Are you looking for the tastiest shortcut Christmas dessert idea? These Easy DIY Christmas Ice Cream Cake Ideas are perfect! With just a few edible ingredients like candy and frosting, you can transform your store-bought ice cream cake into a festive treat. This post is sponsored by I Love Ice Cream Cakes. All views expressed are that of our own.
The Christmas season is in full swing, and we have been having a blast planning our Christmas Desserts. There are just so many tasty desserts to be had.
Ice Cream Cake for Christmas
Traditionally (thanks to my Mother in Law), ice cream cake has always been an option for a holiday dessert. Each year, she would have a Carvel® Cake in the freezer for anyone who wanted a slice. Of course, Jared and I always secured our tasty slice. There is just something so magical about the yummy iconic blue frosting detail, and the scrumptious chocolate crunchies in-between the vanilla and chocolate layers of ice cream. I didn’t want to remove any of this detail from my cake, so I enhanced it with a few DIY elements for the season.
This tasty Christmas tradition is one we now partake in, but of course, I love to make things even more adorable for the kids. (And guess what?! You can now get these Carvel Ice Cream Cakes at the grocery store!) For this extra-special holiday season, I will be transforming a Carvel Ice Cream Cake that I picked up at the grocery store into a Christmas Wreath as seen in this post. This idea came to my mind after making these adorable Christmas Wreath Donuts last year. Everyone loved how cute and original they were with their candy ornaments and fruity scarves.
How to Make a Wreath Ice Cream Cake
Transforming the Carvel 8″ Round Cake into this Christmas Wreath Cake was super easy, but required some preparations. You can use the 8″ Round Cake or the Carvel Lil’ Love Ice Cream Cake Ice Cream Cakes. For us, the bigger one will work for the limited amount of guests we will have.
You will also need some festive edible supplies to create the look. Check out what I used below. With every edible DIY, you can cater to what you might have on-hand, or available.
Wreath Ice Cream Cake Supplies
- Gold gumballs
- White gumballs
- Colored Sixlets
- Green frosting- one can was perfect
- Holiday sprinkles (I used the ones from the frosting can).
- Fruit candy by the foot (2 rolls of strawberry) for the bow
Tips for Decorating Ice Cream Cakes
Today, we are not only showcasing the Wreath Ice Cream Cake, but also a Gnome OREO Ice Cream Cake from I Love Ice Cream Cakes. We picked up both at our local grocer in the freezer section. Always buy your cakes RIGHT before you head home to minimize melting.
Gather all your ingredients and decide on the cake stand or platter. For Christmas, I will be using a flat platter since it can easily fit in the freezer. Use a large spatula to remove the cake from the cardboard tray if desired.
Since these cakes are made of ice cream, they will melt quickly at the bottom. You have a good 15 minutes to decorate before that process naturally starts.
Create the bow- The fruit snack bow was made to resemble the bows on my actual Christmas trees. I think it came out really cute.
To make these bow you will need two rolls of strawberry candy by the foot.
- (2) 10” pieces
- (1) 3” piece
- (2) 6” pieces
First, I measured out (2) 10” pieces of candy by the foot. I then folded the pieces together to make a bow shape four times and stacked them under one another to give the bow depth.
A 3” piece of candy by the foot folded in half was placed in the middle to hold the shape of the bow.
2- 6” pieces of candy by the foot were tucked under the main bow to resemble hanging ribbon.
I used a medium-sized star tip and icing bag to achieve the piping for the wreath. I used just about the entire green frosting can on this project.
For the wreath, start around the perimeter of the cake, and work in a circle. I have three circle layers. You want to leave an open space in the center…hence the wreath shape.
I added just a few gumballs for the ornament look and accented it with holiday-colored Sixlets. The bow went on after the candies and has a cute realistic element to it.
As mentioned earlier, the blue icing on Carvel Cakes is the BEST part aside from the yummy crunchies in-between the layers. I wanted those to shine but in a festive way. The sprinkles enhanced the look and the blue color paired well with the complementing green.
Once the cake is done, slice, and enjoy or put it in the freezer until you are ready to enjoy it.
I recommend decorating this the day of your festivities to preserves freshness, and the overall cake look.
For holidays, anniversaries, birthdays or “just because,” a cake from I Love Ice Cream Cakes is the perfect way to make life’s little and big moments even sweeter.
Gnome Ice Cream Cake
I Love Ice Cream Cakes also makes other sweet treat cakes found at the grocery store like this OREO® Ice Cream Cake. My kids love this delicious cookies and cream style cake. The OREO cookies are swirled in making this a cookie lover’s dream come true.
Similar to that of the Wreath Cake, I was sure to gather ingredients before decorating. I used red frosting (one can), a star tip, piping bag, sprinkles, and Sixlets Pearls and candies.
The gnome pick (purchased from Michael’s) was added right before serving making this festive cake an adorable option for the holidays. It took me a mere 10 minutes to design this cake which brought about so much joy. I love gnomes so this cake was almost too cute to eat–almost!
I Love Ice Cream Cakes
Be sure to pick up a cake from I Love Ice Cream Cakes in your grocer’s freezer section or in the Bakery Dept. You can also order them online here! Other seasonal varieties include turkeys, snowmen, footballs, and jack-o-lantern cakes. It’s so easy to have a delicious dessert in no time at all!
More Christmas Ice Cream Cake Ideas
We have once again teamed up with Dawn over at Cutefetti for another fantastic collaboration for the holidays. You have got to check out her Reindeer OREO Cake, and her Ugly Christmas Sweater Cake. Sshhh, don’t tell her that the sweater looks too cute to eat!!
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