Filed under: Cakes / Layer cakes / Frozen
September 15, 2021

Cookie Dough Ice Cream Cake

An ice cream cake made of cookie dough dreams: two layers of edible chocolate chip cookie dough and in between

5 from 1 vote
Yield: 12
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cookie dough ice cream cake

An ice cream cake made of cookie dough dreams: two layers of edible chocolate chip cookie dough and in between vanilla ice cream. 

cookie dough ice cream cake

 

The inspiration behind this beautiful beast of a cake comes from a local bakery in Richmond, VA. They sell a whole giant ‘cake’ that’s two parts cookie dough, filled with vanilla ice cream and topped with a thick layer of sprinkles. When I saw it, it reminded me of my whipped cookie dough pie and really, I’m game for anything that has edible cookie dough! 

 

This cookie dough ice cream cake is based on that whipped cookie dough pie, but we’ve got two layers instead of one! Why do I love this one so much? It’s got all the properties of a delicious cookie dough minus the guilt/fear. We heat treat the flour so it’s safe to eat and there’s no egg: it’s lots of brown sugar and butter sweetened just right with vanilla and salted for balance. The heavy cream makes it light and fluffy and when frozen the layers go so well with ice cream. Little itty bitty chips of chopped dark chocolate cut through it all. 

My daughter is obsessed with this ‘cake’. After it was long gone she kept asking for it and so I made another (you see two variations in the photos: one with a vanilla bean ice cream and a layer of chocolate ganache and another with moose tracks ice cream). Now she’s telling me she wants this for her birthday and it occurred to me that it would make an excellent birthday cake because the leftovers will never go bad! 

 

Ingredients for Cookie Dough Ice Cream Cake 

Brown sugar: A must for a chocolate chip cookie, edible dough or baked. Light or dark is fine. 

Granulated sugar: The finer this is the better, one of our goals in whipping this so long is to get most of the sugar granules to dissolve so that we don’t feel their texture in the frozen cake. 

Flour: All-purpose flour. If you wanted to make it a little interesting you could toast some oat flour and see how that goes. 

Salt & vanilla: For flavor, add as much or as little as you like bearing in mind that when things are frozen the taste is more muted. 

Butter: No substitutes here unless it’s a vegan butter (don’t use oil!). If you wanted to brown the butter for more flavor you could but add a bit more before you brown it to compensate for moisture loss and let it chill before you begin beating it with the sugar. 

Heavy cream: This is what fluffs up and smooths out the cookie dough. See below for a substitute. 

Ice Cream: Your middle layer! Whatever you like will work it just needs to be a little soft when building the cake and able to freeze solid for slicing. 

Chocolate: Something not overly sweet but not overly hard when frozen. If you are using regular sized chips I recommend chopping some of them to avoid having big tough, frozen chunks. 

 

How to Make Cookie Dough Ice Cream Cake  

  1. Heat treat the flour 
  2. Cream butter & sugar 
  3. Add flour & chocolate
  4. Whip the dough with heavy cream 
  5. Layer cookie dough, ice cream, then cookie dough 
  6. Freeze! 

 

FAQ on Cookie Dough Ice Cream Cake 

What kind of chocolate should I use for the ‘chips’ part of the dough? 

Something that will taste good when frozen. Generally this means chocolate that isn’t so dark and chunks that aren’t so big (those will be harder to chew and break through). I like a semi-sweet chocolate here and to chop it finely so I’m not crunching on big hard pieces of chocolate. 

What kind of ice cream should I use for the cookie dough ice cream cake? 

Literally whatever you want. It does not matter! The cookie dough is rich so if that daunts you opt for something a bit more … vanilla. 

What can I substitute the heavy cream with? 

Use canned coconut milk, but refrigerate it first so that it will ‘whip’. 

How can I make a dairy-free cookie dough ice cream cake? 

See above and use a dairy-free butter and a dairy-free ice cream. 

 

 

 

More Edible Cookie Dough Recipes 

 

Recipe for Cookie Dough Ice Cream Cake



Cookie Dough Ice Cream Cake

Two layers of whipped edible chocolate chip cookie dough sandwich vanilla ice cream.
cookie dough ice cream cake
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Yields: 12
5 from 1 vote

Ingredients

  • 1 ½ cups flour 180g
  • ¾ cup unsalted butter at room temperature, 170g
  • 1 cup brown sugar light or dark, 200g
  • ½ cup granulated sugar 100g
  • 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
  • ¾ teaspoon fine sea salt
  • ¾ cups heavy whipping cream 170g
  • 200 g dark chocolate chopped finely
  • 1 pint of ice cream

Method

  • Preheat the oven to 350 F. Spread the flour over a square cake pan (the size doesn’t matter) and toast it for 5-10 minutes. This makes the flour safe to eat. Let it cool.
  • Prepare an 8” round cake tin with either plastic wrap or parchment paper ensuring the bottom is covered and there is overhang on the sides. This layer is going to act as a seal between the pan and the first layer of cookie dough as well as a sling to lift the entire cake out once it’s frozen.
  • Remove the ice cream from the freezer to soften.
  • In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat together the butter, salt, vanilla and sugars for up to 10 minutes. The mix will be dark at first and gradually become very light and fluffy. Scrape the bowl from time to time to ensure it all gets mixed very well.
  • Add the flour and the chocolate and mix to just combine.
  • Add the heavy whipping cream and beat it for a full five minutes on medium, the sugars will have dissolved quite a bit and the mix will be light and fluffy.
  • Spread half of the cookie dough into the bottom of the prepared pan and set it in the freezer for about 5 minutes (we want it to firm up just a bit).
  • Spread the ice cream over the partially frozen cookie dough and on top of it spread the remaining cookie dough. If the ice cream is very soft let it harden in the freezer before spreading the second half of cookie dough.
  • Freeze the ‘cake’ for at least 4 hours. When it’s time to serve, remove it from the freezer and turn it onto a plate. Let it soften so it’s easy to slice. Store in the freezer, covered to avoid freezer burn.

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    • Hi Jenny! I didn’t write it up. Tbh I didn’t like the way the ganache froze in the center (texture was off). If you decide you’d like to do it anyway you can warm 3oz heavy cream and pour it over 3 oz finely chopped dark chocolate then stir until it’s smooth. It can go straight onto half of the first layer of ice cream but you’ll want to freeze it so it hardens before you add the second layer. Then proceed!

  1. Hi, this looks amazing! I’m confused, though, did you use a springform pan with high sides, or a regular cake pan [the sides of which don’t seem high enough to account for the height of your cake here]? Hoping to make this soon, for a family dinner!