Red Velvet Cake Ice Cream – Creamy vanilla ice cream is swirled with real red velvet cake pieces and cream cheese icing
And just like that, National Ice Cream Month is coming to an end. I cannot believe the end of summer is upon us. School starts on Monday! Ahhh! But before we worry about that, let us enjoy one last ice cream recipe, shall we?
Today’s recipe is for an indulgent mix of red velvet cake, cream cheese icing, and frozen vanilla custard. It hits the spot in so many ways and will satisfy any customer. I love the creaminess of the ice cream, intermixed with the chunks of luscious cake and icing. It’s an ice cream you don’t want to miss!
Before we get to the recipe, let’s look at some more photos of this gorgeous ice cream.
How is this ice cream made?
The process of making this ice cream is super simple. All you’re doing is making a custard, freezing it, and then layering it with cake pieces and homemade cream cheese icing. To make the process even easier, I used a boxed cake mix to make the cake. You can even buy a slice of cake from your local bakery if you don’t want to make your own.
Making the custard
The process of making frozen custard is pretty simple. First, you heat the milk and sugar just before a simmer. It’s then gently and slowly whisked into egg yolks. The mixture is then placed back on the stove to heat again, which causes the yolks to thicken. This part requires a lot of attention because you don’t want the eggs to get too hot too fast. I use a thermometer to make sure it doesn’t get warmer than 170 degrees – otherwise, the eggs will scramble.
Once the custard is thick, it’s removed from heat, transferred to a bowl sitting in an ice bath. This bowl has cold cream and the vanilla and almond extracts. It’s important for the bowl to be in an ice bath because it will help the custard cool back down before we place it in the fridge to chill.
Finally, the custard is covered and placed in the fridge to chill until super cold, about 4 hours.
Assembling the ice cream
Once the ice cream is cold, it’s ready to freeze in your ice cream machine. Use the instructions from your ice cream machine to guide this process. Once frozen, the ice cream is removed from the ice cream machine and layered in a large food storage container with pieces of red velvet cake. Before adding the cake, I mix it with cream cheese icing. Cream cheese icing is traditionally covering a red velvet layer cake so I wanted that flavor in this ice cream, as well.
Making the icing
The icing is simply made by whisking cream cheese, butter, powdered sugar, and vanilla. Make sure to get out all the lumps. Add in the cake pieces and mix together to form a moist mixture of cake. That mixture is then crumbled into the ice cream as you layer it into the storage container.
The assembled ice cream is covered and then placed in the freezer to get solid.
Tips and Tricks
- Monitor custard temperature. Do not cook the custard on anything higher than medium heat. This will ensure the mixture does not get too hot, which could force the eggs to curdle. Use a thermometer to ensure you cook just until 170 degrees.
- Red velvet cake. For the cake, you can use any red velvet cake you like. I made a boxed cake mix that I like but you can even buy a premade cake if you don’t want to make any cake yourself.
- Whisk icing. To ensure the cream cheese icing has zero lumps, use a whisk to combine it all together.
- Less is more. Don’t overload the ice cream with cake pieces. They will overwhelm the ice cream. Just sprinkle a few pieces when creating each layer of ice cream.
Red Velvet Cake Ice Cream
Ingredients
- 1 cup milk whole
- 2 cups heavy cream
- ¾ cup sugar
- ⅛ teaspoon salt
- 5 large egg yolks
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
Red velvet cake pieces:
- 1 ounce cream cheese softened
- ½ tablespoon butter melted
- ½ cup powdered sugar
- ⅛ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1½ cup red velvet cake pieces
Instructions
- Place milk, 1 cup of cream, sugar, and salt in a medium sauce pan. Heat until the mixture is steaming, but not boiling. Remove from heat.
- Add yolks to a medium bowl and very slowly whisk in warm milk. Transfer mixture back to saucepan and set over medium heat. Stir constantly until mixture thickens slightly and is 170 degrees. Remove from heat immediately so the mixture doesn't scramble.
- Place remaining heavy cream in a large bowl and place strainer over bowl. Pour thickened yolk mixture through strainer to remove lumps. Stir with cream. Add vanilla extract. Cover with plastic wrap.
- Chill mixture until completely cold, about 4-6 hours. Once chilled, ice cream base is ready for your machine. Freeze ice cream according to machine instructions. While the ice cream freezes, mix cream cheese, melted butter, powdered sugar, and vanilla extract together for the cream cheese frosting. Whisk to ensure there are no lumps. Add in red velvet cake pieces and mix to combine.
- Once mixture is frozen, place half of ice cream in a storage container. Crumble half of the cake mixture over the ice cream. Repeat layer of ice cream and the rest of the cake pieces. Cover and freeze ice cream until solid, about 8 hours.
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More recipes you’ll love:
Fudge Brownie Ice Cream
Wedding Cake Ice Cream
Birthday Cake Remix Ice Cream
Ugh, please don’t remind me about school starting on Monday! I am definitely clinging to the very last seconds of summer, and this indulgent recipe is the exact kind of emotional support ice cream I need right now. Baking the cake just to freeze it into custard is pure genius.
You had me at real red velvet cake pieces and cream cheese icing! Such a fun dessert and the flavors sound fantastic.
Love at first sight! I love red velvet, but never had it in ice cream! This will be perfect for a baby shower we’re having next weekend! Thanks so much for the recipe 🙂
You had me at red velvet cake ! My two fave things cake and ice cream. I like how you’ve added the cream cheese and red velvet cake in layers, delicious.
Whoa! This ice cream is totally drool worthy and addictive. I can’t wait to dig into a big bowl!
Wow, I have never heard of red velvet cake ice cream before and now I need to try it!
Such a yummy clever idea! I need to try it
Oh wow! This is amazing! Moving up to top 1 on my to do list this weekend!