Patriotic Ice Cream Sandwich Cake is the perfect dessert to end any summer day! Made with ice cream sandwiches, Cool Whip and the toppings of your choice, this ice cream dessert is sure to win you points with the family this summer.

Nothing says summertime more than ice cream. It’s what you earn after a long day of lounging by the lake or pool. I mean come on, isn’t it basically a given that ice cream will be involved in your summertime festivities?

It just has to be. Or at least that is my personal opinion!  

Full disclosure: I am an ice cream fanatic. During the summer, you can’t keep me away from Twistee Treat or Jeremiah’s Italian Ice (our local ice cream chains). I’m obsessed!

If we go out to dinner, I will purposely save room so I can “suggest” that we stop for ice cream on the way home. I say suggest, but I really mean that I tell “The Boys” we’re stopping for ice cream for dessert. They’ve learned better than to deprive me of my ice cream fix.

I can’t really tell you what my love for ice cream is about. I don’t even know if it’s so much the ice cream itself or just the actual experience of going with your family to an ice cream shop and chatting it up while you eat it together. The whole process just makes me happy, I guess!

With Memorial Day right around the corner, Ice Cream Season (Yes, that’s a thing!) is about to debut in full effect. And I for one couldn’t let the season begin without an epic dessert to share with you all. It would be against everything I stand for!

So I got in the kitchen and whipped up the easiest ice cream cake you will ever make in your life. Seriously, it’s fool-proof. Your biggest barrier will be stopping yourself from devouring it all before it has time to fully set-up and freeze. At least that was my own experience!

This easy summer dessert is made with two main ingredients: ice cream sandwiches and Cool Whip. You can simply make your ice cream cake using those two ingredients, or do like I did, and spruce it up with some awesome toppings and fillings!

To show my patriotism for the U.S. of A., I even added a little red, white, and blue flair to my ice cream cake. I think it really just brings home the fact that I’m leaping for joy that the summer is pretty much here. Hip Hip Hooray!

Before I share the recipe with you, let me hit you with a handful of reasons why you should definitely make this Patriotic Ice Cream Sandwich Cake for your Memorial Day, Fourth of July, or BBQ gatherings. 

For starters, this recipe can be made ahead of time. In fact, you’ll need an hour or so for the cake to set regardless, so you might as well make it the day (or even a couple of days) before if you plan on serving it at your summer party. Simply prepare your ice cream sandwich cake in a 9 x 13 casserole dish and place it in the freezer until you’re ready to serve. 

Ice cream sandwiches come in many creative flavors these days. Although I just went with the OG vanilla ice cream variety, you can easily swap out your ice cream sandwiches for other options. I made this same ice cream cake a few years ago using banana split ice cream sandwiches I found at Walmart. And for the record, the cake was amazing!

The toppings and fillings you use are completely customizable to your likings and the occasion. For example, with this Patriotic Ice Cream Sandwich Cake, I chose to use red and blue mini M&M’s. If I were making this cake for an ordinary summer day, I definitely wouldn’t worry so much about the M&M colors. I might even leave them out altogether. 

Additional Topping and Filling Ideas:

• Oreos (all varieties)
• Chocolate Chips (white, milk, mini)
• Heath toffee pieces
• Fruit (strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, bananas)
• Chocolate or Caramel Syrups or Magic Shell
• Nuts (all varieties)
• M&M’s, NERDS, Skittles, Jelly Beans, etc.

One final pro to making an ice cream sandwich cake is the fact that the size and shape can be made to your liking as well. I used one pack of 12 ice cream sandwiches that I divided into two layers of six. This made a long, narrower cake that fit nicely in my 9 x 13 casserole dish. 

I could’ve used those same 12 sandwiches to make a square ice cream cake by placing three sandwiches down for the base and building up from there. This kind of cake would make four layers. I would suggest using an 8 x 8 or 9 x 9 casserole dish to house it in for mess-free assembly.

And if you wanted to make an even bigger cake for a larger crowd, buy more ice cream sandwiches. It can’t get much easier than that!

Patriotic Ice Cream Sandwich Cake

12 pack of ice cream sandwiches, 8 oz. Cool Whip (thawed), toppings of your choice (I used red and blue mini M&Ms, chocolate sandwich cookie crumbles, magic chocolate shell, mini chocolate chips)

Begin by placing your chocolate sandwich cookies in a gallon-sized Ziploc bag.

Break up the cookies until they have turned into crumbles, just like so.

On the bottom of a 9 x 13 casserole dish, lay down six ice cream sandwiches.

Add a layer of Cool Whip on top of the first layer of ice cream sandwiches.

Sprinkle some chocolate cookie crumbles and mini chocolate chips on top of your Cool Whip.

Drizzle some chocolate syrup over the cookie crumbs and mini chocolate chips.

I used the magic chocolate shell for this.

Next, add your additional six ice cream sandwiches on top of your fillings and give it a gentle press. You’re pressing to even out the ice cream cake so you have a flat surface on top.

Completely cover the ice cream cake with the Cool Whip.

Because I love ice cream cakes with cookie crumbles around the edges, I did exactly that for my own cake. I grabbed a handful of cookie crumbles and gently pushed them onto the side of the cake.

I made sure to do it all the way around the entirety of my ice cream cake.

Finally, I added more cookie crumbles, mini chocolate chips, magic chocolate shell, and mini M&M’s to the top of my cake. 

From here, you’ll want to place your cake in the freezer for at least an hour to firm up before serving.

You can easily serve this Patriotic Ice Cream Sandwich Cake straight out of the casserole dish or just as easily transfer it to a serving platter instead. However you decide to serve it, I know it will be a huge success. I hope you enjoy it!

Want to remember this? Post this Patriotic Ice Cream Sandwich Cake recipe to your favorite Pinterest board!

 

WELCOME TO THE WEDNESDAY LINK PARTY! MEET YOUR HOSTS:

Jaclyn from Coffee, Pancakes, and Dreams
Brittany from Dreams and Coffee
Mary Leigh from Live Well Play Together
Tiffany from Lake Life State of Mind
Lindsay from Lindsay’s Sweet World
Keri from Cultivate an Intentional Life 
Holley from Bee Simply Organized