18 Ice Cream Cakes Ranked Worst To Best
Ice cream and cake. Is there truly a better pair of desserts to treat yourself to for a birthday party, celebration, or just because? Let's be honest: we'd be lying to ourselves if we didn't love a little cake and ice cream while we binge our favorite Netflix shows. When it comes to desserts, most agree that it's pretty tough to top cake and ice cream — even with a cherry. You might be thinking to yourself: What could possibly be better than ice cream and cake? Cake ice cream? No, while we love cake batter ice cream, we were thinking more along the lines of a cold, sweet ice cream cake.
An ice cream cake is typically made by replacing most of the internal frosting of a normal cake with ice cream. You start with a layer of cake, and then add ice cream! If you want to add more layers, then you add more cake, add more ice cream, and repeat the process. Once you have enough, you add some frosting to the cake's exterior, and then you have yourself an ice cream cake! You've likely seen some ice cream cakes in stores or ice cream shops, and may have even considered getting one for your next birthday. With so many ice cream cakes available, perhaps you're feeling a bit confused, and struggling to make a dessert choice. Have no fear! We've listed out 10 different ice cream cake offerings, and ranked them all from worst to best.
18. H-E-B Vanilla and Chocolate Ice Cream Cakes
While we love a vibrant, beautiful ice cream cake, we'd rather have a funny-looking treat that tastes delicious instead of a pretty cake that just tastes kind of "meh." Centered in Texas, and with hundreds of stores in the state, at the H-E-B grocery chain, you can find ice cream cakes in three different flavors: vanilla, chocolate, and cookies and cream. The vanilla and chocolate ice cream cakes are depicted as being covered with a sunny yellow frosting, decorated with bold purple, pink, and blue adornments.
These cakes look pretty enough, but when it comes to taste, these cakes were not up to our expectations. The standard chocolate and vanilla cakes have a single layer of ice cream, and two layers of cake underneath the bright-colored frosting. Of the cakes we tried, the cake to ice cream ratio was unbalanced, leaving us wanting more ice cream in the cake. You also have to be careful of the frosting possibly staining your clothes, tongue, and teeth. This cake may have reminded us of a pretty spring dessert, but we were looking for tasty over pretty, and this cake did not deliver.
17. Friendly's Premium Ice Cream Cake
It's impossible to miss the bright red packaging of a Friendly's ice cream cake in the supermarket. This ice cream brand has a rich history to it, being created by two brothers at the peak of the Great Depression, and according to the brand's website, was the first ice cream sold by a half-gallon ice cream package, so that customers could bring it home. However, though Friendly's has an inspiring history, it's Premium Ice Cream Cakes aren't as inspiring to taste. These cakes are easy to find in stores, and are branded as having a layer of chocolate ice cream, a layer of vanilla ice cream, and a crunchy layer of something that seems like a crumbled cookie or cake in between.
Friendly's cake has a small frosting exterior, which is a plus if you prefer Ice cream over frosting. However, the crumbled cookie-cake layer, while branded as being decently sized, was almost absent from the cake itself, resulting in just two large layers of chocolate and vanilla ice cream covered by a thin layer of frosting. Target reviews also back up this claim, with some customers having the same problem that we found. If this is what we had wanted, then we would have just made ourselves a chocolate and vanilla ice cream sundae at home.
16. Signature Select Chocolate and Vanilla (Safeway)
If you've browsed the bakery section of Safeway, then you've likely seen Signature Select's Ice cream cakes. Safeway is one of the stores owned by Albertsons Companies, which since the 1860s has grown to own popular brands and grocery chains such as Lucerne Dairy Farms, and of course, Signature Select. There are more Ice cream cake flavors with Signature than the previous entry, including chocolate, vanilla, and cookies and cream, along with two others that are further down this list.
While Safeway's ice cream cakes come in more flavors than other store-bought cakes, most of the ice cream cakes leave much to be desired. The chocolate, vanilla, and cookies and cream flavors are double-layered cakes, though you wouldn't be able to tell at first, thanks to their size. These cakes have thinner layers of both cake and ice cream that left us wanting more cake and ice cream. When we want an ice cream cake, we go big or go home, but this ice cream cake made us want to leave Safeway and go home.
