An ice cream cake is a cake made with ice cream as an ingredient. A simpler no-bake version can be made by layering different flavors of ice cream in a loaf pan.
Ice cream cake is a popular party food, often eaten at birthdays, weddings, and other celebrations, particularly in North America and Australia. Regional variations exist around the world, such as Arctic rolls in the United Kingdom and cassata in India.
Although versions of ice cream cakes can be traced back as far as the 18th century, modern commercial versions only became widespread in the 20th century. The current world record for largest ice cream cake is a 10.13 ton cake made by Dairy Queen.
Preparation
In a typical assembly, the cake component is baked in the normal way, cut to shape if necessary, and then cooled or frozen. Ice cream is shaped in a mold as appropriate, and these components are then assembled while frozen. Whipped cream is often used for frosting, as a complement to the two other textures, and because many typical frostings will not adhere successfully to frozen cake. The whole cake is then kept frozen until serving, when it is allowed to thaw until it can be easily sliced but not so much as to melt the ice cream.
Commercial ice cream cakes tend to be made slightly differently. Dairy Queen's ice cream cakes are constructed using soft serve straight from each store's ice cream machine, which is dispensed into a metal mold and formed into a well. The cake portion and more ice cream are placed into the well, then smoothed out. The final ice cream form is decorated with whipped cream and cookie crumble. Friendly's ice cream cakes are made in a similar way, but in a factory assembly line. After the ice cream portion is assembled, cakes are placed in a nitrogen tunnel to harden for decoration.
History
The origin of ice cream cakes is not entirely clear. The idea of a dessert called "ice cream cake" has existed since at least the 19th century, though historical recipes vary in their resemblance to modern ice cream cakes. Desserts combining frozen ice cream and pastries can be traced as far back as the 18th century where some bombe recipes, molded blocks of ice cream, contained a layer of sponge cake. Metal molds were used to make ice cream cakes, with thick metal walls keeping the cake cool during the unmolding process.
By the 1950s, Carvel was selling ice cream cakes in locations across the United States. Dairy Queen has been selling ice cream cakes since at least the 1980s. According to a 1982 ad, Dairy Queen sold 8 inch cakes for $6.95 and 11 inch cakes for $9.95. Baskin-Robbins has similarly been selling them since at least 1980, with a customizable special-edition Valentine's day cake selling for $8.00 around that time.
Largest ice cream cake record
The current Guinness World Record for the largest ice cream cake is held by Dairy Queen Canada, which celebrated the branch's 30th anniversary with a 22,333.6 pound (10.13 ton) Oreo-topped vanilla ice cream sponge cake in 2011. A commercial airplane scale was used to weigh the one meter tall, 4.45 meter by 4.05 meter large cake. Graduate engineering students from the University of Toronto's Department of Chemical Engineering and Applied Chemistry’s food engineering laboratory helped ensure the massive cake was structurally sound and wouldn't collapse during the weighing process.
Previous records include a 8,962 pound cake made with Baskin-Robbins in 1999, a nearly 11,000 pound cake created by Carvel for its 70th anniversary in 2004, and a 19,290 pound cake made by a group in Beijing in 2006.
They are also a popular dessert for Fourth of July celebrations; cakes prepared for this day are often decorated with patriotic motifs, and garnished with whipped cream, red berries and blueberries. Other versions are elaborate flag cakes made with alternating layers of ice cream and sorbet.
Variations
In the United Kingdom, ice cream Swiss roll cakes are known as Arctic rolls.
Vacherin glacé is a frozen dessert made from an ice cream filling, a meringue shell, and whipped cream topping. It has origins in Switzerland, and can be found in France and Germany.
Cassata is a popular dessert in India made of different layered ice creams on top of a sponge.
Zuccotto is an Italian dessert made from alchermes, cake, and ice cream.
