Birthday Cake Ice Cream
Have your cake and eat it too, in ice cream form! This birthday cake ice cream tastes exactly the way you imagine it will—amazing! My kids absolutely DEVOURED this. I also shared a batch of birthday cake ice cream with some extended family, and they loved it! The secret? Store-bought cake mix, extra sprinkles, and the secret ingredient for cake batter ice cream: cake batter extract.
Serve this homemade birthday cake ice cream recipe alongside a classic birthday cake like Yellow Cake with Chocolate Frosting, Funfetti Cake, or Harry Potter Birthday Cake. If you’re a big ice cream lover, try my other homemade ice cream recipes. I have traditional ice cream recipes like vanilla and dark chocolate, as well as lots of fun ice cream flavors, like Cosmic Brownie and raspberry. What can I say? I really love ice cream.
Why This Recipe Works
- Best birthday cake ice cream. This recipe does not hold back when it comes to nailing that perfect birthday cake ice cream flavor. Making this ice cream with cake mix from a box, plus adding cake batter extract, creates the perfect birthday cake-flavored ice cream.
- Easy homemade ice cream. Making your own ice cream is not that hard, I promise! And it tastes so much better than store-bought ice cream. For this recipe in particular, there are very few steps. Sift the cake mix, make a custard on the stove, strain the custard, churn the custard, and that’s basically it. See? Easy.
Ingredient Notes
- White cake mix: The first key to the best cake batter ice cream recipe is incorporating boxed cake mix. I’ve used white cake mix, but you could experiment and make yellow cake batter ice cream with yellow cake mix, or maybe try making chocolate birthday cake ice cream with chocolate cake mix!
- Heavy whipping cream: Fat is critical in obtaining a creamy texture. Heavy cream also adds richness.
- Granulated sugar: In addition to making ice cream sweet, sugar helps prevent crystallization so ice cream stays creamy.
- Egg yolk: Adding egg yolks helps make the custard base of ice cream thick and smooth. For this batch of ice cream, we’re only using one egg yolk.
- Vanilla extract: The flavor present in every good birthday cake, we have to add vanilla to this birthday cake flavored ice cream.
- Cake batter extract: My secret ingredient for the best homemade cake batter ice cream is this extract! You can find it online. It has a flavor that’s somewhere between vanilla and butter, creating the perfect cake flavor. If you can’t find it, butter extract or almond extract could be a good substitute. Otherwise, just leave it out. Your ice cream may not taste super cakey, but it will still taste delicious.
- Rainbow sprinkles: I love a little pop of color, and adding sprinkles also provides some texture variation to this birthday cake ice cream. Yum!
How to Make Cake Batter Ice Cream
- Sift cake mix. Measure out 1 cup of cake mix and pour it into a medium saucepan using a fine mesh sieve to get rid of any lumps.
- Beat egg yolk. Separate an egg yolk from the egg white, and add it to a small bowl. Use a fork to whisk the egg yolk, breaking it up.
- Mix custard ingredients. To the cake mix in the medium saucepan, add 1½ cups of heavy cream, 1½ cups of milk (either whole milk or 2%), ½ cup of granulated sugar, 1 beaten egg yolk, and a pinch of salt. Whisk together and cook over medium heat, until it reaches a temperature of 160°F.
- Add extracts. Once the custard has reached 160°F, remove it from heat and stir in 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract and ½ teaspoon of cake batter extract.
- Chill custard. Pour the custard through a fine mesh sieve into a large heat-proof container and let it chill in the fridge for 4 hours.
- Churn ice cream. Once the custard has cooled completely, follow your ice cream machine instructions and churn the custard until it reaches soft-serve consistency.
- Add sprinkles. After your ice cream has finished churning, fold ½ cup of rainbow sprinkles into the ice cream base. This is also the time to add in any other mix-ins you would like.
- Freeze ice cream before serving. Transfer your ice cream to a freezer-safe container and let it firm up in the freezer for 2-4 hours before serving. Enjoy!
Recipe Tips
Use a fine mesh sieve to sift your cup of cake mix to ensure there are no lumps in your custard.
You can let the custard chill in the fridge for up to 24 hours. Some say this actually makes for a smoother ice cream!
If you want to make birthday cake ice cream with cake pieces, you absolutely can! Bake a cake, let it cool completely, and add broken-up pieces to the ice cream when you add the sprinkles after it’s been churned. For classic birthday cake flavor, I recommend either my yellow cake or Funfetti cake. Want to swirl some frosting in? Use this buttercream recipe. Or, add in any leftover cupcakes you have on hand (not a thing in my house, but maybe it is in yours).
For more variations, you might try using different flavors of cake mix. Strawberry cake mix for strawberry cake batter ice cream, red velvet cake mix for red velvet birthday cake ice cream…or, add different mix-ins at the end. A birthday cake Oreo ice cream with crushed-up Oreos or golden Oreos would be amazing! Or maybe even cake batter cookie dough ice cream with homemade cookie dough bites?
If you don’t have a thermometer to check when your custard is done, you can tell it’s cooked when the custard sticks to the back of a spoon and you can run your finger through it and it holds the line. You don’t want to overcook your custard!
Make Ahead, Storing, and Freezing
Make Ahead: Ice cream is the perfect make-ahead dessert! You can make the custard for this ice cream and let it chill for a full 24 hours before churning your ice cream, and of course, homemade ice cream stays good in the freezer for up to two months.
Storing: Store leftover ice cream in a freezer-safe, airtight container in the freezer for up to two months. I use these containers.
Freezing: You should definitely freeze this birthday cake ice cream. Otherwise, it will be a soupy mess. 🙂
Recipe FAQs
This birthday cake ice cream is NOT gluten-free. However, you can make it gluten-free by using a gluten-free cake mix.
Cake batter ice cream has notes of vanilla, butter, and nuttiness. If you use a different flavor of cake mix or add different extracts, you can make it any flavor you like!
You can definitely eat this birthday cake ice cream while pregnant! Pregnant people should not consume uncooked eggs or raw flour. Raw cake mix from a box is considered unsafe, but we cook the cake mix (and the single egg yolk) in our custard before churning the ice cream, so it’s safe to consume.
Cold Stone claims to have invented cake batter ice cream in 2003. Several other companies have since come out with their own cake batter and birthday cake-flavored ice cream since then. Now, you can just make it at home!
More Ice Cream Recipes
- German Chocolate Ice Cream
- Cookie Monster Ice Cream
- Ice Cream Cake Roll
- Butterscotch Ice Cream
- No Churn Oreo Ice Cream
Birthday Cake Ice Cream
Ingredients
- 1 cup white cake mix - unprepared and SIFTED
- 1 1/2 cups heavy cream
- 1 1/2 cups milk - whole or 2%
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1 large egg yolk - beaten with a fork to break it up
- pinch salt
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 teaspoon cake batter extract
- 1/2 cup rainbow sprinkles
Equipment
Instructions
- In a medium saucepan add the cake mix, sugar, heavy cream, milk, and egg yolk and salt. Whisk until smooth. Cook over medium heat until mixture reaches 160°F then remove from heat and stir in the vanilla and cake batter extract. Pour the mixture through a fine mesh sieve into a heat-proof container and place in the fridge to chill, about 4 hours.
- Pour the chilled mixture into an ice cream maker and churn according to manufacturer’s directions until it reaches soft-serve consistency. When done churning, fold in the sprinkles.
- Transfer the ice cream to a freezer-safe airtight container and store in the freezer for 2-4 hours to fully freeze prior to serving.
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