15. H-E-B's Cookies and Cream Ice Cream Cake
Following its chocolate and vanilla ice cream cakes is H-E-B's Cookies and Cream Ice Cream Cake. This cake can be found with other desserts in H-E-B's and stands out with its cookies and cream flavored ice cream in the center, mashed between two layers of chocolate cake. The cake is coated in an Oreo icing, and topped with a chocolate drizzle, large dollops of Oreo frosting, and eight Oreo cookies.
The Oreo cake looks and tastes like your average Oreo cookie-themed ice cream cake, and unlike its chocolate and vanilla variations, we appreciated the greater amount of ice cream in this ice cream cake. However, we've had far better ice cream cakes from other stores, and compared to other ice cream brands such as Ben and Jerry's or Carvel, this cake wasn't anything too special. If you want a great dessert, you don't have to drive all the way to a H-E-B in Texas to try this cake, and we suggest you look elsewhere.
14. Signature Select Mixed Berry and Moose Tracks Ice Cream Cakes (Safeway)
The other two Signature Select ice cream cakes that made this list were "Mixed Berry," and "Moose Tracks," flavors that are sold with the brand's other three flavors. The Mixed Berry flavor is a dessert made with a berry ice cream filling, and a graham cracker-y crust on the bottom. It's Moose Track variation is a chocolate crumble base, and is filled with a peanut butter cup ice cream. It is also topped with a thicker layer of vanilla frosting, and has peanut butter cups and a chocolate drizzle on the top.
The Moose Track and Berry ice cream cakes are a bit bigger and have way more ice cream than the chocolate and vanilla flavors, but they reminded us more of cheesecake made with ice cream instead of an ice cream cake. We preferred the Moose Tracks flavor, and liked the peanut butter cups on top, though the peanut butter cups in the ice cream weren't as numerous. This isn't helped by the fact that there is no actual cake in this dessert, which isn't always a detriment, but when you're going up against ice cream cakes made by world-famous ice cream creators, it might help to have something else going for you as a frozen treat.
13. Marketside Unicorn Ice Cream Cake (Walmart)
When you see the colors of blue and yellow set together, it's difficult not to think of a Walmart. Walmart is one of the largest chains of retail department stores around, so it should come as no surprise that you'll find some ice cream cakes in their frozen desserts section. Under the "Marketside," label (which you'll find on many of Walmart's bakery, deli, and other products they sell in stores,) they offer numerous flavors, including chocolate, vanilla, and a beautiful pink and blue Unicorn Cake Batter. These ice cream cakes were less expensive than other cakes on this list, being offered at around $15 per round cake.
We didn't have the same problem with these cakes as we had with the previous ice cream desserts. There was a fair amount of ice cream and cake in this single-layered treat, and a helpful amount of frosting decorating the top. Our favorites of the bunch was the Unicorn cake batter cake, the latter having a nice layer of confetti-vanilla cake on the bottom, a cake batter ice cream center, and a nice thick amount of purple frosting, and lots of sprinkles. The ice cream wasn't as tasty as other in-store brands you can find, but if you're a fan of lots of frosting on your desserts, you might enjoy this cake. If not, you might want to pass on this colorful Walmart ice cream cake.
12. Oreo Premium Ice Cream Cake
The next entry on this list is the Oreo Premium Ice Cream Cake, which can be found in various grocery stores, such as Harris Teeter, Target, and Walmart. Oreo cookies have become associated with the flavor of "cookie and cream," and it's impossible to think of the flavor of ice cream without imagining the small and addicting cream-filled cookies. The Oreo Premium Ice Cream Cake is a single-layered ice cream cake with vanilla ice cream and Oreo cookies throughout. The ice cream cake was also surrounded by a nice, white frosting, and topped with a giant Oreo cookie.
