Must-Make Ice Cream Cake Recipes

We all scream for ice cream…cakes! They’re spectacular make-ahead desserts and can be as simple or as fancy as you please. Use homemade or store-bought ice cream, show off the layers in a terrine, add meringue to make baked Alaska, and more. Whatever you choose, they’ll appeal to adults and kids alike and are a delightful way to celebrate a birthday or end a dinner party.

Chocolate Ice Cream Cake with Hazelnuts and Marshmallow Swirl

The definition of decadence! Team up chocolate cake with marshmallow swirl, chocolate ice cream, and toasted hazelnuts for this over-the-top dessert.

We’ve taken everything we love about the classic sundae and turned it into one extravagant ice cream cake. We’re talking layers of brownies, vanilla and strawberry ice cream, crunchy peanut butter, and crushed raspberries topped with whipped cream, sugared peanuts, and cherries.

Surprise and delight the coffee lovers in your life with this stunning dessert. Elevate store-bought coffee ice cream with flaky sea salt and ground coffee beans and sandwich the whole shebang between coffee-swirled meringues.

A triple-threat dessert, thanks to the layers of raspberry sorbet, blackberry-studded vanilla ice cream, and moist chocolate cake.

This was served at Martha’s birthday party, so you know we had to pull out all the stops. Stripes of raspberry, blueberry, and vanilla ice cream are encased in meringue frosting and served with fresh blueberries, almond dacquoise cookies, and raspberry and blueberry coulis.

A simple angel-food sheet cake serves as the base for this five-stripe wonder. Colors and flavors provided by blueberry jam, vanilla ice cream, raspberry sorbet, and peach sorbet.

Want to elicit oohs and aahs from your guests? Serve this show-stopping 7-layer number. It’s easier to make than you might think, especially if you use store-bought frozen pound cake.

Substituting froyo is a healthy, delicious way to enjoy ice cream cake. Whip up colorful purees with summer fruits and Greek yogurt, layer them with your favorite whole-wheat biscuit crackers, and freeze.

A five-ingredient marvel that only requires 15 minutes of prep -- just amp up lemon curd with heavy cream, layer with ladyfingers and raspberry puree, and freeze.

Try Our Other Elegant But Easy Semifreddo Recipes

Yes, rolled cakes can be frosty, too! In this recipe, genoise is filled with lemon-blackberry semifreddo and finished with a dusting of confectioners’ sugar.

Kids will go gaga for this clever turtle cake. The whole thing is edible, from its mint-chocolate-chip ice cream shell and black licorice mouth to its white candy eyes and chocolate-mint wafer feet.