Strawberry Ice Cream Cake

This Strawberry Ice Cream Cake is delicious and perfect for spring and summer! The vanilla cake is so soft and light, and the strawberry ice cream is creamy and full of fresh strawberry flavor!

Strawberry Ice Cream Cake! Layers of soft vanilla cake with creamy strawberry ice cream!

Strawberry Ice Cream Cake! Layers of soft vanilla cake with creamy strawberry ice cream!

Strawberry Ice Cream Cake

Fruit is kind of like nature’s art. I mean think about it. Fruit, for the most part, is beautiful. It’s so colorful. It comes in so many shapes and sizes. You can file it onto a cake and call it decorated. Beautiful.

Plus, it delicious. If there’s anything better than outer beauty, it’s inner beauty. And inside most fruit, you find sweet delicious-ness. Double the beautiful.

I’m poetic, I know.

But seriously. I love decorating cakes and sweets with fruit. It’s the easiest way to make a beautiful dessert that just screams fun and life. Fruit makes me happy and so does this Strawberry Ice Cream Cake.

Plus, it’s pink inside.

Strawberry Ice Cream Cake! Layers of soft vanilla cake with creamy strawberry ice cream!
Strawberry Ice Cream Cake! Layers of soft vanilla cake with creamy strawberry ice cream!

How to Make This Strawberry Ice Cream Cake

The ice cream base recipe is my favorite to use for ice cream cakes. It requires no ice cream machine and is thick even before freezing, which allows you to stack the ice cream cake without having to freeze the ice cream first, speeding up the process. It’s delicious and people always think it’s store bought ice cream. The main ingredients are cream cheese and whipped cream (I used Cool Whip) and you’d never know it. You can’t taste the cream cheese, but it adds a great creaminess.

The cake layers are made first, then the ice cream, then it’s all stacked together and frozen.

You’ll want to bake the cakes in 8 inch pans. If you have a springform pan, that’d be helpful. I don’t, so I use regular 8×3 inch pans. When it’s time to put everything together, I use the same 8×3 inch pan so that I have taller sides. I line the pan first with clear wrap that extends up the sides of the pan, which is used to lift the cake out of the pan once it’s frozen.

Then add a cardboard cake circle for the cake to rest on and wrap parchment paper around the inside edges of the pan, which also extend 1-2 inches above the top edge of the pan. The fully cake will be taller than the pan, so the parchment paper extends the sides of the pan, allowing you to stack the cake.

Strawberry Ice Cream Cake! Layers of soft vanilla cake with creamy strawberry ice cream!
Strawberry Ice Cream Cake! Layers of soft vanilla cake with creamy strawberry ice cream!

Place the first layer of cake in the pan. Then, before adding the ice cream, place thin slices of strawberries around the outer edge of the cake. They should be standing up and resting on the sides of the cake pan. They should line up with the first/bottom layer of cake you just added. Once that’s done, spoon the ice cream onto the cake and spread into an even layer, keeping the strawberries in place. Top the ice cream with the second layer of cake and freeze it. I usually leave it overnight.

Once it’s frozen, use the clear wrap to lift it out of the pan and place it on your cake plate. Top it with whipped cream (homemade or Cool Whip) and top it off with strawberries. You can just pile them on, or make them into kind of a strawberry flower like I did. Nature’s art, I tell you. 😉 I started with the outside circle of strawberry slices and worked my way in the to center.

This cake is seriously to die for. The cake is soft and delicious and the ice cream is so creamy and full of strawberry flavor.

To give the ice cream that great strawberry flavor, I actually used some homemade strawberry pie filling. It’s made on the stove prior to adding to the ice cream base. I tried to make the ice cream without the extra step of making the pie filling, but if you use straight strawberry puree, you get an ice-y ice cream and you don’t want that. Not as tasty. But done the right way, this ice cream is so creamy and irresistible. Hard to put the fork down and walk away.