This cake is unique in the sense that it's essentially not cake and ice cream, but ice cream in the shape of a cake. There is absolutely no cake on this dessert — it's just ice cream surrounded by frosting. The ice cream itself was good, and tasted like a normal vanilla ice cream with Oreos. We liked the frosting as well, but the giant Oreo didn't do this treat any favors. Depending on how much you like the cake part of an ice cream cake, this may be your cake, but this was not one of the best store-bought cakes we tried.
11. Baskin Robbins Standard Roll Cake
Just because it's known for having 31 flavors of ice cream, that doesn't mean Baskin Robbins can't do ice cream cake! Like a few other popular Ice cream brands out there, Baskin Robbins has a plentiful selection of Ice cream pies, cakes and other treats to choose from. The first Baskin Robbins entry we have on this list is their Standard Roll Cake. This cake is customizable, so we tried it as it is shown on the website: a chocolate chip ice cream rolled into a "cake roll" by a layer of chocolate cake, topped with a layer of fudge, nuts, and cherries.
While we love Baskin Robbins ice cream, and the ice cream in this cake was great, this was our least favorite ice cream cake from the chain. Individually, nothing tastes bad. Once again, the ice cream was amazing, and the cake was decent, as well. What we struggled to enjoy was the shape. We can only imagine how difficult it is to try to make a roll out of Ice cream, but in doing so, trying to eat this cake was an interesting experience, with our forks and spoons sometimes picking up just cake or ice cream, as opposed to a balanced forkful. While this was by far from the worst cake we had, we'd rather get a different cake from the 31 Flavors.
10. Carvel's Fudgie the Whale Ice Cream Cake
This next cake was one of the more fun-looking cakes on the list. Carvel's Fudgie the Whale cake was a cute, chocolatey dessert that stood out on freezer shelves with its adorable whale shape and frosting smile. Carvel is known as "America's "first ice cream franchise," created by none other than Tom Carvel. The website describes this ice cream as having a lighter, creamy taste. With that in mind, this cake tasted just as great as it looked. The standard Carvel cake comes with two layers of vanilla and chocolate ice cream that are separated by a layer of "Crunchies", though these are customizable. With milk fudge and a whipped frosting, this cake gave us a whale of a time, and should make for a cool chocolate treat at a birthday party. Something we noticed, however, was that the fudge would often be cracked, and the "crunchy" middle was disproportionate throughout. Besides that, this cake is great for any sea-themed parties you want to plan!
9. Dairy Queen's Reese's Peanut Butter Cup Blizzard Cake
When it comes to ice cream, the Dairy Queen takes the crown for one of the best soft serve settings around. The first Dairy Queen opened in Illinois in the year 1940, and unlike other ice cream stores on this list, sells hot dogs, hamburgers, and fries along with its frosty sundaes and scoops. Browse the extensive menu long enough, and you'll find that Dairy Queen offers several cold ice cream cakes for any event. There are numerous ice cream cake flavors to choose from our favorite ice cream royalty, including the Reese's Peanut Butter Cup Blizzard Cake.
This peanut butter delight is coated in a frozen white frosting, and inside, a base layer of Dairy Queens soft serve ice cream. The cake also has a smaller layer of crunchy bits and fudge before being topped with a layer of Reese's Peanut Butter Cups Blizzard ice cream and the actual candy, finished with a drizzle of chocolate. This cake was great, and the peanut butter flavor was very prevalent, but was incredibly sweet, and paired nicely with the layer of fudge. The frosting was frozen, so a bit difficult to slice through, but other than that, a perfectly good peanut butter cake!
8. Cold Stone Creamery Ice Cream Midnight Delight Cake
Ah, Cold Stone Creamery. For over 30 years, this Ice cream chain has graced the U.S. with over 900 locations across the country. Ever since its first establishment in Arizona, Cold Stone has expanded, and offers a wide variety of different ice cream desserts, from cones, cakes, smoothies — even ice cream cupcakes! It would have been impossible for us not to talk about Cold Stone when we're talking about ice cream cakes. These ice cream experts have lots of flavor options to choose from when it comes to ice cream cakes, and even have an option to customize a cake of your own. One of the cakes that we tried from Cold Stone on this list was their Midnight Delight.
