The summer fun has merely begun! This colorful strawberry funfetti water ice foam block will have yous smile from ear to ear (or mouth to stomach, rather).

If happiness could exist frozen, sliced and eaten with a fork, it'd probably look something like this: a thick layer of freshly churned strawberry buttermilk ice cream sandwiched between moist yellow cake freckled with colorful confetti sprinkles.

Strawberry Funfetti Ice Cream Cake on gray with pink linen and fresh berries

Strawberry season is just nearly over hither in Tennessee, but nosotros managed to get in out to the fields to pick some before the fragile berries are smothered by the summer heat.

The berries were much smaller this twelvemonth, so it took us a bit longer to pick a full bucket of them, but boy are they delicious. Tiny and sweet and oh and then fragrant, I had to consciously restrain myself from eating every other berry that I picked (I've given myself enough of stomachaches from eating likewise many strawberries, but I never seem to remember this when I've got a bucket of crimson red beauties on my arm.)

Honestly I tin think of no better way to spend a long weekend then making all the strawberry things, from water ice cream and pie to shortcakes and (of form) jam.

Partially eaten slice of Strawberry Funfetti Ice Cream Cake

This recipe combines 2 of my favorite things: funfetti block and fresh strawberry water ice foam. It's brilliant, fun, and fruity and guaranteed to make you grinning.

Serve it topped with freshly whipped cream, ripe local strawberries, and even more rainbow sprinkles for practiced measure (really, tin can you ever take also many sprinkles?)

Closer detail shot of Strawberry Funfetti Ice Cream Cake with whipped cream and fresh berries

The ice cream is homemade, a fresh strawberry and buttermilk ice cream that's as easy to make as information technology is to eat (no eggs in sight, which means no cooking and no tempering). But blend it all up in the food processor and pour it right into your ice cream automobile.

That said, you lot can also use store bought, just grab a pint of your favorite strawberry ice foam (or whatever flavour floats your boat), and permit it soften up earlier spreading it onto your cake layers.

Fork cutting a piece out of a slice of Strawberry Funfetti Ice Cream Cake

This is a perfect make-ahead recipe; in fact, I recommend starting to bake at least 2 days before you program to serve information technology. You lot could probably clasp all the piece of work in the twenty-four hours before, but it'due south really best when every component has time to fully freeze, along with the final cake.

Brand your cake layers first, permit them cool so cut into rounds. Embrace or wrap in plastic wrap and freeze overnight.

The next mean solar day, whip upward your ice cream base, processing the berries with foam, carbohydrate, and buttermilk, then pour straight into your ice cream maker and churn until it's the consistency of soft serve (y'all can as well make the base the 24-hour interval before if yous wanted, then churn the day of assembly).

Pull out the frozen block and assemble, layering the rounds of cake with your freshly churned water ice foam. Then cover the whole thing with plastic wrap and freeze it overnight until ready to serve. If you plan to keep it frozen for more than a few days, try to wrap it as tightly as possible to prevent freezer burn.

Sliced Strawberry Funfetti Ice Cream Cake with pink linen

The assembly process for this water ice foam cake is a lot like my other naked cakes. The simply existent deviation is you lot're working with frozen cake and ice cream instead of frosting.

I used a 6-inch circular cake pan with a removable bottom (this is my pan of choice for cheesecakes as well, it works so much amend than a thin-walled springform pan) or a cake/pastry ring. You can also use a 6-inch springform pan or a silicone cake mold (with silicone, you can popular it right out of the pan once it'south frozen solid, no parchment/acetate lining needed).

You'll want to line the lesser of your pan with parchment (this just makes the cake easier to motion), and the sides with a 3 or iv-inch strip of acetate.

Yous can likewise line the unabridged pan with plastic wrap, so utilise the plastic overhang to 'lift' the entire thing out of the pan once it's frozen. With this method yous will take some visible wrinkles on the outside of the ice foam layer, since information technology's pretty incommunicable to brand the plastic wrap completely smooth.

