Say hello to the Pina Colada Ice Cream Cake. Super simple to make, fun to decorate when you let loose your inner Sandra Lee, and very delicious. Semi-homemade with angel food cake and store-bought ice cream, the star of the show is the boozy pineapples.
Don’t miss my round up of all my ice cream recipes.
I had every intention of bringing you a pineapple upside down no-bake cheesecake today. Sadly, the dude didn’t set up for me, so I have turned it into fruit dip. It’s delicious, but really not what I was going for. Worry not for two reasons. One: I shall try again to make this cake another time. Two: I have a Plan B for you.
It’s a semi-homemade extravaganza! Wait. Who is that coming to my door? I think…I think…it’s Aunt Sandy!
What?
Semi-homemade is your Bailiwick? And you’re taking over the blog today?
Y’all, she is tall and blonde and a little bit tip…sy. I better let her have her way. I’m going to go have a cocktail while Aunt Sandy walks you through my retro-fabulous Pina Colada Ice Cream Cake.
People!! So this couldn’t be easier!
So first, you want to take your favorite tropical ice cream. I (really Sandy? You?) chose a fabulous pineapple coconut ice cream, but you could use plain coconut or even pineapple sherbert or sorbet. It’s super important to choose a flavor that will complement the pineapple.
You want 2 pints. Just plop all of it into a bowl and mash it for awhile with your potato masher until it’s just like frosting. Isn’t this fun?!?!
And then, all you have to do is take a beautiful soft, fluffy angel food cake. And what you want to do is just cut this into thirds. Use a serrated knife and just saw that little guy into three flat doughnuts of cake. Don’t you just love angel food cake?! Oh, I love it!
Spread a third of your ice cream frosting on the first angel food doughnut. I like to use an icing spatula for this. It’s just like decorating a cake! Then just stack it up! Another layer of cake, another of frosting, the last piece of cake and then frost it with the rest of the ice cream. You know, this could use some corn nuts…
No, Sandy. No.
Anyway…
Then just pop this into the oven…Oh! Ha-ha-ha-ha! I meant pop this into the freezer to let it firm up. It’s super important to let it harden up so you can slice it later. It’s also super important that you put it in the freezer and not the oven. Double check, just to make sure!
While that guy is in the freezer, not the oven, you can make your pineapple sauce. Oh, this is so fabulous. You are going to love it!
Now, what I like to do is rinse off a whole pineapple and then use a serrated knife to cut off the crown and the stem end. Just set him right on a cutting board so he’s standing up and then slice off the skin, slicing from top to bottom all the way around, just as if you were going to supreme an orange.
Core the pineapple. Now, what I like to do is take the tube from an old paper towel roll and have it bronzed. Then, you can just press it right down through the center of the pineapple to get rid of the core! Isn’t that a great tip? Don’t you just love it?!?!
Once the pineapple is cored, you can cut it up into chunks and put them in a pot along with brown sugar, a pinch of salt–just a pinch!!–a little coconut oil and a splash of rum. Cook it down until the sauce thickens, and that’s your homemade part of this semi-homemade powerhouse of a dessert!
Okay, come with me! I have a gorgeous tablescape for you! Oh my gosh, you’re going to love it! I just took some aluminum cans. I just found them on the side of the road. So easy! I took my cans and I had them anodized in different awesome festive colors. Then, I simply took my tin snips and cut them into, well, I guess you could call it tinsel! And then I sort of sprayed all of them out so it looks like a fountain. I attached some little doodads I found at the craft store–sooo easy, and now just watch what I’m going to do!
That hole in the middle of the cake is for more than just filling with a can of apple pie filling! In this case, I’ll just gently place my tin fountain right in the center. Right in that hole! How festive! Another pop of color with these pretty little napkins that I cut from upholstery material I found in an abandoned sorority house, and then we finish it off with gemstones!
Didn’t I tell you you would love it?! You love it, right?
Yes, Aunt Sandy. Yes we do. Why don’t you go sit for a spell and have another cocktail while I share my recipe for the pineapple sauce, okay?