Is there such a thing as too much chocolate? The Midnight Delight is a cake made of layers of chocolate devil's food cake separated by fudge and chocolate ice cream. The cake is also coated in a fudge ganache, and topped with chocolate shavings. Don't get us wrong, we LOVE chocolate. However, when there's nothing to balance out the rich taste of the sweet, then it becomes extremely overpowering. If you're obsessed with chocolate, and think you can't ever get enough of it, this is the perfect cake for you. If you want something less rich, there are other Cold Stone ice cream cakes on this list that should fit your tastes.
7. Dairy Queen Oreo Blizzard Cake
This next cake from Dairy Queen fits right in with all of the other cookies and cream cakes on this list. Dairy Queen's Oreo Blizzard Cake. This cookie ice cream cake starts with a base of vanilla soft serve, the brand's signature "fudge and crunch center," and a second layer of Oreo Blizzard ice cream. The cake is then finished with some white frosting, a chocolate drizzle, and crumbled Oreo cookies on top. This cake serves 8-10 people, or just one person for 8-10 days, if you've got a sweet tooth.
This Oreo ice cream cake was creamy, crunchy, and the soft serve ice cream in the treat ironically takes the cake. Even though this wasn't our favorite Oreo ice cream cake, we do think this spectacular dessert has the best Oreo ice cream inside. The Oreo Blizzard is a staple to society, and only adding it to this ice cream cake heightened our experience. Our one critique is an issue that we had with other Dairy Queen cakes, which was the average, somewhat frozen layer of frosting that made the cake difficult to eat
6. Cold Stone Creamery Strawberry Passion Ice Cream Cake
You might be surprised to see a strawberry cake on this list, but here we have Cold Stone Creamery's Strawberry Passion Ice Cream Cake. This fruity dessert is made of two layers of Cold Stone's strawberry ice cream that's separated from two layers of red velvet cake by a strawberry puree. The cake is topped with a soft, pink-colored strawberry frosting, a graham cracker crust, and topped with actual strawberries. We know what you're wondering: Does this strawberry ice cream cake truly stand up to the classic ice cream cake flavors?
It's challenging to get red velvet right. Since it's essentially chocolate, it's got a rich flavor that can overpower almost anything it's paired with. While the red velvet cake layers of this cake were definitely the dominating flavor of this ice cream cake, we were happy to still be able to taste the strawberry in the ice cream and the frosting. The graham crackers gave the cake a nice crunch, though we felt as though they were mostly for the aesthetic. Our favorite part of this cake was the frosting. Light, creamy, and this time, strawberry. If you like strawberry ice cream, then this cake is perfect for you.
5. Baskin Robbins Celebration Party Cake
This Baskin Robbins entry is its standard Baskin Robbins Celebration Party Cake. It's a single-layered cake in the sense that it has one ice cream layer, and one cake layer. The cake layer can be either chocolate or vanilla, while the ice cream inside can be selected from the brand's list of available ice cream flavors, such as rocky road, peanut butter, and chocolate, or chocolate chip cookie dough. The cake is then covered with a white, creamy frosting, lined with a blue frosting, and decorated on top with extra colorful frosting and sugary sprinkles.
The reason this cake is higher on the list is because of the delicious ice cream you can get with the cake. The cake was pretty solid in terms of flavor, and tasted more like your typical chocolate or vanilla cake, but the ice cream, being Baskin Robbins ice cream, made up for that tenfold. While we weren't a big fan of the sprinkles, which felt more like an afterthought on an already decent cake, If you're a diehard fan of Baskin Robbins ice cream, we'd suggest either this cake, or the next Baskin Robbins entry we have on this list.
4. Baskin Robbins Oreo Cookie Cake
The next entry we have from Baskin Robbins is their Oreo Cookie Cake. This cake is advertised as having chocolate or vanilla cake, with any available flavor of Baskin Robbins ice cream in the center, such as Very Berry Strawberry, the Flavor of the Month, or Oreos Cookies and Cream. The cake is then coated in white frosting, dark chocolate is drizzled down the sides, and the border is lined with a fudge frosting. Finally, the cake is topped with whipped frosting, Oreos, and a fudge drizzle. This makes for a pretty appealing cookies and cream cake, don't you think?
