Presenter of Channel 4’s Food Unwrapped and Great British Bake-Off alumnus Briony shares a fun seasonal treat to make at home
This cake is so enjoyable to make and screams summer. I have always wanted to do my very own melted ice cream cake so lock-down seemed like the ideal opportunity to give it a try.
It is easier to create than it looks. Have fun with it, change up your colours if you like, and savour the joy on people’s faces when you present them with this impressive showstopper!
Melted Ice Cream Cake
Ingredients
For the sponge:
300g unsalted butter, softened
300g golden caster sugar
300g self-raising flour
6 medium eggs
2 tbsp confetti sprinkles
For the icing:
250g unsalted butter, softened
500g icing sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
Splash of milk
Blue gel food colouring
For the drip:
Bag of yellow candy melts
Confetti sprinkles
For the ice cream:
100g sponge cake (you can use the offcuts when you trim the sponges)
2 tbsp blue icing
Ice cream cone
Method
- Heat the oven to 170°C fan/190°C. Grease and line three six-inch round tins.
- Make the sponges. Beat the butter and sugar together until pale and smooth. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing between each one. Add the flour and mix in well with a metal spoon. Add the sprinkles and mix to combine. Divide the batter between the cake tins. Bake for 25-30 minutes until a skewer comes out clean. Leave to cool.
- Make the icing. Beat the butter until pale and fluffy. Add the icing sugar and beat for a few minutes until smooth (you may need to add a splash of milk to loosen it up). Add the vanilla extract and gel food colouring and mix until combined.
- When the sponges are cooled, level the tops with a serrated knife (save the offcuts for later). Place the first sponge on the plate, add a large dollop of icing and smooth. Repeat with the next sponge. Flip the last sponge so that the bottom becomes the top (this gives you a nice flat top to your cake). Cover the cake with icing and smooth using a cake scraper or palette knife – this is your crumb coat. Pop the cake in the fridge for 30 minutes to chill.
- Use the remaining icing (set aside two tablespoons for the ‘scoop’) to cover the cake and smooth as much as possible. Put it back in the fridge for 20 minutes.
- While the cake is chilling, make the ice cream ‘scoop’. Break up the offcuts into crumbs in a bowl and add a tablespoon of icing. Use your hands to knead the crumbs and icing together to make a smooth dough. Mould into an ice cream scoop-sized ball then gently flatten one side so that it sits on the cake.
- Heat the candy melts as instructed on the packet until smooth. Retrieve the cake from the fridge and place the ‘scoop’ on the top of the cake – press it down gently to keep it in place. Using a teaspoon, place a small amount of the candy melts on the top of the cake near the edge (start on the back so you get the hang of it before you do the front). Tease the melts over the edge of the cake using the teaspoon then let gravity take over to create the drip effect. Repeat around the rest of the cake then fill in the middle and cover the ‘scoop’. You may need to reheat the candy melts as you go as they set quickly.
- Shake over the confetti sprinkles then place your cone on top of the ‘scoop’.
Follow Briony on Twitter and Instagram
- Meet Ethan Pocic’s wife Heather as Jeffree Star tweet continues to puzzle
- Michael McKean aka ‘Lenny’ of Laverne & Shirley pays tribute to Cindy Williams
- Is the Sean Payton movie on Netflix? Where to stream Home Team
- Who is Henry Anderson’s wife Saryn? Jeffree Star tweet sends fans Googling
- Who is OussiFooty? Age, real name and nationality of TikTok footballer