Copycat Dq Ice Cream Cake

Redneck Epicurean's Note:

Posted in response to a thread. I asked the sweet gals at our local DQ about making these cakes. This is it. Simple as it may seem, this is exactly the recipe. The three hours is freezer time.

• Total Time: 3 hrs 30 mins
• Prep Time: 30 mins
• Cook Time: 3 hrs

Ingredients:

Servings: 8

• 2 quarts of your 2 favorite flavors ice cream , softened (DQ uses chocolate and vanilla)
• 1 (1 lb) package chocolate sandwich style cookies , crushed (Oreos)
• 1 (11 ¾ ounce) jar microwavable chocolate fudge topping
• 12 ounces non-dairy whipped topping

Directions:

1. Butter the cake pan of your choice, then press wax paper over the bottom of the pan.
2. Allow one of the flavors of ice cream to soften, then spread one flavor on the bottom of pan until the pan is almost half full.
3. Sprinkle with crushed Oreo cookies.
4. Heat the hot fudge in the microwave until pourable; let cool slightly then spoon hot fudge sauce over the top of this. Set in freezer until frozen.
5. Fifteen minutes before removing the pan, soften the second quart of ice cream. Smooth it evenly with the top of the cake pan. Return to the freezer and freeze until very hard.
6. Remove from freezer and frost with a mixture of equal parts vanilla ice cream and thawed frozen whipped topping beaten together. Return to freezer until serving time.

Reviews

[Trixyinaz]

This cake was very very easy, but I didn't think it tasted like the DQ cakes at all. #1, the frosting isn't anything like DQ. It was too soft and runny to work with and spread on the cake. By time I got to the 2nd half of the cake to ice it, the 1st half was melting. (not the cake, just the frosting - look at the bowling cake in the pictures). I was very disappointed and should have gone with my first instinct to change the frosting to something that I knew would resemble the DQ cake more, not only in taste but in appearance. The boarder, writing and image on the bowling cake cake were made from buttercream icing and when you got a bit of that and the ice cream, it tasted more like the DQ cake. After this cake I was in our local DQ a and made some inquiries. What they use for the frosting is a non-dairy whipped icing. When I asked if it had ice cream in it, she said no. #2, the Oreos in the center do not taste anything like the “crunch� that is in the DQ cake. While it is good with Oreos, it isn’t the same and #3 it definitely needed more Oreos and chocolate fudge topping even tho I used an 18 oz. jar. Next time I would use 2 packages of Oreo's and 2 jars of fudge topping. Overall, a good cake that got lots of good reviews from our party guests, but I definitely would not call this a DQ knock-off cake. I’ll definitely be making this again, but with the desperately needed changes as noted above to make it more like a DQ cake. Thanks! UPDATE: Made this for a friend this past weekend and used Rich's Bettercream for the icing (Happy Birthday Emma Cake in the photos). Not exactly like DQ's frosting, but it was much better than the coolwhip/ice cream frosting in the recipe. The BetterCream was PERFECT. If you can find it, use it. I get mine at Gordon's. It's like cool whip, but better! You can color it and decorate with it too. One thing I did differently this time was I used my food processor to crush the oreo's. DON'T DO IT! It comes out to fine of a crumb and when cut, the crumbs fall everywhere and your cake doesn't stay intact. I'll be making this again, but with my changes. Thanks!

[sissylyne]

I didn't try your recipe but I know a lot about dq cakes. I worked in a dq for 4 years, I made a huge amount of cakes in that time. I would freeze the pans first(there was no top or bottom on pans). Then put a ring of vanilla all the way to the top (around the rim). That is so you only see vanilla ice cream from the outside. Then put chocolate ice cream at the bottom to about half way up. {Then for the cookie layer, it is called krunch with cold fudge. The best description of krunch is a plain chocolate wafer cookie. It is the same type used for treatza pizzas and the wafer of their ice cream sandwiches. Now most dqs use a pre made insert for the cookie layer but you can just blend krunch and cold fudge to make it.} Place a thin layer on top of chocolate then finish with vanilla. I would scrape the top smooth and then freeze in the pan, later I would let it sit out 5-15 min to soften, for pan removal then scrape the sides for the line pattern. Refreeze then decorate. I think heavy whipping cream was used for that. We wouldn't use gel that often for writing since it looks horrible when frozen.

[princessbaldy]

This recipe is wonderful! Based on other reviews, I used the whipped cream frosting recipe, and it worked perfectly. Also, because of the comments from other reviewers on the Oreo layer, I added 1/2 c. of melted butter to the crushed Oreos before spreading them on the first ice cream layer. That combined with the Mrs. Richardson hot fudge topping I used (1.5 jars) tastes just like a DQ cake. I'll be making this again without a doubt.