Like anything you can find at Baskin Robbins, this cake tasted great. There was enough cookie throughout the ice cream for us to tell it was actually cookies and cream, and not vanilla with Oreos in it. There also wasn't an overbearing amount of chocolate, and what was there balanced out nicely with the ice cream. The cake itself was a little too sweet, and the chocolate didn't taste as chocolatey as the fudge or drizzle, so we had to take some points off there. Otherwise, Baskin Robbins has a pretty solid Oreo ice cream cake, and we recommend trying it the next time you're at the ice cream shop.
3. Dairy Queen's Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Blizzard Cake
This final Dairy Queen ice cream cake that we tried was another cookie-flavored cake, and none other than Dairy Queen's Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Blizzard Cake. This cake is created from Dairy Queen's Iconic vanilla soft serve, a layer of crunch and fudge in the center, and on top of that, a thick helping of Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Blizzard. The cake is coated in a white frosting, and finished with giant, round chocolate chip cookie dough pieces and a chocolate drizzle. The Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Blizzard Cake can either be bought as an 8-inch or 10-inch round, and is great to help satisfy your cookie, ice cream, and cake cravings, all at once.
Of the three Dairy Queen ice cream cakes on this list, this one was our favorite. Even though none of the Dairy Queen cakes have any cake, they make up for that with their incredible soft serve ice cream and Blizzard flavors. The cookie dough in the Blizzard and on top of the cake was delicious and tasted just like frozen cookie dough we'd sneak from the bowl while making homemade cookies, or what we'd buy from the store. Besides the frosting, all the sweet flavors in this cake, the cookie dough Blizzard, vanilla ice cream, and the chocolate drizzle and fudge all complemented each other wonderfully, and if you're getting an ice cream cake from Dairy Queen, this is the one we recommend.
2. Ben & Jerry's Customizable Ice Cream Cake
What's not to love about a few scoops of Benn & Jerry's Ice cream? After successfully kicking off a successful ice cream career in Vermont in 1978, this legendary duo's ice cream brand has become one of the most iconic ice cream chains in the world, with pints of their fabulous flavors in stores, you can't go anywhere without seeing Ben & Jerry's in some form. From Greek frozen yogurt and ice cream bars, if it has ice cream in it, Ben & Jerry's probably has it. This includes ice cream cakes, which the brand let's you order and pick up online.
Ben & Jerry's ice cream cakes are customizable in every way possible. You can choose a fun exterior design, such as a cloudy frosting sky to a sprinkle explosion. You can also choose two different Ice cream flavors for each layer of the cake, from chocolate, marshmallow, American Dream, and even the Netflix-inspired flavors! You can also fill the cake with crumbled brownies, sprinkles, or chocolate crunchies. This cake was great, and gave us so many options to choose from. Even though it lacked any actual cake, this was a great addition to the list, and is perfect if you need a specific ice cream cake flavor.
1. Cold Stone Creamery's Cookies and Creamery Cake
There are a lot of cookies and cream ice cream cakes on this list, so why would it come as any surprise that Cold Stone's Cookies and Creamery Cake is on this list, as well? This cookie-filled ice cream cake is made with two layers of devil's food cake, with sweet cream ice cream that has Oreo cookies wrapped in a heavenly, fluffy frosting. The Cold Stone website says that they should have called this cake "Died & Gone To Heaven," and we can almost entirely agree with that. This was the best cookies and cream cake on this list.
We don't know how they do it, but Cold Stone has some of the best ice cream cake frosting around. It's fluffy, light, and creamy all at once, and pairs great with their already delicious cookies and cream ice cream. This cake was double-layered, with two stacks of chocolate cake, and two layers of ice cream placed in between. While the cake was a little on the hard side, it tasted great, and we'd recommend this cake to anyone who wants to go big on chocolate flavor when it comes to picking an ice cream cake.