Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream Cake

By Ali Slagle

Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream Cake
Linda Xiao for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Barrett Washburne.
Total Time
30 minutes, plus at least 2 hours’ freezing
Rating
4(1,075)
Comments
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With just a 9-by-13 pan, a spoon and four store-bought ingredients, you can make an ice cream cake that’s creamy, crunchy and fudgy in every bite. It starts with crushed chocolate-mint cookies that are covered with mint chocolate chip ice cream. Next, it’s topped with a layer of ice cream sandwiches, with their cakey cookies and vanilla ice cream. Follow that with more mint chip ice cream, and you’ve made a six-layer cake without breaking a sweat. Feel free to experiment here: Swap out the mint cookies for snickerdoodles, pretzels or broken waffle cones, and the mint-chip ice cream for coffee, peanut butter or strawberry ice cream — or any combination that sounds good to you. Slice the cake into pieces big or small, then drizzle them with hot fudge or Magic Shell. This cake serves a crowd, but you can halve the ingredients and build it in an 8-by-8-inch pan for a smaller group.

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Ingredients

Yield:One 9-by-13-inch cake (15 to 18 servings)
  • 2cups coarsely crushed crisp chocolate-mint or chocolate cookies (about 10 ounces)
  • 2(1.5-quart) cartons or 6 pints mint chocolate chip ice cream
  • 12full-size rectangular ice cream sandwiches
  • Store-bought or homemade hot fudge sauce or Magic Shell, for serving
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (18 servings)

272 calories; 10 grams fat; 5 grams saturated fat; 1 gram monounsaturated fat; 1 gram polyunsaturated fat; 40 grams carbohydrates; 1 gram dietary fiber; 31 grams sugars; 6 grams protein; 167 milligrams sodium

Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.

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Preparation

  1. Step 1

    Line a 9-by-13-inch pan with two layers of plastic wrap, leaving a few inches of overhang on all sides. Open all of the ice cream containers. Place one 1½ quart (or 3 pints) on the counter and let soften until it resembles thick cake batter, 5 to 10 minutes; you’ll use this ice cream first. Place the other containers in the refrigerator to soften while you build the first half of the cake. (Ice cream will reach the desired consistency in the refrigerator in 20 to 30 minutes.)

  2. Step 2

    Scatter the crushed cookies in a thin, even layer across the bottom of the pan. Spoon the first softened container of ice cream over the cookies and spread into an even layer. Press down as you go to adhere the ice cream to the cookies. If at any point the ice cream is melting to liquid, pop the cake and ice cream in the freezer to firm to a spoonable consistency.

  3. Step 3

    Place the pan in the freezer while you unwrap the sandwiches. Top the ice cream with a layer of ice cream sandwiches, cutting some as needed to fill the layer to the edges.

  4. Step 4

    Spoon the remaining ice cream over the top and spread into an even layer. Cover with plastic wrap and freeze until firm, at least 2 hours or up to 1 week.

  5. Step 5

    To serve, use the plastic overhang to remove the cake from the pan. Cut into squares or rectangles and serve with a drizzle of hot fudge or Magic Shell. If you’re finding the cake too solid to cut, don’t wait for it to soften: Warm your knife by running it under hot water and wiping it dry between cuts.

Ratings

4 out of 5
1,075 user ratings
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Comments

Dave

This was great. Family and friends loved it. Another reviewer disparaged it as being from a mom blog. Well, it would be from an awesome mom blog. A recipe doesn’t have to be pretentious to be good.

ellen

Oh please get over yourself! No need to disparage. Just look and move on. This is a great recipe to make with kids...who are not making the fancier stuff here. Lighten up and realize that cooking does not always have to be high level technique.

PV

I needed to make something easy for a neighborhood party on a hot, humid evening. Not being a mint fan, I opted for the alternatives suggested. Crushed pretzels for base, praline pecan ice cream next, the ice cream sandwiches as directed, topped by Mackinac Island fudge ice cream. I used a Ghirardelli chocolate topping and added kahlua for the grown ups. The neighbors were delighted. Mine was in the freezer 3 hours but just an hour more would have helped.

ChristineMDB

I am 70 and have made a lot of recipes. This one ranks solidly in the top 5 of the ones that have received the highest raves! From all ages! Who woulda thunk it?

Great, flexible recipe

Both kids have requested this for their bdays. Assembles great and scales up and down easily. A great recipe.

Ro

I won a dessert competition with this yesterday! Everything was Aldi brand, mint striped cookies, sandwiches and two cartons of mint choc ice cream. Note, Aldi brand mint ice cream is not green, it is white. I did use bottled choc sauce for the drizzle, so it looked a little thin on the design but still turned out great. I'm excited to try variations of this in the future.

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