Once you've got the lining in place, position the offset round of cake in the lesser of the pan, then freeze the unabridged associates for at least thirty minutes or more if possible – this ensures the pan is practiced and cold and then your ice cream won't turn to liquid as you assemble information technology. Proceed the second cake layer in the freezer equally well.

In one case your ice cream is churned to the consistency of soft serve, you can start assembling, working as quickly as you lot can so the ice cream doesn't melt. Spread nearly 1½ cups (just shy of a pint) of ice cream on top of the offset cake layer, then sandwich the second layer on peak, pressing lightly so the water ice cream is forced into an even layer.

Lightly cover the whole thing with plastic wrap and place it in the coldest part of your freezer for at least a couple of hours, or ideally overnight.

Lifting a cut slice of Strawberry Funfetti Ice Cream Cake to show defined layers

If y'all hadn't noticed, I'one thousand a huge fan of the smaller vi-inch cakes, just if you desire to brand a larger version, simply double the recipe to make an 8 or 9-inch cake.

Bake your cake directly in two round pans if you desire (they'll be a scrap thicker), or use a half-sheet pan and so cut out viii or nine-inch rounds to fit whatever pan in which you'll be assembling your cake.

The scraps left over after you trim? Well, I don't think I have to tell y'all what to do with those (nomnom). That said, you could also piece them together to make a third layer, giving you lot an extra tall ice cream block with 3 layers of block and ii of ice cream. It'd be incredibly impressive, that's for sure!

Cut view of Strawberry Funfetti Ice Cream Cake to show layers, blurred slice in foreground

Let'due south talk sprinkles for a sec.

I've establish the best sprinkles for funfetti cake are, by far, confetti quins (sequins). I like these pastel ones from Sweetapolita, which is what I've used hither. Jimmies are your next all-time bet, though they don't create the same pockets of color that the quins do. Nonpareils should be your terminal choice, as their colors tend to drain quite a bit when mixed into concoction, which isn't ideal.

Slice of Strawberry Funfetti Ice Cream Cake on a pink plate with forks and berries

One important notation nearly the cake: your ingredient temperature is paramount in gild to reach the perfect, cottony texture. You desire your butter, eggs, and buttermilk to be the same temperature, ideally effectually seventy degrees F. Seriously, stick a thermometer in your butter, and your eggs after nifty. If one or the other is significantly libation, you lot will not be able to achieve proper emulsification; your batter volition look chunky and curdled instead of light and fluffy. It'll withal bake upwards into an edible block and volition taste quite practiced, but the texture won't exist every bit fluffy or compatible (the larger chunks of butter melt and create pockets of air in the last cake).

Remember to take out your butter, eggs, and buttermilk at to the lowest degree an 60 minutes earlier baking. Then cream the heck out of the butter and saccharide, until it is very stake and fluffy, similar buttercream. Add the eggs, ane at a time, mixing each ane completely before adding the next. You lot're creating an emulsification here, which takes time, so don't rush information technology. Seriously. Whenever I mess upwardly a recipe it'southward usually because I was impatient: I didn't allow my ingredients come up to temperature or I didn't chop my chocolate fine enough for my ganache or used likewise loftier rut to cook my custard… all mistakes that could accept been avoided if I'd only slowed down.

Have patience, plan ahead, and you lot'll be rewarded with a perfect, moist and fluffy block.

Strawberry Funfetti Water ice Cream Block

Prep Time: 1 hour

Cook Time: 25 minutes

Total Time: 24 hours

This fun and summery ice cream cake features layers of yellow confetti block with fresh strawberry buttermilk ice cream sandwiched in between.

Ingredients:

For Strawberry Buttermilk Water ice Cream:

  • ane pint (8oz/227g) fresh or frozen strawberries, hulled
  • 1½ cups heavy cream
  • ⅔ cup (133g) granulated sugar
  • ½ cup buttermilk
  • 1 tablespoon lemon juice
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla excerpt
  • ⅛ teaspoon kosher common salt

(This water ice foam recipe yields a little over i quart, y'all'll use about half of it for the cake. You tin can likewise use 1 pint of store bought strawberry ice cream, just soften it until you can easily spread it into your cake pan.)

