Homemade Birthday Cake Ice Cream
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Fun and sweet, this birthday cake ice cream is an honest-to-goodness dream boat in a cone. It tastes like a frozen, creamy, insanely delicious cake batter.
I’m a big fan of birthday cake ice cream – it tastes nostalgic and reminds me of being a kid. When developing this recipe, I used store-bought cake mix to add flavor, and it worked perfectly. There is no mistaking the birthday cake flavor!
Key ingredients
Some of these ingredients might make you raise an eyebrow, but have faith that this ice cream will satisfy every ice cream dream you’ve ever had!
- Cornstarch: This is one of the ingredients that isn’t super common in homemade ice cream, however, it really helps keep the ice cream nice and creamy.
- Heavy cream: This is also known as heavy whipping cream and the high fat content makes the ice cream creamy and rich. It also enhances the vanilla flavor.
- Cream cheese: Another interesting inclusion for an ice cream recipe, cream cheese helps give a super, silky smooth texture.
- White cake mix: You’ll incorporate the cake mix right before you refrigerate the ice cream. You can use store-bought, boxed cake mix for this recipe to keep things easy. If you have yellow bake mix on hand, it can be used instead, however, the color may be slightly different than what’s pictured here.
How to make homemade birthday cake ice cream
No ice cream maker? No problem! ⇢ If you don’t have an ice cream maker, follow the instructions in my No Churn Ice Cream recipe post.
Watch how to make homemade birthday cake ice cream
Birthday Cake Ice Cream Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 cups whole milk
- 1 ½ tablespoons cornstarch
- 1 ¼ cups heavy cream
- ⅓ cup sugar
- A pinch sea salt
- 3 tablespoons cream cheese
- 1 ½ cups white cake mix
- Optional: sprinkles
Instructions
- In a small bowl mix two tablespoons of the milk with the cornstarch and it set aside.2 cups whole milk, 1 ½ tablespoons cornstarch
- In a large saucepan over medium-high heat add the remaining milk, cream, sugar, and sea salt. Bring it to a boil then add the cream cheese. Stir it until the cream cheese has fully melted, about 4 minutes. Add the cornstarch mixture to the pot and let it boil for 1 minute.1 ¼ cups heavy cream, ⅓ cup sugar, A pinch sea salt, 3 tablespoons cream cheese
- Remove the pot from the heat, whisk in the white cake mix, then refrigerate until completely it's cold, at least 4 hours.1 ½ cups white cake mix
- Process the ice cream according to your ice cream maker manufacturer's instructions.
- Transfer the ice cream to a freezer-proof container then freeze until it's firm, about 4 hours. (You can eat it right away, but it will be very soft.) Top with sprinkles and enjoy!Optional: sprinkles
Video
Notes
Nutrition
We have thoroughly tested this recipe for accuracy. However, individual results may vary. See our full recipe disclosure here.
Toppings and decorations for birthday cake ice cream
This is possibly the best part of this ice cream! You can go to town and get really creative with how you want to decorate or top your homemade ice cream. Here are some ideas to get your creative juices flowing:
- Rainbow sprinkles
- Whip cream
- Chocolate sauce
- A sprinkling of birthday cake popcorn
- Crumbled cake or cookies, like Oreos or Golden Oreos
- If you’re a peanut fan, try adding some chopped honey roasted peanuts on top
- Consider making birthday cake ice cream sandwiches. Place your ice cream between two cookies! Yum!
This recipe is amazing! I’m a blessed Traumatic Brain Injury survivor, and my Dad would sneak this to me when I was in a coma with half my skull in a freezer! It is RIDICULOUS
Wow—what an incredible and powerful story. I’m so honored this recipe played even a small part in such a huge journey. You’re truly amazing, and I’m sending so much love to you and your dad. Thank you for sharing this—it means more than you know. ❤️
Eating raw flour can make you sick. To make this recipe safe,
How do you make raw cake mix safe to eat?
The trick is to just microwave the flour and cake mix to 160°F, to kill off anything that can make you sick so it’s safe to eat raw.
I make the recipe as is, but then I’ll also eat half the cookie dough batter before it bakes into cookies. But if it worries you, we have instructions in our cookie dough cake pops recipe about how to heat treat flour. It should work well with cake batter, too.
Could this recipe be used with different flavours of cake mix?
Yes, I think you could definitely try other flavors!
I made this for my daughter’s 6th birthday and she loved it! It’s so fun and girly and tasty too. Thanks for helping me make her birthday a success!
What do you mean by “Process according to manufacturers instructions.” ???
Sorry it wasn’t completely clear. What I meant was to follow the instructions given with your ice cream maker. With mine I just plug it in and let it run for about 25 minutes. Yours may be different though so make sure to read and follow the instructions for your specific ice cream maker ?
omg i absolutely dig cake batter ice cream. never thought to make it with cake mix! thanks for this recipe 🙂
Hey Jojo,
No problem at all!!
Thank you so much!! Your comment made me smile 🙂