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This Mocha Brownie Ice Cream Cake is delicious! It has beautiful layers of coffee ice cream, brownies, Oreo crumbles, hot fudge sauce and coffee whipped cream icing. It’s a wonderful combination that you won’t be able to resist!
For another chocolatey and delicious ice cream cake, you have to try my homemade Hot Fudge Swirl Ice Cream Cake!
Mocha Brownie Ice Cream Cake
I love ice cream cakes. I really don’t discrimination against any kind of cake, but ice cream cakes have been my go-to for my birthdays for quite a few years now.
My birthday is Christmas Day, so while it always seems tempting to make my own cake, when the time comes I’m usually so worn out from everything leading up to Christmas, that I have no interest in making my cake.
Last year we tried to switch it up and I got cupcakes from a cupcakery near my parent’s house. They weren’t bad, but I wasn’t super impressed.
However, there are a number of ice cream cakes that I love. Cold Stone’s Birthday Cake Remix is kind of my regular these days. But for a while, I would get Breuster’s Caramel Swirl.
My point? I love ice cream cakes. Unlike many other types of cake, they are hard for others to mess up. I eat them wll year long. Cold weather, hot weather, any weather. And it’s so easy to make all kinds of fun flavors with them. I am all about it.
Right now I’m all about this Mocha Brownie Ice Cream Cake.
I’ve made a few ice cream cakes using brownie layers and a few with cake layers. It’s honestly hard for me to decided which I like better. Sometimes I like the dense-ness of a brownie and sometimes I prefer the lighter cake layers. This time, I thought coffee would go great with a dense, chewy, chocolatey brownie.
Then I decided to add the Oreo crumbs and hot fudge.
Have you ever had a Dairy Queen ice cream cake? The last time I had one (it’s been a while), they had this amazing smooth, fudgy chocolate layer in the middle with some crunchy little chocolate pieces mixed in. Pure heaven.
I won’t say that the crumbled Oreos and hot fudge are an exact replica of that, but it’s what I was going for. And I do think it’s delightfully fudgy and crunchy. It goes great with the chewy brownie and smooth ice cream.
The cake is iced with a thick, coffee flavored whipped cream. Delish!
How to Make This Homemade Ice Cream Cake
While it might seem intimidating to make this ice cream cake, I assure you it’s not terribly difficult. There’s just a few more steps than some desserts.
You’ll start off by making your brownie layers. Sometimes I make my own from scratch, but this time I went with a box mix. You’ll need two two 8 inch brownies and you’ll want to use the same pan you’re going to stack the cake in.
The ice cream is a little different than a regular ice cream. You don’t need an ice cream maker, which I love. The ingredients might look a little strange (cream cheese and Cool Whip/whipped cream), but I promise once you make it, you’ll never be able to tell. It doesn’t taste like cream cheese, it tastes like ice cream. It’s smooth, creamy and delicious. Plus, it’s thick, which allows you to go ahead and stack the cake once it’s all mixed without having to freeze the ice cream first.
I used espresso and a little bit of Kahlua to flavor the ice cream. The Kahlua is optional, but I am personally a fan.
Putting the cake together is a little different method, but everything is stacked right in the pan. If you have an 8 inch springform pan, that’d be the pan to use. It’d be a touch easier. I use a regular 8×3 inch cake pan. This is a pretty tall cake to put together, so the 3 inches of height is quite nice. I line the bottom of the pan with clear wrap, then put a cardboard cake circle in the bottom of the pan. Once the cake is frozen, it can then be lifted out of the pan with clear wrap and it will already be steady on it’s cake circle. The other thing I do to prepare my pan is line it with parchment paper. The parchment paper goes all the way around and sticks at least a couple inches above the top edge of the pan. This particular cake will be taller than the 3 inch pan, so the parchment paper will extend the height of the pan for layering and freezing.
You’ll alternate layering the brownies and ice cream with the crushed Oreos and hot fudge sauce. You can easily add more of the Oreos or hot fudge, if you want. I could cover myself in the fudge sauce…just sayin’. 🙂
It’ll take some time to freeze. I like to freeze it overnight so that it’s nice and firm.
After removing it from the pan, you’ll make the whipped cream and ice the cake. I finished it off with some chocolate covered espresso beans, but feel to use more chocolate sauce, sprinkles, whatever you like! Just be sure to enjoy it once it’s done. The layers of creamy ice cream, chewy brownie, crunchy Oreo and smooth hot fudge are not to be missed!
Other Delicious Desserts
- Mocha Chocolate Chunk Cookies
- Mocha Chocolate Icebox Cake
- Hot Fudge Swirl Ice Cream Cake
- Caramel Mocha Chocolate Cake
- Caramel Macchiato Chocolate Nutella Cupcakes
Mocha Brownie Ice Cream Cake
- Prep Time: 40 minutes
- Cook Time: 20 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour
- Yield: 12-14 slices
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Oven
- Cuisine: American
Description
This Mocha Brownie Ice Cream Cake is delicious! It has beautiful layers of coffee ice cream, brownies, Oreo crumbles, hot fudge sauce and coffee whipped cream icing. It’s a wonderful combination that you won’t be able to resist!