For Funfetti Cake Layers:

  • one/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
  • 1 cup (200g) granulated carbohydrate
  • 3 large eggs, at room temperature
  • 1/2 loving cup buttermilk, at room temperature
  • ane/4 loving cup vegetable oil
  • ane tablespoon vanilla extract
  • 1 one/2 cups (185g) block flour, sifted
  • one teaspoon baking powder
  • i teaspoon kosher common salt
  • 1/two cup confetti quin sprinkles
  • whipped topping and fresh strawberries, optional, for decoration

Directions:

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Butter the bottom and sides of a quarter sheet pan; line bottom with parchment paper and lightly butter parchment.
  2. In a bowl, sift together cake flour, baking pulverization, and salt and gear up aside.
  3. Whisk buttermilk, oil, and vanilla together in a big measuring cup or bowl (ideally with a spout) and fix aside.
  4. Combine the butter and sugars in the basin of a stand up mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and cream together on medium-high for 2 to 3 minutes or until pale and fluffy. Scrape down the sides of the basin, then add the eggs, 1 at a fourth dimension, mixing well until each is fully incorporated, scraping downwards the sides of the bowl every bit needed.
  5. On low speed, add together about a third of dry ingredients, mixing until generally incorporated. Slowly stream in about half of the buttermilk mixture. Scrape downwards the sides of the bowl. Continue alternate dry, moisture, then the rest of the dry ingredients, mixing until just incorporated. Fold in sprinkles.
  6. Spread the cake batter in an even layer in prepared pan. Give the bottom of your canvas pan a tap on the countertop to even out the layer. Peak with a few more than sprinkles for expert measure.
  7. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until puffed and the centre is set up. When gently poked with your finger, the cake should bounciness back slightly, and the edges should be just started to plough aureate brown.
  8. Remove from oven and cool on a wire rack. Stored in the fridge or freezer, wrapped in plastic wrap, for up to 5 days.
  9. To make ice cream base, combine strawberries, foam, buttermilk, sugar, lemon juice, vanilla, and salt in a food processor. Pulse 2 or iii times until combined and mixture turns pink and in that location are no big chunks of drupe remaining. (The ice cream base of operations tin be made a twenty-four hour period ahead of time, just transfer to an airtight container and arctic overnight until set up to churn.)
  10. To assemble, beginning prepare your cake pan or mold. I recommend using a half dozen-inch cake pan with a removable bottom. You can also use a springform pan, or a silicone cake pan if you accept one. Line the bottom of the pan with a round of parchment paper, and the sides of the pan with a block collar (a 3 to 4-inch tall strip of acetate). You can too line the pan entirely with plastic wrap; shine information technology out as much as yous tin, the wrinkles will show on the final block. Freeze the unabridged pan while the ice cream is churning until you lot are ready to get together it.
  11. Churn ice foam according to manufacturer instructions until it is the consistency of soft serve. If you are using store bought ice foam, let it soften until information technology is uniformly spreadable (stir it in the carton occasionally since the outside will soften quicker than the middle).
  12. Remove cake from freezer. Cut out two 6-inch rounds using a pastry ring or big round cutter, or trace around the edges of your cake pan and cut out with a pocketknife. Identify ane frozen block layer down in the lesser of prepared pan.
  13. Spread freshly churned ice cream on top of the first cake layer. Lower the second block layer on top and printing gently to adhere. Embrace the whole cake with plastic wrap and return to the freezer until frozen solid, at least 3 to4 hours or ideally overnight.
  14. Prior to serving, remove block from pan and peel off acetate. If desired, pipage a decorative border with whipped topping on top of cake, and then garnish with strawberries and more sprinkles. Utilise a warm pocketknife to cutting clean slices, wiping the pocketknife between each cutting.

*This recipe makes one 6-inch layer block. For an eight or 9-inch cake, double the recipe and bake your cake either in two round pans, or in a one-half canvas pan (then cutting out 8 or nine-inch rounds to fit).

All images and text © Lindsay Landis /

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