Coffee & Cake Ice Cream

by Lora Wiley-Lennartz

File this under “kitchen confessions”:

I am a cake scrap hoarder. 

Here’s the deal, every time I make a cake and have to trim before frosting it, I hate throwing away the excess. It makes me sad to put those scraps in the garbage. So instead I put them in a ziplock bag and stash them in my fridge. This comes with the rationale I will make cake balls, cake pops or use them for another creative recipe down the road.

Well, I cleaned out my freezer recently and that day has come. How about coffee and cake all rolled into a delicious ice cream?

To start, I whipped up a creamy coffee flavored ice cream base then mixed in two cups of cake scraps after the churning phase. The result was a delicious cakey ice cream.

I had both plain chocolate and vanilla cake scraps on hand but you can use any type. The fancier the cake, the more interesting and flavorful the resulting ice cream will be. I would even use pastry scraps.
Other ways to acquire cake scraps, besides my preferred method which is evenly trim your cakes, save the bits and freeze them.

Not that I practice any of these others (insert side eye):

  • The next time everyone is too stuffed to eat that last piece of cake, before it gets stale, wrap it up and freeze it.
  • Snatch that last piece of cake off the buffet table wherever you are, wrap it up and freeze it.
  • Abscond with the leftover cake from restaurant meals and dinner parties.

However you acquire your cake scraps, they will be put to good use with this recipe. It’s like an afternoon coffee break wrapped up in a scoop of ice cream.

Coffee & Cake Ice Cream


Course Dessert
Cuisine American
Prep Time 25 minutes
Cook Time 10 minutes
Chill Time 3 hours
Total Time 35 minutes
Servings 2 Pints
Author Lora Wiley-Lennartz

Ingredients

  • 1 cup heavy cream
  • 2 cups whole milk
  • 3/4 cup granulated sugar
  • 2 tablespoons instant coffee powder
  • 4 egg yolks
  • 2 cups leftover cake scraps

Instructions

  1. In a medium saucepan heat milk, cream, sugar and coffee powder until just about to boil.
  2. Whisk egg yolks together in a heatproof bowl.
  3. Slowly pour the cream mixture into the yolks whisking quickly to temper the eggs.
  4. Scrape the tempered mixture back into the pan and reheat stirring occasionally until the mixture thickens a bit, coating the back of a wooden spoon.
  5. Remove from heat and strain into a clean heatproof bowl.
  6. Cover with plastic wrap, making sure the wrap touches the top of the mixture to prevent a skin from forming on top.
  7. Refrigerate for at least 3 hours or overnight.
  8. Transfer mixture to the bowl of an ice cream maker and follow manufacturer's directions to mix.
  9. When ice cream reaches soft serve consistency, add in the cake scraps.
  10. Transfer the ice cream to a container and place in freezer until it hardens.

Like coffee ice cream? Try this espresso ice cream recipe:

Cherry Pecan Espresso Ice Cream

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