Ingredients
- 18.4 oz (or similar) box brownie mix , plus ingredients on box
ICE CREAM
- 2 tbsp warm water
- 4 tsp instant espresso
- 8 oz cream cheese, softened
- 1/8 cup milk
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1/8 cup kahlua, optional
- 8 oz Cool Whip (or homemade whipped cream*)
OREO FUDGE LAYER
- 16 oreos, crushed
- 1 1/2 cups hot fudge sauce (I used Hershey’s Hot Fudge Topping)
WHIPPED CREAM ICING
- 2 1/2 tsp instant espresso
- 1 tbsp warm water
- 1 1/4 cup heavy whipping cream
- 1/2 cup powdered sugar
Instructions
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 Slice
- Calories: 578
- Sugar: 47 g
- Sodium: 305.6 mg
- Fat: 31.5 g
- Carbohydrates: 68.1 g
- Protein: 6.4 g
- Cholesterol: 67.7 mg
Categories
Enjoy!
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If I decide to buy the ice cream rather than make it, how much will I need?
I haven’t made this ice cream cake that way, but you could probably use a full carton per layer. Just keep in mind that the brownies are very firm when frozen. It’s hard to let them soften a bit before cutting if you’re using regular ice cream, because it does melt so quickly.
I wanna try this recipe! Looks delicious! I have a question… it can stay out of fridge?! It will melt?!
It doesn’t melt like traditional ice cream, but I would still freeze it.
This is probably the best cake recipe I ever made! We made it three times, the first time with homemade brownies which was delicious but too hard to cut when frozen, so we used homemade chocolate cake the next two times which was much easier to cut and still tasted fantastic! I will make this cake again and again!
this came out absolutely amazing!!!! i made this for my boyfriend’s birthday and he couldn’t stop smiling while he ate it. thanks so much!
Wonderful! I’m so glad it was a hit!
I love your ice cream cakes!!! I did come up with one hack, as I had two identical 8″ pans but no tall springform pan: I just make the layers 2 at a time in the 8″ pans, keep them all in the freezer until I’m ready to stack, and then just stack them straight onto my cake plate, keeping it in the freezer until ready to serve. Super easy!
The perfect hack! So glad you enjoy the cakes!
I absolutely love your cake/cupcake recipes, and I am constantly checking your blog for new recipes!!! I have made so many of your regular cakes and cupcakes but never an ice cream cake. I want to make this for a birthday party this week but am just wondering what the brownie consistency is after freezing? Are they chewy like a brownie, or hard since they are frozen? Should I let this sit out before serving? Thank you!!
I’m so glad you’ve enjoyed the recipes! The brownie will be a bit firm when frozen, but this cake does very well when left to sit for about 15 minutes or so before cutting into it so the brownies soften a bit.
I am a huge fan of your ice cream cakes. I have made several and they are all GREAT!!!! My question, is that I notice the whipped cream icing calls for just heavy cream and not heavy whipping cream. The cakes I’ve made in the past called for the heavy whipping cream when making the final icing. Is there a taste difference between the two. Just curious. I am making this for my father in law so no pressure ya know!! 🙂
I’m so glad to hear you enjoy them! You are correct, it’s heavy whipping cream. The recipe is updated to make that more clear. Thanks!
Hi Lindsay!
Thanks for your recipe. It looks delicious.
Two questiona:
for Oreo fudge, I need to divided the cookie and the cream ??
1 box of brownie it’s enough for 2 cakes?
Thanks! 🙂
No, you can leave the filling in the Oreos. And yes, one box mix.
I made this cake for my husband’s 60th birthday, it was easy to make and it looked great but we had a lot of difficulty cutting it…I have had ice cream cakes before and know you have to let them thaw a little before cutting but even after sitting at room temp. for over half an hour it was still hard to cut through the brownie layers.
We persevered and it tasted great but wasn’t quite as pretty anymore because the outer parts were starting to melt while the centre was still frozen.
Wondering if anyone else has had same problem or if you have any suggestions…I would really like to make it again if I could resolve this problem.
Hmm, I have used a similar recipe quite a few times and don’t seem to have the same melting issues. It can take some time for it to soften, but this is a pretty stable cake and shouldn’t get *too* soft.
I could not find instant espresso anywhere… can I sub in instant coffee? Thanks!!
Also, when I freeze it should i cover it with something? like cover the pan with plastic wrap or foil or anything? And how do you store left overs?
I usually just freeze it as is since I don’t have a ton of space in my freezer. You could definitely cover it with plastic wrap though or find a cake box at a craft store.
That should be fine.
Thanks for the prompt response. I’m very excited to make this for my hubby’s birthday tomorrow. Just a question, how do I store the remaining cake? Should I use a cake box,is that enough or any other way to store?And also,did you use cake turn table to rotate the cake while frosting? If yes,how did you take the cake out from the table to freeze after frosting?
I have only one 8 inch pan. Can I just get another 8 inch springform pan and bake the brownies in these two pans. Will the size vary? Is it very much necessary to get a springform pan?
As long as there isn’t too much variation, it should be fine. You’ll just want to build your cake in the large pan so that the large of the brownies will fit. The springform pan is helpful for removing the finished cake from the pan, but you could also put some clear wrap or parchment paper underneath the cake and use that to lift it out of a cake pan, if you prefer. I do that and it works well.
Thanks for the prompt response. I’m very excited to make this for my hubby’s birthday tomorrow. Just a question, how do I store the remaining cake? Should I use a cake box,is that enough or any other way to store?And also,did you use cake turn table to rotate the cake while frosting? If yes,how did you take the cake out from the table to freeze after frosting?
How long can we keep this cake and eat after full preparation? And, can we make the cake the previous day and freeze it overnight and do the icing the next day?
It should be good for at least 3-4 days after preparing. I’ve kept for up to a week. And yes, you can make the cake ahead and ice it the next day. I typically freeze it in the pan overnight and then finish the icing the next day.