Ice Cream Cake

There is something about an ice cream cake that makes me think of birthdays. Maybe its because almost everyone I know celebrates with one, but maybe its just me. Either way, this isn't the first request I've had for an ice cream cake, and I doubt it will be the last.

My sister requested an Ice cream cake for her birthday, she said it had to have a crumb crust, vanilla ice cream and a berry filling. It sounded easy enough, except that I had never done a berry filling in a frozen cake before. I was afraid that I would end up with a solid block of frozen berries that would be hard to eat. I did some experimentation to overcome this, I knew berries by themselves would be as hard as a brick, I also assumed if I used alcohol it would loosen it up at freezing temperatures. I however wasn't sure if sugar would work, so I tossed a half jar of Strawberry Jam into the freezer over night and tested it in the morning. As I hoped, it was thickened, but not solid, perfect for my needs. This meant there was nothing else to do but make the cake itself.

This being a frozen cake, it meant that it took a couple of days too make. Most of the time being spent in the freezer, the actual effort was quite small

The crumb crust is a fairly simple recipe in its own right, consisting mostly of Graham Crumbs held together with butter. Sugar was added to sweeten and Cinnamon to flavour it.

I mixed the ingredients into a coarse mixture.

In the past I have found crumb crusts stick very easily to the bottom of my pan. Some people like to grease their pans or dust with a powder (usually powdered sugar or flour) before cooking. Since this is a desert that is high in oils, I opted instead to just put a parchment paper layer down in the bottom of my spring form pan.

I packed the crust down using a spatula to that it would be of even thickness and consistency.












I baked it for 20 minutes, let it cool and then froze it. It is an important step, because you don't want to melt the ice cream when you add it.

I added the Strawberry Jam layer next and smoothed it out so that it would be a consistent thickness. The whole thing went back into the freezer.

I mixed some cream and sugar and brought it just to a simmer before removing from the heat.

Once it came to a simmer, I removed it to a bowl and added some more cream, milk and some Vanilla extract. I had been planning on using a Vanilla Bean instead, but I was apparently out. The resulting mixture was chilled in the refrigerator over night.

I removed the mixture the next day and started it churning in my Ice Cream maker. I ended up with a particularly good consistency this time. I usually have to chill it further once it is done churning to get a scoopable mixture. However, this was ideal for the cake as it was.

I smoothed out the ice cream using a rubber spatula. There was not going to be any icing to make it look pretty, so I quickly leveled it by scraping to the center; this gave it the pleasing spiral look. I had to work fast so that the ice cream wouldn't melt. Once I was done it went straight back into the freezer until I was ready to serve it.







Crumb Crust
One 9- or 10-inch single piecrust and topping
Put in a bowl, reserving a tablespoon or two for topping, if desired:
1 1/2 cups fine graham cracker, vanilla or chocolate wafer, or gingersnap crumbs
Add and stir until well blended:
1/4 to 1/2 cup sugar, depending on sweetness of cookies
6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
(1 teaspoon ground cinnamon)
Bake for 10-12 minutes at 350 for a baked crust

Strawberry Jam
1 cup jam

Vanilla Ice Cream
1 quart
Combine in a medium saucepan
1 Cup heavy cream
3/4 cup sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
Split lengthwise in half:
(1 vanilla bean)
 Scrape the seeds into the cream mixture, then add the bean. Bring to a simmer over medium-low heat, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Pour into a bowl and stir in:
2 Cups heavy cream
1 cup whole milk
1 1/2 to 2 teaspoons vanilla (if not using vanilla bean)
Refrigerate until cold, overnight if possible. Remove the vanilla bean, if used, pour the mixture into an ice cream maker and freeze as directed.

In addition to the cost analysis that I usually do, I also did a nutritional analysis using Wolfram Alpha. I summed the bulk of the ingredients and divided by eight servings. It then generated this nutrition label and other useful information. I was surprised at the results, but considering the ingredients, I am inclined to believe the numbers.

The total cost of the cake was $4.48, I worked it out to a total of eight serving at $0.56 per piece of cake.