Triple-Chocolate Ice Cream Cake

 The grand finale of our July celebrations in our family was Lauren's birthday yesterday.  We celebrated  at our house out on the deck and had a very fun and deliciously good time.

It's been non-stop around here since Father's Day when we had our first relatively large gathering at our house since the pandemic by inviting some friends over to celebrate with us. The rest of the celebrations have just been immediate family but it's been one-after-the other in July; Fourth of July, Nick's birthday, my birthday, our anniversary and now Lauren's birthday.  Last year, I made Lauren's favorite cake, the Lemon Curd and White Chocolate Truffle Cake.  (The grandkids loved it!)

I've made this a few times for Lauren's birthday, as well as for Easter, but this year I told Lauren I wanted to try a new recipe, an ice cream cake.  We've been having endless warm weather this summer so it was a perfect summer to try an ice cream cake so Triple-Chocolate Ice Cream Cake it was. 

This is a Martha Stewart's recipe that comes with a video, as well.  Mine is a little more messy than her's but it all tastes amazing, just the same.  

I'll need to practice this recipe a few times to get it to look as perfect as Martha's but in the meantime it will be fun trying this recipe out again and again.  You'll need a fairly big freezer space for this cake.  We have an extra one in our basement so that was easy.  It's also a time consuming recipe because you need to chill the white chocolate ganache before you spread it and then chill the chocolate cake layers before you arrange them around the perimeter and then the whole cake needs to be frozen before you top it with the whipped cream right before you serve it.  I had lots of time but for me the hardest part was getting the right size pans.  I didn't have a 15 1/2-by-10 1/2 inch jelly-roll pan for the side cake layers but they had one at Target so I ordered it online and picked it up in 2 hours.  (I love online shopping!)  If I would have used my bigger sheet pan, I'd have too much cake and it would have been too thin.  I also did not have a 10-inch springform pan.  Mine is 9-inch, as are all the rest of the springform pans at every store around here.  Amazon.com has them, of course, but I didn't have time to wait 2 days for delivery.  Bruce was out shopping on Saturday so he looked at a few places and found a 9 1/2-inch size at Bed, Bath and Beyond.  It was still a little too small but it was an easy fix in the recipe.  I had fun experimenting with making this cake and watched the video a few times but I still have lots of tips to add to my recipe.  Since you freeze it, it is easy to trim off lopsided portions if they don't turn out exactly proportional as you'll see in my recipe.  This might seem like a high difficulty recipe but it is easy to fix or adjust steps so it turns out impressive even if you mess up like I did.  Another tricky part was serving it.  It's easier if you let it sit about  5 minutes to soften up so it's easier to cut but we were afraid it would melt too fast so tried to serve it right away.  I depends how hot it is outside, I guess, but it wasn't that hot this evening.  It would be fun to try other ice cream flavors inside the cake, too.  I used just plain chocolate but other favorite flavors would be good like rocky road, cookies and cream, etc.  It was really good with coffee.  Nick suggested a light brewed coffee goes really well with this cake, not a strong, dark, bold brew.  The cake itself has so many rich flavors with the white chocolate ganache, the rich, decadent dark chocolate cake and then the luscious chocolate ice cream that the coffee compliments it all really well.  Our dinner was Lauren's favorite of Teriyaki Flank Steak, macaroni salad, a fruit salad and a green salad.  It was an everybody-cleaned-their-plate kind of dinner, including the grand finale ice cream cake.  If you still have a special occasion coming up this summer and are experiencing extreme heat where you live, as is a lot of the country, then I would recommend this dessert.  It's sure to be a refreshing treat for everyone and a lot of fun to make.  You'll be sure to get a lot of oohs and aahs when you bring this cake out. 

Makes one 9-inch cake

Cake

unsalted butter, room temperature, for pans

3/4 cup unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder, plus more for pans

1-1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

1-1/2 cups sugar

1-1/2 tsp. baking soda

3/4 tsp. baking powder

3/4 tsp. kosher salt

2 large eggs, room temperature

3/4 cup buttermilk, room temperature

3 Tbsp. oil

1 tsp. pure vanilla extract

3/4 cup warm water

White Chocolate Ganache

12 ounces white chocolate such as Bakers brand, chopped into small pieces.  If you use chocolate chips, use a good brand such as Ghirardelli brand.  (Using chocolate chips for ganache may result in a grainy consistency because they are a cheaper form of chocolate.)

2 quarts chocolate ice cream, softened

1 cup lightly sweetened whipped cream

milk chocolate shavings, for serving

Cake:

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Butter a 9-inch round cake pan (2 inches deep); line with parchment. Butter parchment, then dust with cocoa, tapping out excess.  Repeat process with a 15 1/2-by-10 1/2-inch jelly-roll pan.  

2.  In the bowl of a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat together cocoa, flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder and salt on low speed until just combined.  

3.  Add eggs, buttermilk, oil, and vanilla; beat to combine. Add water; increase speed to medium and beat until smooth, about 3 minutes. 

4.  Transfer 1 cup batter to prepared cake pan.

5.  Transfer remaining  batter to prepared jelly-roll pan, spreading both batters evenly with an offset spatula.  

6.  Bake until set and a tester inserted into centers come out clean, 12 -14 minutes.

7.  Transfer pans to a wire rack and let cool 15 minutes.  Invert cakes from pans; reinvert onto rack and let cool completely. 

Make the white chocolate ganache:

8.  Place white chocolate in a medium bowl.  I used Ghirardelli white chocolate chips to avoid the extra step of chopping up the chocolate.  

9.  Heat cream in a small saucepan over medium heat.  Do not use the microwave, as it does not heat evenly.  Pour over chocolate.

10.  Gently stir with a spatula until the chocolate is fully melted and incorporated into the warm cream.   Cover and refrigerate until set but still spreadable, about 1 hour.  If ganache is too firm, let stand at room temperature or beat with a mixer until softened. 

11.  Top the rectangular cake with ganache; spread evenly to edges.  

 12.  Cut cake evenly into quarters; stack on top of one another, gently pressing down to adhere layers.  (You can see mine wasn't totally even but you can fix that later...)

13.  Cover and refrigerate 30 minutes.  

14.  Using a ruler, cut cake lengthwise into 1-inch-wide strips, then cut each strip in half (they should be about 3 1/2 to 4 inches tall). 

15.  Transfer 9-inch cake to a 10-inch springform pan.  If you didn't have a 10-inch springform pan, then cut away 1" around the perimeter of the cake so there is a gap between the cake and side of the pan.   

16.  Place cake strips around perimeter of the cake, flush with edge of pan.  

17.  Spread ice cream over cake in pan.  You'll need to soften it first so you can spread it.  As it softens, stir it briskly so it gets soft and spreadable 

18.  Cover cake and freeze over night.  

19.  Just before serving, remove cake from freezer, unlatch the springform pan, remove cake, and top with whipped cream.

20.  Garnish with chocolate shavings on top.  

Tips:  If any of the cake strips on the sides look uneven, you can easily slice off the tops for a more even look.

Before serving, let soften slightly for ease in slicing through the ice cream. 

Enjoy your ice cream cake!