Homemade Ice Cream Cake (Easy Video Recipe)

Name: Homemade Ice Cream Cake
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 4 h
Total time: 4 h 15 min
Cuisine: American
Ingredients: 1/2 gallon french vanilla (or chocolate) ice cream; 18 oz box of brownie mix; 5 1/2 Tb butter, melted; Hershey’s chocolate syrup

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Do you need the perfect dessert recipe for a birthday celebration or summer party? This Homemade Ice Cream Cake is exactly what you are looking for and you won’t believe how easy it is to make at home! All you need are four simple ingredients and some time for the ice cream cake to firm up in the freezer. Homemade Ice Cream Cake with brownie crunchies and chocolate syrup! This cake is what my kids request every year for their birthdays….all six of them 🙂 It is so simple to make and we love it even more than the classic Dairy Queen ice cream cake that costs a fortune!

Why I Love This Recipe

This is a recipe that I grew up eating for so many special occasions. Well, this ice cream cake as well as my Mom’s famous Ho-Ho Cake! If it was someone’s birthday, you could guarantee we were having one of these two cakes for our special day. And, since there were 7 of us crazy kids, we had these cakes often and counted down the days until the next celebration.

Now that I’m a Mom to my own crazy crew, I understand why my Mom loved this Homemade Ice Cream Cake recipe so much! It is crazy easy to make and is always a massive hit. In fact, back in my catering years, this ice cream cake was one of my most requested dessert recipes, along with my Pumpkin Roll recipe. When I finally published the recipe for the ice cream cake, my clients were blown away by how simple it was but they still begged me to make it for them 🙂

This is the exact recipe my mom made for our family when I was a kid and I am just as addicted to it now as an adult. My son likes it best made with chocolate ice cream, but the rest of us like it best with vanilla because with all those amazing brownie crunchies in there, you need a bit of vanilla to cut through it all.

Homemade Ice Cream Cake Ingredients & Tools

Box of brownie mix
Salted butter
Quality ice cream, vanilla or chocolate
Chocolate syrup
9×13″ pan
Large mixing bowl
Large rimmed baking sheet

How to Make Homemade Ice Cream Cake

Homemade ice cream cake may seem like a really difficult recipe to attempt on your own, but I promise you that this one is extremely easy to make. The longest part is waiting for it to firm up again so you can destroy it by devouring it!

Time needed: 15 minutes

How to Make Ice Cream Cake

Select quality ice cream to use in the cake
If you want an amazing homemade ice cream cake, you need to start with quality products. That means spending the extra few dollars for quality ice cream. I use Tillamook ice cream but there are many ice cream makers that use premium ingredients so pick your favorite.
Prepare the chocolate crunch
The chocolate crunchy parts of homemade ice cream cake are what make this recipe different from others. It is simply a streusel topping made from a boxed brownie mix and melted butter. Bake it in the oven until it turns crunchy. Be sure to let the crumble cool completely before moving on to the next step or your ice cream will melt.
Assemble the ice cream cake
Once the chocolate crumble has cooled, let the ice cream sit out for about 20-30 minutes to soften a bit. This allows the ice cream to easily mix in with the crunchy toppings. Be sure to save some of the crumble for the top of the finished cake then add the drizzle of chocolate syrup.
Freeze for 4 hours until firm
You can certainly eat the cake as soon as it is finished being assembled, but it will be very soft and won’t be able to be cut into pieces. You’ll need to serve it with a spoon. You can freeze it for longer but 4 hours is a good estimate until it is firm enough to cut.

Recipe FAQs

How long does ice cream cake last?

Your homemade ice cream cake will last for about 30 days in your freezer. Be sure to cover it well with plastic wrap to keep ice crystals from forming on the surface. Otherwise, it will get freezer burn. Simply press the plastic wrap onto the surface of the cake for a tight seal.

What are the little crunchy things in ice cream cake?

Those little crunchy things are a simple chocolate streusel that is made specifically to stay crunchy once they are mixed into the ice cream. This homemade ice cream cake recipe uses a dry brownie mix and melted butter that is baked together to create that crunch. Other recipes have different ingredients but the baking principle is the same as a chocolate streusel.

Can I make a chocolate homemade ice cream cake?

Yes, you can make this ice cream cake recipe using either vanilla or chocolate ice cream. Just know that with the brownie crunch and the chocolate syrup, using chocolate ice cream would be a chocolate bomb. But, I know my son loves it made with chocolate ice cream so I must not be a true chocoholic!

Looking for More Yummy Chocolate Desserts?

If this homemade ice cream cake hit all the right buttons for you, be sure to click on the pictures below for these other easy dessert recipes! I know you’ll love them just as much as this one.