Copycat Dairy Queen Ice Cream Cake

Today is the day we all have been dreading. The end of #icecreamweek. We had so much fun sharing our 22 creations (Jennie gave us a bonus treat. Wasn’t that sweet of her?), although our waistlines are pretty stoked #icecreamweek is over (except it’s not in my kitchen). Instead of mourning the end, let’s end with a bang! I’m talking ice cream, sprinkles, even a candle. Yes, I lit a candle for #icecreamweek. I mean this Copycat Dairy Queen Ice Cream Cake just screams celebration. You’d think I was celebrating someone’s birthday. Hey, it’s someone’s birthday somewhere, right? We are talking a layer of chocolate ice cream topped with chopped Oreos and hot fudge sauce topped with vanilla and covered in whipped cream.

I love Dairy Queen’s ice cream cake, especially the crunchy fudge part. My coworkers got me one for my birthday this year because they didn’t want to bake a cake for a baker like me. Turns out it is super duper easy to make at home. You just need some patience because you have to freeze the cake after you add a component. Plan to make this cake at least a day ahead of time so you have enough freezing time. As you can see, I made a mini ice cream cake in a 4-inch springform pan. However, you can use a 9-inch springform pan with the same technique. Just multiply the ingredient list by 3.

This Copycat Dairy Queen Ice Cream Cake is very versatile. Your typical cake is chocolate ice cream on the bottom and vanilla ice cream on the top, but you can use any flavor combination imaginable – chocolate and peanut butter, banana and chocolate, coconut and banana, brownie and cake batter, or just choose one flavor for both layers. Homemade or store-bought, nobody will judge. The middle is chopped up Oreo cookies mixed with hot fudge sauce, but you can mix it up with your favorite cookie (vanilla wafers, gingersnaps, chocolate chip, peanut butter, etc) and your favorite thick dessert sauce (caramel sauce comes to mind). Seriously, go wild.

This particular cake is Nutella ice cream, chopped regular Oreos mixed with my Nutella Espresso Hot Fudge Sauce, and store-bought vanilla ice cream (ran out of time and room for homemade. Tragic, I know). Then I frosted the outside with regular whipped cream. I need one of those cake spinning things so I can turn my cake as I frost it. Instead, it kept running away from me. Bad cake. I smoothed out the whipped cream with a knife then used this plastic tool thing with teeth to make the lines. Then I piped around the edges and decorated with sprinkles.

I’m pretty ambitious when it comes to recipes because I try to keep it homemade as possible. However, I know a few people who freak out over that thought, so here’s the super duper duper easy ingredient list: store-bought chocolate ice cream, store-bought vanilla ice cream, Oreo cookies, store-bought hot fudge or chocolate syrup, cool whip. In a pinch, you could use whipped cream in a can and just smooth it all out with a knife.