Ice Cream Cone Cake, Exploded

Have you ever purchased an ice cream cake before? Holy mother of Moses are they expensive. Recently, I paid $16 for a smallish cake that had a modest smattering of Oreo cookies on top. I figured that it would taste very good for that kind of money, so into the cart it went. Big mistake. It was horrible. Made by a big name brand, I just assumed it would be delicious. It was the opposite of delicious. A tasteless slab of ice cream with no crust and whipped cream that tasted like it had been sitting on the cake for a year. Blech. So, I decided to try my hand at making my own ice cream cake. How hard could it be? Certainly I could whip up something much more lovely and something that actually tastes good with the same amount of money or less. So, here’s what I did…

I started off with an Oreo cookie crust. I remember a time when Oreo sold cookie crumbs, but sadly I couldn’t find them. So I scraped the filling off of each Oreo by hand. Don’t do this while you are hungry because I ate a few more of them than I should’ve.

After making my Oreo crust, I softened some ice cream. Vanilla and strawberry. Once they were spreadable, I smoothed them into the crust. So far, so good. Easy.

In between the vanilla and strawberry ice cream layers, I tamped down a layer of Oreo cookie crumbs. I like a bit of texture in an ice cream cake. There’s something wonderful about a bit of crunch mixed in with the smooth ice cream. Yummy. Speaking of texture, forget whipped cream for a topping. We can do much better than that.

How about crushed ice cream cone pieces splattered with ganache? Yup, that works for me. And since we are already going a bit over the top here, why not have some real no-kidding ice cream cones on top of the cake? That’s the fun thing about making your own cake. You can do whatever you want to do.

In order to make the ice cream cones a bit more stable, I snapped off the bottom of the cones so that the ice cream would sort of anchor the cones into the cake.

And then I piled the chocolate splattered cone pieces all around the positioned cones. Once I was happy with how it looked, I tossed it in the freezer to firm up overnight. Right before serving, I placed some scoops of ice cream into the cones topped with some whipped cream, sprinkles and a cherry. So, how much did I spend in total? $14 and change. Not only did I spend less than the store bought cake, this looked and tasted a million times better too. And the ooh and ahh factor was even higher. As long as you don’t mind taking the time to put them together, ice cream cakes are a cinch to make. And fun too!

Exploded Ice Cream Cone Cake

Ingredients:

2 packages of Oreo cookies (14.3oz each), filling removed

6 Tbsp butter, melted 2 cups crushed waffle cone pieces plus 2 whole waffle cones 6 oz semi­sweet chocolate morsels 5 Tbsp light cream 8 cups of your favorite ice cream, divided (4 cups per layer) and softened whipped cream, sprinkles and cherries for garnish

Instructions:

Place cookies in a food processor and process until ground. (think breadcrumbs)

Scoop out three cups of the crumbs for your crust. Set the rest aside.

Mix the three cups of ground Oreos with the butter. Mix well. Press into the bottom and sides of a 9″ springform pan. Set aside.

Place waffle cone pieces on a cookie sheet.

Place chocolate and cream into a pan over medium­low heat. Stir until melted.

Splatter chocolate over crushed cone pieces. Place in freezer to chill.

Smooth four cups of ice cream into the bottom of the cookie crust lined pan. Spread evenly.

Sprinkle 2 cups of Oreo crumbs evenly over top. Press down with the bottom of a measuring cup or use the bottom of a glass.

Spread the next four cups of ice cream evenly over top the crumbs.

Snap the the bottoms off of two waffle cones. (about 1 “) Gently press cones into the cake.

Take crushed cone pieces out of the freezer and pile them around the cones that have been placed in the cake.

Place the the cake in the freezer to firm up. At least four hours.

Right before serving, scoop ice cream into cones and garnish with whipped cream, sprinkles and cherries.