Homemade Ice Cream Cake

This year I discovered that I had a great interest in cooking and baking. I decided to have fun in the kitchen one Saturday morning and create this wonderful cake. It wasn't as hard as I thought it was going to be. It just took all morning and part of the afternoon. I was impressed by the outcome. The ice cream in the middle layer remained firm and the cake with the butter cream frosting couldn't have turned out any better! It was perfect! I plan on make more ice cream cakes in the future, just other flavors of course.

Ingredients:

For the Cake
Vanilla cake mix

For the Ice Cream
1 1/2 cups whole milk
1 cup heavy cream
1 can (13.4 oz) of Nestle Dulce de Leche (Caramel)
1/8 tsp vanilla extract

For the Butter Cream Frosting

1/3 cup whole milk
1 stick unsalted butter, softened
4 cups powdered sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla extract

Directions:

For the cake: Preheat the oven to 350˚ F.  Butter and flour two round cake pans. Follow the directions on the back of the box for making the cake. Divide the batter into the two round pans. Bake until the cakes are golden and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let the cakes cool completely before frosting.

For the ice cream: Bring milk and heavy cream just to a boil in a saucepan over medium heat. Remove from heat and whisk in the dulce de leche until dissolved. Whisk in the vanilla extract and transfer to a bowl. Chill the mixture in the refrigerator for 30 minutes. Freeze in an ice cream maker for 25 minutes. Transfer the ice cream to an airtight container and put in the freezer to harden for at least 1 hour. (If you don't have an ice cream maker you can use store bought.)

For the frosting: Beat sugar, salt, butter, and milk with electric mixer at low speed until well blended and smooth. Add the vanilla.

To assemble the cake: Place one of the cake layers on a serving platter.  Top with a thick layer of the ice cream and smooth with a flat knife.  Cover with the remaining cake layer.  Frost the top of the cake with the butter cream frosting (add sprinkles if you want). Fill in the sides of the cake with more of the caramel ice cream (This part was the hardest for me. The ice cream started to melt as I was adding it to the sides). Cover lightly with foil and place in the freezer until ready to serve.

Source: daliasdelights original