that work? I can’t imagine nr eating frozen cake!
Hi! The cake layer quickly begins to thaw once it is cut, so it’s not like eating frozen cake at all. Promise it taste great! Please let me know if you have any other questions. I hope you love this recipe! Thank you! xTieghan
My son and I made this cake for his 11th birthday – and it was a huge hit for our family. We made three different mixi-ins to the ice cream and our cake layers were much smaller than your cake. It was alittle bit daunting for me to take this one, but not only was it fun to make, but it was perfect. The cake is now my new go to cake – definitely a keeper! Thank you
Thank you so much! xTieghan
If I wanted to turn it into a vanilla cake, what would you suggest for substituting the cocoa and coffee?
Hey Janelle,
I would follow this vanilla cake recipe: https://dev.halfbakedharvest.com/vanilla-birthday-cake-with-whipped-chocolate-buttercream/#bo-recipe
I hope you love the recipe, please let me know if you have any other questions! xTieghan