It’s finally ice cream season! And that means it’s time for ice cream cakes. I recently made one that is truly amazing: frozen chocolate and creamy peanut butter goodness, packed in a graham cracker crust and topped with more chocolate, marshmallows and nuts. Sounds yummy, right? Here’s how to make it!
To start, grab your ingredients. First, you will need a half gallon of chocolate ice cream, graham cracker crumbs, creamy peanut butter, miniature marshmallows and butter. (Exact measurements are in the ingredient list below.)
Remove the ice cream from the freezer and let it sit on the counter for 10-12 minutes (but no longer!) so it softens a little bit. Grease an 8- to 9-inch round springform pan with cooking spray. Next, mix the graham cracker crumbs and melted butter in a bowl until combined.
Dump the graham cracker mixture into the prepared springform pan and use your hands to press it to the bottom of the pan until you have a smooth and even crust.
Now, spoon the peanut butter into a small microwave-safe bowl and microwave on high for 15-20 seconds or until it’s just melted and somewhat pourable. Add the ice cream and peanut butter to a large mixing bowl. Using a spatula or an electric mixer, mix the ice cream and peanut butter together until almost no streaks of peanut butter remain.
Next, stir in the marshmallows. Don’t worry about it looking perfect—just work quickly so that the ice cream doesn’t completely melt.
Pour the chocolate ice cream-peanut butter mixture right on top of the graham cracker crust and smooth until even. Cover the cake with plastic wrap, pressing the wrap against the ice cream to help prevent ice from forming. Freeze the cake for 4 to 6 hours or overnight.
All that’s left to do is finish with a special topping! Before serving, remove the cake from the freezer and pour a chocolate topping that forms a hard shell over the cake, allowing some of it to drip over the sides. Immediately add chopped peanuts, graham cracker crumbs and mini marshmallows so that they harden into the shell.
Once the shell hardens you can slice and serve or place the cake back in the freezer until you’re ready to serve it. Just be sure to remove the cake from the freezer 10 minutes prior to slicing (it makes cutting way easier).