Episode Three: Mint and Chip Ice Cream Cake
Home Movies Tuesday!
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People like to ask me what my favorite dessert is, or what my first favorite dessert was, or my first memory of dessert or any sort of combination of those three questions. While there is truly no answer to the first one, the answer to the second two has and always will be mint chip ice cream (purchased, never homemade), followed by mint chip ice cream cake. These are not desserts that I eat often (there is Talenti AND Baskin Robbins in my freezer right now)— okay, ice cream cake is not a dessert I eat often. But when we considered which recipes to include in this lil mini series, ice cream cake felt like an obvious choice. I’d definitely file it under “impossible to mess up,” there is the added bonus of a really great basic one-bowl chocolate cake recipe included, and you can really “make it your own.” Above all, it’s one of those desserts that we want (of course we do) but don’t think to make ourselves (seems hard! is not).
Perhaps, that ends today (or this weekend, or whenever).
Recent press:
This Time profile by Eliana Dockterman. We talk about a lot of things, including what happened to the CNN show (TLDR; CNN shut down original programming, and with it, all of the CNN original series. Despite what you may read, this specific show wasn’t “canceled” and this isn’t new news! Fighting internet gossip one newsletter post at a time over here!).
The Taste podcast with Matt Rodbard. Matt is genuinely one of the kindest people in “food media.” Endlessly supportive, extremely genuine, super knowledgeable, always a good hang. Listen here on Spotify, here on Apple.
If you are not “ready” to make an entire ice cream cake, don’t worry— you can still just make the chocolate cake recipe, whip up a little salty vanilla frosting (also in the book) and turn it into a CELEBRATION CAKE. It’s made in one-bowl, doesn’t contain any actual chocolate and tastes like Cocoa Puffs, a personal favorite for people who prefer the flavor of cocoa to chocolate.
In the video I bake the chocolate cake in a sheet pan (as advertised, it is a sheet cake) but if the idea of cutting circles out gives you cold sweats, you can also bake this batter in individual 9” (or 10” or 8” or…) cake pans for a perfect circle for which to build your ice cream cake atop.
All-Purpose Chocolate Sheet Cake
Makes one 13 x 18-inch sheet cake or three 9-inch cake layers
There are lots of great things about this chocolate sheet cake, not least of all, we are talking about a whole sheet of CAKE, hello! But the two most important things are that (1) It doesn’t require a mixer of any sort, which is great because who has the time, and (2) It’s got a real, honest-to-god chocolate flavor without the inclusion of any solid chocolate (which in my opinion, can make for a dry cake). It’s a truly and genuinely easy cake that doesn’t sacrifice any sort of structural integrity, baking up tall and proud, fluffy and tender in all the right places, not unlike a boxed mix.
While this cake can be treated and dressed with a number of accouterments, it’s tough to beat the two premier examples given in this book. When paired with Salty Vanilla Frosting, it evokes “Ding-Dong,” the Hostess cake I still fantasize about on a regular basis. When used as the base for ice cream cake, specifically with mint and chip ice cream (see Mint and Chip Ice Cream Cake), it’s transformed into what is arguably the best dessert on the planet (sure, I’ve said this before—I’ll say it again!).
Cooking spray, for the pan
2½ cups/360g all-purpose flour
1 cup/115g unsweetened cocoa powder*
2 teaspoons/8g baking powder
1 teaspoon/6g baking soda
2 teaspoons/8g kosher salt
1¼ cups/275g granulated sugar
1 cup/200g light brown sugar
1½ teaspoons/7g vanilla extract
3 large eggs
1½ cups/330g buttermilk
¾ cup/155g vegetable oil
1 cup/220g sour cream
* Cocoa powder absorbs liquid differently than plain flour, so there’s an above-average amount of liquid and fat in this recipe to compensate for the amount needed to give you that promised chocolaty flavor. You may think the batter looks a bit loose when it goes into the oven, but trust, it’s going to turn out great.
1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Spray a standard half-sheet pan (13 × 18 inches) with cooking spray and line with parchment paper. (Alternatively, spray three 9-inch cake pans with cooking spray and line with rounds of parchment paper.)
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
3. In a large bowl, whisk the granulated sugar, brown sugar, vanilla, eggs, buttermilk, vegetable oil, and sour cream until combined. Slowly whisk in the flour mixture.
4. Pour the batter into the prepared sheet pan (or cake pans) and bake until the cake is puffed, springing back and pulling away from the sides of the pan, 30–35 minutes (closer to 20–25 minutes for the individual cakes).
5. Let cool completely before frosting or using to make an ice cream cake.
DO AHEAD: Wrapped tightly in plastic wrap, the cake can last 3 days stored at room temperature, 5 days in the fridge, or up to 1 month in the freezer (I’d wrap it once more in aluminum foil if freezing).
