Red, White, and Blue Ice Cream Pound Cake
Red, White, and Blue Ice Cream Pound Cake- Store bought cake and ice cream is transformed into a colorful dessert perfect for celebrating the 4th of July.
July 2, 2023 by Nicole Collins
Today, we’re making Red, White, and Blue Ice Cream Pound Cake!
I’m not going to lie to you guys. This recipe almost didn’t make it to you. I hit roadblock after roadblock after roadblock with this one. But I knew it was a winner, so I refused to give up on it. And, the final result is a colorful treat just in time for July 4th celebrations.
This recipe doesn’t take much skill. This recipe doesn’t use a lot of ingredients. But, this recipe does require some time. The grocery store is doing most of the heavy lifting for us as far as the base ingredients go. However, we’re going to melt and refreeze some ice cream a couple times, so the biggest ingredient in this recipe is patience.
We’ll start with a store bought pound frozen pound cake. We want to use a Sara Lee family sized pound cake, and we’re going to slice it lengthwise into 4 equal slices. It helps to do this when the cake is straight from the freezer and is still firm. And, it also helps to use a serrated knife. I like to take the cake, rest it on its side, slice through the center, then slice each half through the center again. If you go crooked or break any pieces, that’s ok. We can hide it with ice cream in the pan. But, do your best to carefully and evenly slice the cake as well as you can.
For our ice cream, we’ll start with some softened vanilla ice cream. You can either let the whole carton of ice cream sit on the counter for about 30 mins before scooping it, or you can scoop your ice cream into bowl and microwave each bowl for a few seconds. Both work, but ultimately we’re looking for ice cream that we can mix and spread.
We’re going to use a special ingredient to give our ice cream both a little color and a little flavor. Jello! Never would I ever think I’d voluntarily buy a box of Jello mix. But, you know what? It was the perfect thing to get red and blue coloring with subtle berry undertones into our cake. We’ll beat the Jello mix into our ice cream which is going to completely melt the ice cream. Then, we’ll pop the ice cream back in the freezer for a few minutes to thicken back up. Now, the Jello adds beautiful, bright coloring to the ice cream. But if you want to deepen or enhance the color even more, add a drop of food coloring to the bowl before you mix it.
After our colored ice cream has had a chance to set back up, it’s time to layer our cake together. We’ll line a loaf pan with plastic wrap, alternate pound cake and ice cream layers, wrap the cake tightly in plastic wrap, and pop it into the freezer for 5 hours to set.
To finish our cake (and hide any imperfections in our cake), we’re going to make a homemade whipped cream to schmear all over the cake. All we need is some heavy cream, some powdered sugar, and some vanilla extract. We’ll beat them together until the whipped cream is stable, pop our cake out of the pan, schmear the cake all over with our whipped cream, and pop it back in the freezer for one more hour so it can set.
When it’s time to serve, we can slice up our cake and dig in. The layers of ice cream in the cake are thin, but they’re just enough to add a nice coolness to the rich and buttery cake. The whipped cream thickens up but still has a fluffy decadence to it. And the hidden Jello adds the slightest berry notes to the ice cream that brings the whole thing together. And not to mention, it’s beautiful!
Alright, everyone. I hope to see these on your July 4th tables this year. Make sure you tag me on socials when you make this!
I hope you guys enjoy, have a happy and safe holiday, and let’s eat!
Red, White, and Blue Ice Cream Pound Cake
Serves: 10 Print
Ingredients:
1 frozen Sara Lee Family Size Pound Cake (16 oz)
9 scoops (2 ¼ cups) vanilla ice cream, softened
½ tbsp berry blue Jello mix
½ tbsp strawberry Jello mix
1 cup heavy cream
¼ cup powdered sugar
½ tsp vanilla extract
Red and blue food coloring, optional
Sprinkles, for decorating
Directions:
Line a 9x5 loaf pan with plastic wrap, leaving extra wrap hanging over the sides. Set aside.
Use a serrated knife to slice pound cake in half horizontally (through the center lengthwise). Carefully slice each half in half lengthwise again so you end up with 4 thin slabs of cake.
To a mixing bowl, add 3 scoops (3/4 cups) ice cream. Add berry blue jello mix and one drop of blue food coloring, if using. Use a hand mixer to beat the ice cream on medium speed until fully combined. Place bowl of melted ice cream in the freezer for 30 mins.
To a second mixing bowl, add 3 scoops (3/4 cups) ice cream. Add strawberry jello mix and one drop of red food coloring, if using. Use a hand mixer to beat the ice cream on medium speed until fully combined. Place bowl of melted ice cream in the freezer for 30 mins.
Layer bottom slice of cake in prepared baking pan. Top with blue ice cream, spreading it evenly over the surface of the cake. Top with second layer of cake. Spread 3 scoops of softened vanilla ice cream over the surface of the cake. Top with third cake layer. Spread red ice cream evenly over the surface of the cake. Top with final cake layer. Use overhang of plastic wrap to tightly wrap the sides and top of the cake. Freeze for 5 hours.
Add 1 cup heavy cream to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Beat for 1-2 mins on high speed until soft peaks form. Add powdered sugar and vanilla. Beat for another 30 seconds- 1 min on high speed until soft peaks form.
Remove cake from freezer, lift the cake out of the pan, remove the plastic wrap, and transfer it to a serving platter. Working quickly, cover the top and sides of the cake with whipped cream. Top with sprinkles, if desired. Place back in the freezer for one hour.
To serve, slice cake into 10 slices. Enjoy immediately!
Recipe notes:
*To soften your ice cream, you can let the whole container sit on the counter for about 30 mins. Or you can put each bowl of ice cream in the microwave for 10-20 seconds to soften the ice cream.
*Since we’re cutting the cake into pretty thin slices, it helps to do it when the cake is straight from the freezer. If you go a little crooked or break the cake, that’s ok. We can use the ice cream to help glue it together in the pan.
*The red and blue ice cream will still be pretty soft when you take it out of the freezer the first time. That’s ok. We just need it to have a little body to it so it doesn’t spill out as we add layers to the pan.
*It’s ok if the cake is a little lopsided or has ice cream that came out through the sides. We’re going to hide all of the imperfections with whipped cream.
*To make the whipped cream look pretty, use the back of a spoon to create little swirls in the whipped cream. It doesn’t need to be perfect!
*The food coloring is optional. It helps to deepen the red and blue colors, but they’ll still be plenty colorful without it.