So if you love strawberry, like I do, and you want to make tasty nature art, be sure to make this beautiful and fun Strawberry Ice Cream Cake. 😉

Strawberry Ice Cream Cake! Layers of soft vanilla cake with creamy strawberry ice cream!
Strawberry Ice Cream Cake! Layers of soft vanilla cake with creamy strawberry ice cream!

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Strawberry Ice Cream Cake
Recipe

Strawberry Ice Cream Cake

  • Author: Lindsay
  • Prep Time: 4 hours
  • Cook Time: 21 minutes
  • Total Time: 4 hours 21 minutes
  • Yield: 12-14 Servings
  • Category: Dessert
  • Method: Oven
  • Cuisine: American

Description

This Strawberry Ice Cream Cake is delicious and perfect for spring and summer! The vanilla cake is so soft and light, and the strawberry ice cream is creamy and full of fresh strawberry flavor!


Ingredients

CAKE LAYERS

  • 1 2/3 cups all purpose flour
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
  • 3/4 cup butter, room temperature
  • 3 egg whites
  • 1 tbsp vanilla extract
  • 1/2 cup sour cream
  • 1/2 cup milk

STRAWBERRY PIE FILLING 

  • 1/2 cup strawberry puree
  • 2 1/2 tbsp water
  • 1/4 cup sugar
  • 1 tbsp cornstarch

ICE CREAM

  • 8 oz cream cheese, room temperature
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 2 tbsp milk
  • 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1 tsp strawberry extract
  • 1/2 cup homemade strawberry pie filling, recipe above
  • 8 oz Cool Whip (or homemade whipped cream)
  • 24 drops red food color
  • strawberry slices, for edge

TOPPING

  • 4 oz of Cool Whip
  • strawberry slices

Instructions

MAKE THE CAKE LAYERS:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Grease two 8 inch cake pans (preferably springform pans, see above) and line the bottoms with parchment paper.
3. Whisk together flour, sugar and baking powder in a large mixing bowl.
4. Add butter, egg whites, vanilla extract, sour cream and milk and mix on medium speed until smooth.
5. Split batter evenly between the two cake pans.
6. Bake 19-21 minutes or until a toothpick comes out with a just a few crumbs.
7. Allow to cool for 3-5 minutes, then remove to cooling rack to finish cooling.
8. Once cooled, level the cake by removing the dome from the top of the cake using a large serrated knife.

ONCE CAKE HAS COOLED, MAKE THE STRAWBERRY PIE FILLING AND ICE CREAM:

1. Add water to strawberry puree.
2. Combine sugar and cornstarch in a saucepan. Stir in strawberry puree.
3. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until mixture thickens and comes to a boil, about 15 to 20 minutes.
4. Allow to boil for 1 minute, then remove from heat.
5. Allow to cool for about 5 minutes.
6. Once pie filling has cooled, mix cream cheese, sugar, milk, vanilla extract, strawberry extract and pie filling together until well combined.
7. Fold in the Cool Whip and red food color.

ASSEMBLING IT ALL:

1. Line the sides of an 8-inch springform pan with parchment paper. The parchment paper should stick up above the top edge of the pan, since the cake will probably be a little taller than your pan. Put a cardboard cake circle in the bottom of the pan. If not using a springform pan, you can put some plastic wrap in the bottom of the pan and up the sides and use it to lift the cake out of the pan when it’s done.
NOTE: You should be using the same 8-inch pan you used for the cake. Not all 8-inch pans are exactly the same size. Your cake needs to fit in this pan.
2. Put the first cake layer in the bottom of your pan.
3. Place thinly slice strawberries around the outer edge of the cake. They should be standing up, leaning against the sides of the cake pan, in line the out edge of the bottom cake layer.
4. Spoon the ice cream on top of the cake and spread into an even layer, keeping the strawberries in place.
5. Top ice cream with the second layer of cake.
6. Allow ice cream cake to freeze completely, 6-8 hours.
7. When frozen, remove from springform pan and remove parchment paper from sides. OR lift cake out of pan using clear wrap and remove parchment paper from side. Place cake on cake plate.
8. Top cake with additional Cool Whip and sliced strawberries. To make the flower pattern shown in the pictures, start by creating the outer circle of strawberries, then work your way into the center one circle at a time, with each one overlapping the previous one a bit.
9. Freeze until ready to serve. Best after 3-5 days.

