Red Velvet, Cheesecake Ice Cream Cake

We celebrated my brother's and my birthdays today and I made a new cake for the occasion! It turned out SOOO delicious!!! Here is where I got the original recipe - so props to the Taste and Tell Blog.

What you need:

Cheesecake Ice Cream

• 4 oz cream cheese, softened
• 1 can (14 oz) sweetened condensed milk
• 2 cups heavy whipping cream

Cake

• 2¼ cups all-purpose flour
• 2 tablespoons cocoa powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• ½ cup butter, at room temperature
• 1½ cups sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 3 tablespoons red food coloring
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon distilled white vinegar
• 1 teaspoon baking soda

Frosting

• 2 cups heavy whipping cream
• ½ cup powdered sugar

What To Do:

Make the ice cream

1. In a large bowl, beat together the cream cheese and the sweetened condensed milk. In a separate bowl, beat the cream until it has stiff peaks. Gently fold the cream into the cream cheese mixture.
2. Line 2 8-inch baking pans with plastic wrap. Divide the ice cream mixture evenly between the two pans, smoothing out the tops. Cover the tops with plastic wrap and freeze until solid, at least 6 hours. 

Note: the original recipe called to use 9-inch pans, but I wanted it taller and it worked just as well with 8-inch pans instead. Your call.

Make the cake layers

1. Spray two 8-inch cake pans with nonstick cooking spray. Preheat the oven to 350ºF.
2. In a bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder and salt.
3. In another bowl, or the bowl of a stand mixer, beat together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating for 30 seconds after each addition. Add in ⅓ of the flour mixture, followed by half of the buttermilk, another ⅓ of the flour, the remaining buttermilk and then the remaining flour, beating just until combined after each addition. Mix in the red food coloring and the vanilla.
4. In a small bowl, combine the vinegar and the baking soda. (The mixture will bubble up.) Fold into the cake batter.
5. Put 1/3 of the batter into one pan and 2/3 in the other pan. Bake until the cakes spring back when lightly touched, about 20 minutes. Let the bigger one stay in for another 5-10 minutes. Let the cakes cool for 15 minutes in the pans, then turn out onto a cooling rack to cool completely.
6. Cut the larger one in two.

Note: I don't have three 8-inch pans, which is why I had to cut one. If you have three pans, evenly distribute between the pans.

Make the frosting

1. In a large bowl, beat the cream until it has soft peaks. Slowly add the powdered sugar and continue to beat until it has stiff peaks.

To assemble the cake

1. If needed, level the cake layers. Place one cake layer on a cake stand or cake plate. Remove the plastic wrap from the ice cream layers and place one layer on top of the cake. Add another cake layer, followed by the second ice cream layer, then add the last cake layer to the top. Frost the cake with the whipped cream. Decorate, if desired. Freeze the cake until ready to serve.

Here is how I did it in picture form:

• The layers before they were assembled. Once the ice cream is frozen, you can see that it is pretty sturdy for a while, so you can level if need be and stack accordingly.

• I put the layered cake back in the freezer so that it could fuse and not melt while I worked on the frosting. This frosting recipe is one of my favorites. My "red" velvet looks more like chocolate here, but it turned out definitely red.

• Here's the final product! I added red and pink sprinkles and a "Happy Birthday" banner.