Triple Chocolate Ice Cream Cake
Prep time: 3h30
Cook time: 18 minutes
Yields: One 9-inch dome cake
Author: Ireland Lindsay
Ingredients:
For the base:
1-pint vanilla ice cream, softened.
1 package famous chocolate wafers, or oreos
For the cake:
3/4 cup (95g) all-purpose flour
1/2 cup (45g) unsweetened natural cocoa powder
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs, room temperature
1/2 cup (100g) granulated sugar
1/2 cup (100g) packed light brown sugar
1/3 cup (80ml) neutral oil (vegetable, canola oil etc.)
1 teaspoon espresso powder, optional
1/2 cup (120ml) buttermilk, room temperature
For the chocolate fudge:
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup chocolate chips
For the caramel:
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2 tablespoons corn syrup*
2 tablespoons water
1/2 cup heavy cream,
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
3/4 teaspoon sea salt, or to taste
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
For the glaze:
1/3 cup chocolate
1 1/4 cup heavy cream
For the topping:
8oz chocolate, around 70%*
*The chocolate for the topping has to contain a higher fat content so that once it cools it will snap into shards.
FOR THE ICE CREAM CAKE:
START by checking your freezer and make sure you have enough space to hold the cake. If you’re anything like me, you may have to move a few frozen pizzas and pints of ice cream out of the way ;)
NEXT prepare a 9-inch bowl with cling-film. Take softened ice cream and create your first layer by spreading flat to the bottom of the bowl, place 8-10 famous wafers (or oreos) on the top. Then, chill for 15-30 minutes or until re-chilled. This is a great time to make the chocolate fudge and caramel!
FOR THE CHOCOLATE FUDGE:
CREATE a double boiler by pouring 2 inches of water into a heavy-bottomed saucepan, bring to a boil. Once boiling place a heat-proof bowl over the top, make sure the water isn’t touching the bottom of the bowl, but rather creating steam underneath.
MELT together the cream and chocolate over the double boiler then stir until emulsified. Set aside to cool completely and come to room temp, feel free to place in the refrigerator to speed up the process.
FOR THE CARAMEL:
INTO a heavy-bottomed saucepan combine sugar, corn syrup, and water. Cook over medium/high heat until it begins to turn an amber color (it may seem like it isn’t changing colors but keep your eyes peeled, because once the mixture starts to turn in color is can burn very easily!) During the process avoid stirring, rather swirl the pan to ensure that it cooks evenly.
ONCE you’ve achieved an amber color turn off heat and stream in heavy cream, be careful, due to the hot sugar coming into contact with the cream the mixture will spit and sputter. Add in butter, salt, and vanilla and mix until fully combined.
SET aside to cool completely, feel free to place it in the refrigerator to speed up the process. For assembly, the caramel needs to be cooled, or at least no residual heat left.
FOR THE ICE CREAM CAKE (CONTINUED):
ONCE the ice cream layer is completely chilled again layer the ganache, it should be thick enough to spread. Add on caramel layer and chill till completely cold. At this time, feel free to make the cake!
FOR THE CHOCOLATE CAKE:
PREHEAT oven to 350°F and prepare a 9-inch cake pan with non-stick spray and parchment.
INTO the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment at all the dry ingredients, including sugar (flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, salt, espresso powder, and last the brown and white sugar), mix on low speed till combined.
SLOWLY stream in the buttermilk, followed by both eggs and oil. Mix on low speed for 30 seconds to 1 minute until fully combined, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed, avoid over-mixing as then the cake will be dense. The batter should be pretty thin.
TRANSFER to the prepared cake pan and bake for 18-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted to the deepest point comes out clean. Let cool completely.
WHEN the chocolate cake has cooled, go ahead and level your cake (if needed) I like to do this while it is still in the pan. To level your cake, insert a sharp non-serrated knife into the side of your cake until it reaches the center. I like to use the edge of the pan as my guide. With the knife still inserted turn the pan 360 degrees, remove the excess and you should be left with a perfectly leveled cake!
FOR THE ICE CREAM CAKE (CONTINUED):
PLACE your leveled cake directly into the empty cavity. Cover and let cool completely. You can let this cool for about 2-3 hours, or overnight!
ONCE cold go ahead and make the glaze and topping.
FOR THE GLAZE:
CREATE a double boiler by pouring 2 inches of water into a heavy-bottomed saucepan, bring to a boil. Once boiling place a heat-proof bowl over the top, make sure the water isn’t touching the bottom of the bowl, but rather creating steam underneath.
MELT chocolate over low heat until completely melted. Using a rubber spatula, stir constantly, while intermittingly streaming in heavy cream. Based on the ratios, this mixture is prone to splitting so make sure to stir constantly.
LET cool completely, when assembling the cake, later on, the glaze needs to be at room temperature.
FOR THE CHOCOLATE TOPPING:
PREPARE a baking sheet with parchment or a silpat (I used a silpat), set aside.
MELT the chocolate (via double boiler or microwave at 30-second intervals) then pour onto the
prepared sheet, using an offset spatula spread as evenly as possible while keeping the mixture about 1/4 of an inch thick. Place in the refrigerator till completely cooled.
ONCE cooled, use your hands to snap and shard the chocolate into different-sized bits. Keeping both large and small pieces, keep in the refrigerator till ready to use.
FOR ASSEMBLY:
TO assemble the cake, line a baking sheet with parchment and a wire rack. The goal is to create the perfect environment for the glaze to fall off the cake. Carefully, flip the cake onto the wire rack it should loosen immediately, peel off the layers of cling film.
THE good news is, since the cake is so cold it will be really easy to work with, just make sure to go faster than normal as we want to keep the cake cold.
CENTER yourself over the cake then carefully pour the glaze over the dome. Using an offset spatula spread the glaze all over the cake, including the sides. Place the cake back into the cozy spot in the freezer to chill for a just few minutes, 1-2.
ONCE just chilled slightly, the glaze should be tacky enough for the chocolate shards to stick. Arrange the shards over the cake staggering and matching the edges to one another. Place back in the freezer, and chill till ready to eat.
LASTLY, give yourself a high-five you just made a homemade Ice Cream Cake! Store in the freezer, for up to 1 month. Use a hot knife to slice.
RECIPE NOTES:
It’s chill Dude.
Throughout the recipe, you’ll see “chill until cooled”, “chill until completely cold” etc. more often than you’d like You want the cake to stay as cold as possible at all times, it is ice cream after all.
Here’s the scoop.
This recipe is made up of 5 main components. The glaze, ice cream, fudge, caramel, and cake.
Feel free to make this recipe as challenging as you want, make all 5 components, or buy some fudge for easier assembly!
Don’t forget
This recipe has a few back-and-forth moments. Just remember you got this and in the end, you’re going to have a pretty cool cake to show for it- literally!
