Directions
Three ingredients.
That’s all is takes to make this incredibly fun, crispy, crunchy, chocolatey, cool dessert. This ice cream cake is so easy to put together, and it knocked the socks off of my family at a cookout over the weekend. My husband even mentioned after dessert that he’d like me to make this cake for his birthday…which isn’t until next April.
I originally came across this recipe, for a Nutella Crunch Ice Cream Cake. It sounded delicious enough, and I was eager to try it, but not everyone in my family is a big Nutella fan. I remembered that I had recently seen that Reese’s had come out with a chocolate-peanut butter spread. It hangs out in the same aisle as the Nutella, so I grabbed a jar of Reese’s and figured I’d give the recipe a whirl with that instead.
Have you ever tried this stuff? Oh my goodness. It’s insanely good. It’s “Hide the Jar from Your Kids and Eat a Spoonful or Two After They Go to Bed” good. It’s “Spread it on Apples and Convince Yourself it’s Health Food” good. And in this case, it’s “Use an Entire Jar Along with some Rice Krispies and Vanilla Ice Cream to Make a Cake” good.
First things first, I put a large mixing bowl and my 10-inch springform pan in the freezer to chill. Then, I started the cake by scooping out an entire jar of Reese’s spread into a saucepan, and I warmed it over low heat until it was smooth and easy to stir. I removed it from the heat and stirred in six cups of Rice Krispies.
Once that was well combined, and the cereal was completely coated, I poured the mixture onto a cookie sheet that I’d lined with parchment paper.
I popped the Krispie mixture into the freezer for about thirty minutes. Meanwhile, I took my ice cream out of the freezer and allowed it to soften a bit.
When the Krispies were chilled, but not totally frozen solid, I removed them from the freezer and sliced them into small squares with a knife. Then, I went through and broke those squares up into smaller crumbles with a fork.
After I’d broken it up a bit, I placed the tray back into the freezer to harden up a little more before I stirred it into the ice cream.
I put the softened ice cream into the chilled large bowl, and stirred it until it was soft and stirrable, kind of like soft serve. Then, I got my Krispie bits out of the freezer, reserved a couple of cups of it for the topping, and then stirred them into the softened ice cream.
I did this in batches, because that’s a lot of Krispies!
Once all of the chocolate-peanut butter Krispies were in the ice cream, I got the chilled springform pan out of the freezer and spread all of the ice cream into the pan, to the tippy top.
Once it was smoothed out and even on top, I took the two cups of reserved Krispies that I’d set aside and pressed them into the top. I covered the cake in a few sheets of plastic wrap, and popped it back into the freezer.
Fast forward a day, and about thirty minutes before dessert, I removed the cake from the freezer to soften a bit.
I released the cake from the pan, and removed the sides…
…and we dug right in.
The cake sliced beautifully, although I highly recommend cutting it on a cutting board so the board can catch the melted ice cream from the sides.
My biggest concern with this cake was whether or not the Rice Krispies would stay crisp after sitting in ice cream overnight. They were perfect! It was, by far, the best dessert I’ve made all summer. And it couldn’t have been much simpler. I have a feeling we’ll be seeing a lot of this cake in our future. And I’m definitely buying another jar of that Reese’s spread. Shhhh…don’t tell the kids.
CHOCOLATE PEANUT BUTTER CRUNCH ICE CREAM CAKE
- 2 cups Reese’s Peanut Butter-Chocolate Spread
- 6 cups Rice Krispies
- 1 gallon French Vanilla ice cream
- Place a 10-inch springform pan and a large mixing bowl in the freezer to chill. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
- Scoop the Reese’s spread into a large saucepan, and place the pan over low heat. Stir until the chocolate spread is softened and smooth. Remove from the heat and stir in the Rice Krispies until completely coated.
- Pour the coated Rice Krispies onto the prepared baking sheet. Spread into an even layer. Place the cookie sheet in the freezer to chill.
- At this point, move the ice cream to the refrigerator to soften for about 30-45 minutes.
- When the Krispie mixture is cooled and firm, but not yet frozen solid, remove the baking sheet from the freezer. Slice the Krispies into small squares with a knife and fork, and then go back through and break up the squares a bit with the fork, so you have large crumbles. Return the pan to the freezer for a few more minutes to allow the crumbles to firm back up.
- Take the large mixing bowl out of the freezer and stir the ice cream in it until it is smooth and soft, but not too melty. Reserve two cups of the Krispie mixture for the topping, and then stir the rest of the Krispies into the softened ice cream.
- Pour the ice cream-Krispie mixture into the chilled springform pan, making sure to press the ice cream down into it and fill in any bubbles. Level the top so it’s even and then press the remaining two cups of Krispies into the top of the cake. Wrap well with plastic wrap, and place in the freezer for at least six hours, or overnight is fine.
- About 30 minutes before serving, remove the cake from the freezer and unwrap. Once softened a bit, slice and serve.
- ENJOY!
