strawberry ice cream cake

Please tell me you remember those Good Humor strawberry shortcake ice cream bars.

When I was in elementary school I rarely bought lunch, and not because my mom packed it for me (she quit doing that when we were barely out of kindergarten- too much complaining about her selections). I just never got very excited about what they were offering- perhaps with the exception of dinosaur chicken nuggets.

But I ALWAYS wanted to buy ice cream. It should come as no surprise that I’ve had sweet teeth forever and always. And while strawberry ice cream wasn’t my first choice (I was a maximizer of all things chocolate and peanut butter) those ice cream bars were so so good.

I think ice cream was 45 cents (why not an even 50?) and I remember it was a huge deal when someone’s mom would come to lunch and buy ice cream for the whole table. Three dollars and you look like a total hero.

They probably don’t let parents do that anymore. But you can be a hero by making this spin-off cake and serving it to all of your friends! And depending on how much of a homemaker you want to be, it can all be store bought and smashed together a la Sandra Lee, or you can do it all from scratch.

Strawberry Ice Cream Cake

1 white cake

1/2 carton strawberry ice cream

vanilla frosting

freeze-dried strawberries

I made Andie Mitchell’s white cake recipe, but I never have cake flour so I used this method from Joy the Baker. Yes I really sifted it 5 times.

You could totally use a boxed white or yellow cake mix here, or any other cake recipe.

Then you slice the cake in half so you have two thinner rounds. Place one on the bottom and load it up with strawberry ice cream, then put the other cake half on top. If you want to be really fancy you can do multiple layers of cake and ice cream.

And maybe you also make your own strawberry ice cream from scratch, in which case you probably don’t read this D-list food blog.

Wrap the edges in foil or plastic wrap and let this set up in the freezer. Right before you’re ready to serve, cover with vanilla frosting. Again, you can make this from scratch or buy a container of it at the store. No judgment.

Next is the topping that makes us reminisce about those Good Humor bars. Freeze dried strawberries!

I found these packages at Wegmans for 99 cents (I used two) but I was totally prepared to buy a box of Special K Red Berries and just pick out the berries.

ISN’T IT PRETTY?!

If you want to be super legit you could also crunch up some extra cake crumbs or even Nilla Wafers with the strawberries on top. Hindsight is 20/20 here. But I’m pretty happy with how it turned out, and my dinner company really enjoyed it as well.