This Ice Cream Cake Recipe Is a Frozen Dessert Dream

In a recent Epicurious 4 Levels video, Chef Jürgen David, ICE Director of Pastry Research & Development, demonstrated his elevated ice cream cake recipe. It has a vanilla cookie base topped with layers of pistachio, vanilla, and cherry ice creams—each separated by a layer of nutty, baked almond meringue. The cake is topped with unsweetened whipped cream for balance and sprinkles. When sliced, hidden cherries are revealed from within.

As Chef Jürgen makes each element of the cake from scratch, he explains the techniques used and why they work. He demonstrates the best way to remove the seeds from a vanilla bean, explains what it means to dock dough, and shares the science behind tempering eggs. To make the three ice cream flavors, Chef Jürgen makes one base recipe and adds purees and pastes to flavor its vanilla, cherry and pistachio iterations.

Several steps are required to make this cake, but the result is a show-stopper. “This cake is everything I want in an ice cream cake,” said Chef Jürgen.

Recipe

Chef Jürgen's Ice Cream Cake

Yield: one 8-inch cake, 10-12 servings

Ingredients

Vanilla Cookie Base: 

45g 10x sugar
½ vanilla bean, scraped
90g unsalted butter
whole egg
175g pastry flour
¼ t salt

Ice Cream Base: 

220g egg yolks
300g sugar, divided
750g milk
750g heavy cream
4g salt, reserved

Divide base to 3 portions:

• Vanilla ice cream: Add 2T vanilla bean paste
• Cherry ice cream: Add 200g cherry puree
• Pistachio ice cream: Add 75g pistachio paste
• 200g Amarena cherries, separated, frozen and reserved

Almond Dacquoise Layer: 

200g egg whites
200g sugar
200g almond flour
10x sugar for dusting 

Whipped Cream:

1qt heavy cream, whipped

Directions

Procedure for Vanilla Cookie Base:

1. Pre-heat the oven to 325°F.
2. In the mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the powdered sugar, vanilla, and butter until light and fluffy. 
3. Add the egg, making sure the mixture is homogeneous before adding the pastry flour.
4. Mix slowly just to combine. 
5. Roll the dough between parchment paper for a thickness of ¼ inch and chill until firm.
6. Use an 8-inch cake ring to cut the disk and dock the dough with a fork before baking. 
7. Bake the dough for 10-15 minutes, or until lightly colored. 
8. Let cool before handling. 

Procedure for Ice Cream Base:

1. Whisk the egg yolks with half the sugar. 
2. Bring the milk to a boil with the remaining sugar. 
3. Temper the egg mixture with some of the hot milk. 
4. Return the egg mixture to the pot of boiling milk and cook, stirring constantly, until thickened, reaching 160°F. 
5. Immediately pour the mixture through a chinois into a bowl set over an ice bath. 
6. Add the heavy cream. Chill for 24 hours to mature. 
7. Split the ice cream base into three portions and add the vanilla paste, cherry puree, and pistachio paste to make three separate mixtures. 
8. Process each flavor in an ice cream machine, cleaning between batches. 

Procedure for Almond Dacquoise Layers:

1. Draw three 8-inch circles on parchment paper to act as a guide for the final piping. Turn the parchment paper over and place it on a sheet pan.
2. Prepare a French meringue with the egg whites and sugar. Whip the meringue to a stiff peak.
3. Gently fold in the almond flour, being careful not to deflate the meringue.
4. Immediately after folding, pipe the batter onto the parchment paper–lined sheet pans, using the drawn shapes as guides; pipe inside the lines.
5. Dust lightly with powdered sugar.
6. Bake at 225°F until lightly browned and almost dry.
7. Let cool. 
8. Trim to fit into 8-inch cake ring. 
9. Place in freezer until ready to use. 

Assembly:

1. Line the cake ring with acetate. Place on cardboard.
2. Insert cookie base. Place on a sheet pan and freeze.
3. Process pistachio ice cream and make the first ice cream layer in the cake ring. 
4. Top with a dacquoise layer and freeze.
5. Process vanilla ice cream, fold in freezer-cold cherries, and add the second ice cream layer.
6. Top with a dacquoise layer and freeze. 
7. Process cherry ice cream and make the third ice cream layer. 
8. Top with a dacquoise layer and freeze.
9. When frozen solid, remove the cake from the freezer. 
10. Remove the cake ring and acetate strip. 
11. Coat with whipped cream, and pipe designs with remaining whipped cream if desired. Add sprinkles.
12. Keep the assembled cake in the freezer, until ready to serve.