While I had a little bit of fun at Aunt Sandy’s expense, it was all in good fun. I unashamedly Sandra Lee a pizza at least a couple of times a month.
I also really want you to make this dessert. Yes, the cake and ice cream part is good–I inhaled a whole piece after I took the pictures–but the pineapples are fantastic. They’re perfect with this ice cream cake, but they’d also be splendid as a cheesecake topping or over vanilla ice cream or even spooned on top of some yogurt.
I hope you enjoyed today’s #tbtfood extravaganza. I promise I won’t forget the no-bake cheesecake!
Thanks for taking the time to read today. Have a great day.
Check out my on-going series, some of which (okay, all of which) just got started.
Some Other Great Ice Cream Cakes from Around the Hinternets
Pina Colada Ice Cream Cake with Boozy Caramel Pineapples
Y'all know you can make this with any old cake and ice cream, right? The main thing is the pineapples. Adding a bit of coconut oil in with the brown sugar and rum turns them into pina colada pineapples. Delicious!
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Ingredients
For the Pineapples
- 1 medium pineapple , cored and cut into chunks or slices
- 2 oz by weight dark brown sugar (about 1/3 cup, packed)
- 1 oz rum (I used light rum because that's what I had. Dark would work well here too)
- 1 oz coconut oil (I used Tropical Traditions
- heavy pinch of salt
For the Ice Cream Cake
- 2 pints pineapple coconut ice cream (or your favorite kind that goes well with pineapple)
- 1 homemade or store-bought angel food cake
Instructions
For the Pineapples
- Put all the ingredients into a medium saucepan and cook over medium heat until the sauce thickens. This could take awhile because lots of juice will leach out of the fruit.
- You'll know they're done when the fruit is a bit translucent and dark and the juices are the consistency of a thick syrup.
For the Ice Cream Cake
- Put the ice cream in a bowl and mash it around with your potato masher until it's the consistency of frosting. (that was not just Aunt Sandy talking. I really did that. I used my Smood).
- Slice the angel food cake into three horizontal layers.
- Build the cake by spreading 1/3 of the softened ice cream on each layer of angel food cake. Just stack it up: cake-ice cream-cake-ice cream-cake-ice cream.
- Make sure that the cake is even and not leaning or anything. You may have to shove it around just a bit to make sure it's straight.
- Place in the freezer at least a couple of hours to firm up.
To Serve
- Let the cake sit on the counter for a few minutes and then slice with a serrated blade. Serve the cake with the pineapple rum sauce.
- Enjoy!
Did You Make Any Changes?
Did you make this recipe?Please tell us what you loved!
- Citrus Ice Cream Cake from J J Begonia
- S’Mores Ice Cream Cake from Domestic Dreamboat
- Moose Tracks Ice Cream Cake from Dad Can Cook
- Hot Fudge Ice Cream Cake from Alice and the Mock Turtle (another Semi-Homemade Extravaganza)
- Checkerboard Ice Cream Cake from Eugenie Kitchen
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Love the flavors in this cake so much!!!!
Thanks, Matt! I rarely–literally, almost never–post semi-homemade stuff, but this came together beautifully and all the flavors really work. That five-ingredient pineapple “sauce” is seriously delicious. So intense! =)
Hysterical!!! Is Aunt Sandy still there at your house? Drinking all the dark rum, an umbrella behind each ear?
I love this pineapple topping. Whoa good. And even the cake looks pretty awesome. Loving the whole thing!
I am actually really surprised by how good the cake is all by itself, but the pineapple stuff is really The Best. I don’t think I’ve ever written a recipe with a shorter ingredient list! lol
Sandy took the umbrellas with her. She’s like that.
Yummmmmand yummmm and EASY! YAYYYY! Love it and LOVE caramelized pineapples- it’s like an addiction! I love that you made an ice cream cake YUM!
It was a bit of a punt after Ye Olde Cheesecake didn’t work out, but it is really delicious! And I don’t have an angel food pan, so buying one just made sense. =) The pineapple is amazing, honestly! So happy!