If you’re anything like me and your love language is food, there is nothing more fitting to say I love you than a delicious, time-consuming, triple-layer cake. I made this cake for my friend Nadeen, and she absolutely loved it. Hopefully, your person does too.
Ingredients & Equipment:
Ice Cream cake
- 9-inch baking pan
- Spatula
- A tub of cookies & cream ice cream
Cheese Cake
- 9-inch springform pan
- Hand or stand mixer
- Spatula
- 8 oz of cream cheese
- 1 cup of sugar
- 2/3 cup sour cream
- 2 tablespoons of evaporated milk (optional)
- 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
- 2 eggs
- 9-inch baking pan
- 1 cup all-purpose flour (120g)
- 1 cup granulated sugar (200g)
- 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (25g)
- 3/4 teaspoons baking powder
- 3/4 teaspoons baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/2 cup whole milk (120mL)
- 1 large egg
- 1/4 cup vegetable oil (60mL)
- 1/2 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup boiling water (120ml)
- 1 teaspoon unflavored gelatin
- 4 teaspoons cold water
- 1 cup heavy cream
- ½ cup powdered sugar
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- Crushed oreos
Instructions:
Ice cream cake (top layer)
To make the ice cream base, get a 9-inch, preferably cold, baking pan and line it with plastic wrap or aluminum foil. Next, get your slightly melted tub of ice cream and scoop it into the lined pan until it is filled to the brim. Then get a spatula and smooth out the ice cream, giving it a clean, smooth top, before covering it with plastic wrap or foil. Finally, leave it in the freezer to cool for more than 24 hours before assembling the cake.
Cheese cake (middle layer)
Preheat your oven to 360 degrees. Grease a spring foam pan and line it with parchment paper, and put it aside for later use. Whisk the cream cheese with a stand or hand mixer on medium speed until softened. Gradually add in the sugar and continue to mix on low speed for 30 seconds to 1 minute. Add the sour cream and mix well for 1 minute until you get a fluffy cream. Add the evaporated milk and vanilla extract, then mix until fully combined.
After mixing, let your batter sit for 5 minutes to allow the sugar to fully dissolve.
Crack your eggs into the bowl, and start mixing with your whisk or mixer at the lowest speed. Use the spatula to scrape the sides of the bowl to combine every ingredient evenly. After 3 minutes, stop mixing and tap your bowl on the counter to ensure there are no air bubbles in your batter. Pour the batter into the pie case, and try your best to keep it inside the mold.
Find a slightly bigger pan than the one you are baking in, put 2 cups of water in it, and place it in the oven while the cheesecake bakes.
Lower your oven to 325 degrees and bake the cheesecake for 25-35 minutes. You may check on it through the oven window every 10 minutes, but do not open the oven. When your cheesecake is done baking, remove it from the oven to let it cool for an hour before moving it to the freezer for at least 4 hours and preferably overnight.
Cake (bottom layer)
Following Preppy Kitchen’s Chocolate Cake recipe, stir sifted flour, granulated sugar, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder and salt into a large bowl, then whisk together to combine. In another bowl, whisk together the milk, egg, oil and vanilla before incorporating the wet ingredients into the bowl with the dry ingredients. Stir until the dry ingredients are not visible, but do not overmix. Pour in the boiling water and whisk again. The batter will be runny, but do not add more flour.
Whipped cream
Following Our Best Bites’ stabilized whipped cream recipe, in a small bowl, add water and mix in gelatin, then let it sit for 5 minutes. While it’s sitting, flour, heavy cream, powdered sugar, and vanilla in the bowl of a stand mixer with the whisk attachment or in a mixing bowl with an electric hand mixer. Once the gelatin is set, microwave the bowl for about 10 seconds until the gelatin turns to liquid. Turn the mixer on low to start beating the heavy whipping cream. Let it run for about 1 minute and then, with the mixer on high, very slowly pour the melted gelatin in, in a small steady stream. Beat until you reach medium-stiff peaks; do not overbeat. Make sure to use it fast after making, as the gelatin will set and become hard to pipe after a while.
Assembling the cake:
Place a circular 9 or 10-inch cake board on a turtable and frost it with a thin layer of whipped cream. On top of that, place the chocolate cake on the board upside down with the flat side facing up, and apply an even and thin layer of whipped cream. On top of that, add your cheesecake layer on the cake ( at this point, you can trim it to fit perfectly along the chocolate cake). Finally, apply a layer of whipped cream on the cheesecake and place your ice cream layer on top. This is the time to work quickly because just 30 minutes at room temperature, the top layer of the cake will begin to fall apart. Use a piping bag or spatula to fill in the gaps of the cake to make a cleaner, thinner coating on the cake. It’s okay if the entire cake isn’t fully covered because it needs to go in the freezer for another 20 to 30 minutes to harden the first layer of whipped cream. After cooling, apply another layer of whipped cream and evenly spread it over the cake. Finally, decorate the cake with crushed Oreos around the perimeter and use them to cover any spots of uneven frosting.