Mint Chip Ice Cream Cake
Makes one tall 9-inch cake
Ice cream cake, as the name implies, is ice cream, shaped and frosted like a cake. Ideally, there is also actual cake or some sort of cookie crust, to prevent leaking and give your ice cream something to melt into. And you can (and should) frost it with sweetened whipped cream (rather than buttercream, which isn’t all that delicious once frozen).
While technically “any ice cream can be made into an ice cream cake,” I wouldn’t know because aside from regular vanilla, mint and chip is the only ice cream I eat. Thrifty’s made the best until they got bought by Rite Aid and now they don’t sell ice cream like they used to. Now, my preferred brand is Baskin-Robbins (I’m a legacy brand girl, what can I say). The reason isn’t because they use the highest-quality dairy and most fair trade chocolate—I’m not sure they do!–it’s because it’s not too sweet, the chocolate is in flecked form, not chunk- or hunk-size, and the ratio of chocolate to ice cream is extremely good. And sue me, I like the fake mint flavor. Fresh mint leaves steeped in hot dairy will never, ever give you something that tastes as good as mint extract or artificial mint flavor. I hate to say it, you hate to read it, we all know it’s true.
9-inch disc of chocolate cake (you can cut this out of the All-Purpose Chocolate Sheet Cake)
2 quarts mint chip ice cream (or whatever flavor you like!)
2 cups/460g heavy cream
¼ cup/30g powdered sugar
Pinch of salt
1. Line a 9-inch springform pan with plastic wrap, making sure there’s some plastic wrap hanging over the edges. Place the cake round on the bottom.
2. Let the ice cream soften on your counter for 10 minutes or so—you want the texture to be slightly softer than simply “scoopable” but decidedly not “melted.” Spoon the ice cream out onto the cake and place a piece of plastic wrap directly on top. Use your palms to smush the ice cream down, making sure it’s in one even layer. (You could use a spoon, but using your hands is faster and honestly more fun.) Place it in the freezer while you make the whipped cream.
3. In a large bowl with a whisk, an electric hand mixer, or whatever you want, beat the heavy cream to medium peaks, then whisk in the powdered sugar. It might feel a touch sweeter than your average whipped cream, but that’s because it’s getting frozen, which dulls flavors, including sweetness. Beat until you’ve got nice, pillowy stiff peaks and whisk in a nice pinch of salt, for seasoning.
4. Remove the cake from the freezer and peel back the plastic wrap. Still inside the springform, spoon about 1 cup of the whipped cream on top of the ice cream and “frost” the top of the cake, just to create a nice even layer of whipped cream, then pop it back into the freezer for at least 2 hours. Keep the rest of the whipped cream refrigerated.
5. When you’re ready to serve, carefully unmold the ice cream cake—if it still feels a little too mushy/malleable for your liking, pop it back into the freezer until it feels solid enough to exist without its frame.
6. Once the cake is frozen and ready, remove the springform sides and frost the outside and the top with the remaining whipped cream. This can be put back into the freezer, if you like, or sliced and served as is. I find larger, fatter slices to be more dramatic, but they are perhaps too much for one person, so feel free to encourage sharing.
DO AHEAD: The quintessential do-ahead, ice cream cake can be assembled 1 week ahead, tightly wrapped in plastic, and frozen.
Other combinations:
You shouldn’t have to dig too deep to find the ice cream cake combination of your dreams. First, know that either sheet cake in Sweet Enough (pages 108 and 112) would make a great base layer. And, second, if mint and chip simply aren’t an option, here is what I’d choose:
Yellow cake with sprinkles added + vanilla ice cream: Cover with whipped cream and sprinkles, of course. On The Approval Matrix, this is lowbrow brilliant and undeniably perfect in its basicness.
Chocolate cake + caramel ice cream: Everyone makes caramel ice cream now, so don’t worry. This would be good topped with chopped nuts, reminding me of a candy bar. Alternatively, just eat a frozen candy bar?
Yellow cake + strawberry ice cream: It’s not strawberry shortcake, but it’s close. Garnish with fresh strawberries, leaving some of the green tops on for fun.
Thank you for watching, see you next week for more Home Movies!
EDIT: Re: The Time profile, Eliana's name was incorrectly spelled in the original posting-- has been edited to reflect correct spelling!
"I hate to say it, you hate to read it, we all know it's true."
I laughed a proper out-loud snort laugh.
And there are SO. MANY. THINGS about which this is just totally true. Let's all just dump the artifice & be real. Thank you, Alison!
And man....Mint & Chip Ice Cream .... what kind of garbage person do you have to be to NOT like it? (....I'm guessing War Criminals. I bet War Criminals don't even like it. And that's the real reason they're tried at the Hague). But yeah... Its just one of the sublime things of this mortal life: The Sistine Chapel. Bach's Mass in B Minor. The perfect blood-red lipstick. A dog's gloriously big, sloppy, unconditional love. Those precious, life-giving early stages of falling in love. Radiohead's "OK Computer." The opening-credits scene( in the airports) of "Love Actually"....
... And Mint Chip Ice Cream.
These are just facts.
Bless you sis x.