Notes

  • You’ll need one full 16 oz package of strawberries. You could need a second package, depending on the number of strawberries and sizes. If you want to make sure you have nice looking strawberries for the sides and top, I’d recommend a second package so that you can pick and choose the nicest ones.
  • An 8-inch springform pan is best for this recipe so that you can easily remove the cake once it’s been assembled. If you do not have a springform pan, line your pan with clear wrap before adding your parchment paper and cake board. You can use the clear warp to lift your cake out of the pan once it’s assembled and frozen.

Nutrition

  • Serving Size: 1 Slice
  • Calories: 334
  • Sugar: 39.9 g
  • Sodium: 182.8 mg
  • Fat: 12.8 g
  • Carbohydrates: 51.2 g
  • Protein: 5.8 g
  • Cholesterol: 13.8 mg

Keywords: strawberry dessert recipe, strawberry dessert, strawberry ice cream cake, strawberry cake recipe, strawberry cake filling, homemade strawberry cake, strawberry cake from scratch, easy strawberry cake, strawberry ice cream recipe, homemade strawberry ice cream

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Enjoy!

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Recipe rating

44 Comments
  1. Tysanna

    Can’t wait to try this out for daughters birthday party! The question I have though is am I making my own strawberry puree? Or is that something I’m buying from the store? Thanks for the amazing recipe!

    1. Lindsay

      You’ll make your own. You should get about 1/2 cup of puree from about 1 cup of quartered strawberries. I hope you enjoy it!

  2. Amanda

    I love the presentation of this! When you freeze the cake after assembling, do you cover the top of the cake to prevent ice crystals from forming on it overnight?

  3. Jennifer

    I made this cake for my daughter’s birthday as she specifically requested a “strawberry ice cream cake.” It was delicious and everyone loved it. I decided to use a conversion chart to make a larger cake because I only had 10” springform pans. I just multiplied everything by 1.5 and it worked  really well. I would also add that it needed to thaw for about 1.5 – 2 hours on the countertop before it was easy to cut and eat. The ice cream didn’t thaw too much during that time because it is sandwiched between the layers of frozen cake. Just be forewarned, 30 mins is definitely not long enough! 

  4. El H

    made it twice for friends’ birthdays and people were impressed! cake itself is delicious and ice cream complements it well. only thing is the cake part is a bit too frozen for me since the whole thing needs to be frozen for ages. not a big deal though I just have to thaw my piece for a little longer

    1. Lindsay

      It can be frozen for longer if well covered, but if it’s decorated it’s going to look freshest the sooner it’s served. 3-5 days is the most I’d recommend for it to look nice.

  5. Katy

    Hi, thanks for posting this recipe! Just wondering if you think it’d be fine to make this cake tomorrow, freeze it, and serve on Sunday afternoon? 

  6. Alex

    Hi Lindsay! If the cake is sitting in the freezer until it’s ready to serve, won’t the sponge cake part be frozen? How do you make sure the cake part isn’t frozen, but the ice cream is?

    1. Lindsay

      Yes, the cake will be frozen as well, just like any ice cream cake. You can let it sit out for 15 minutes or so before cutting and it’ll be fine.

    2. Lesley

      Been thinking same thing!  My idea is to try assembling ice cream in same springform pan the cake was baked in and freezing it. Then assembling the frozen ice cream part on to the fresh cake parts before serving. Hmm. Hard cake takes the fun away!

Lindsay
About Lindsay

I'm a wife and a mom to twin boys and a baby girl! And I've got a serious sweets addiction! Bring on the treats!

Scripture I’m Loving

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” Matthew 11:28-29