This is yet another no-bake recipe for you to use when it’s just too hot to turn on your oven. I found this recipe years ago when I signed up for a Recipe-A-Day email list. It’s not the most frugal recipe ever (brownies or some other baked good will usually be cheaper), but it’s a lot cheaper than a prepared ice cream cake is, especially if you manage to find ice cream on a good sale.
This makes a fairly large cake so if you have a small family, you might want to cut the recipe in half. You’ll end up with a shorter cake, but it still tastes just as good.
The recipe calls for a springform pan, which is what I use, but if you don’t have one, you could just use a 9×13 pan and cut the cake into squares instead of wedges.
Ice Cream Crunch Cake
6 cups Rice Krispies
12 oz. package chocolate chips
2/3 cup peanut butter
1 gallon of ice cream, whatever flavor you like, so long as it goes with peanut butter and chocolate
1) Combine peanut butter and chocolate chips in a saucepan and stir over low heat until the chocolate chips are melted.
2) Pour the chocolate mixture over the Rice Krispies and stir gently until the cereal is thoroughly coated. Pour the cereal out onto a jelly roll pan (or a cookie sheet), and let it cool.
Since my house was awfully warm on the day I made this, I ended up having to put mine in the freezer to get it to firm up. It should be hard enough so that you can crumble it into chunks. Like, this hard:
3) Soften the ice cream, and once you’ve broken all of your chocolate cereal mixture up into smallish chunks, fold all but one cup into the softened ice cream. Pour/press the mixture into a 9-inch springform pan. Mine is 8 inches, but it works fine.
Alternatively, you can layer different flavors of ice cream. For the cake in the next photo, I put the cereal mixture in the bottom, topped it with plain vanilla ice cream, and topped that with chocolate ice cream mixed with the cereal mixture. I then topped the whole cake with more cereal mixture.
4) Sprinkle/press the remaining chocolate cereal on top of the ice cream cake, cover with plastic wrap, and freeze until firm.
5) When you’re ready to serve your cake, loosen the sides of the springform pan and slice the cake into wedges. If the cake is really hard and difficult to slice, you can let it sit for a few minutes so that it will soften.
The original recipe says to garnish the cake with whipped cream and strawberries, but I’ve never bothered with that. I think it’s just fine as is. 
I’m adding a photo with text down here for you Pinterest people.
{ 19 comments… read them below or add one }
This looks so yummy! I never knew that there was a recipe to make an ice cream cake! Who knew!
Oh wow, that looks so good, even in the middle of winter!
Just in time for my daughter’s birthday! Thanks!
I am really excited about this recipe. I am going to surprise my kids this weekend.
Yum… that looks good! I’ve made a similar cake in my springform pan by first making a graham-cracker crust, and the filling it with softened ice cream and topping with chocolate sauce or something similar. My son does not particularly like cake or brownies (don’t ask me… I can’t explain why!) so I’m always looking for recipes for things that he might like.
That looks so yummy!! One question, is there anything you can substitute for the peanut butter? My son has peanut and tree nut allergies so we can’t use peanut butter, almond butter, etc. I don’t think SunButter (made with sunflower seeds) would be very good in it
Thanks!
Franci, I always forget it’s freezing cold where you are! lol
Linda, oddly enough, I was just thinking about that today. I bet that you could just use straight chocolate chips, or maybe mix in a few teaspoons of butter. If you try it, let me know how it works, and I’ll add a note. That could be useful if you wanted to use something like black cherry ice cream, which wouldn’t taste good with peanut butter.
THANK YOU KRISTEN for anything NON BAKE during these sweltering summer days in the southeast! This looks great. Can’t wait to try it!
Here is another ice cream cake suggestion we have used before:
Unwrap a box of ice cream sandwiches (rectangular) and put them in the bottom of a 9×13 pan. You may need to cut some to fit. Cover with a layer of cool whip, and, cut into squares,and serve. Can also make it a double decker if you ahve enough ice cream sandwiches. My kids are happy with this version of an ice cream store cake.
That looks absolutely delicious. I will have to try it out. My favorite kind of cake is ice cream cake, particularly that crunchy chocolate bottom!
Off to a birthday party, keeping my fingers crossed for an ice cream!
Another recipe to add to my peanut butter/chocolate combination files… thanks!
Just an added note, I have an aunt who has celiac disease (gluten intolerance) and she says this recipe is gluten free.
There is nothing better than chocolate and peanut butter!
Just thought of something totally unrelated to this post ha ha, I am ok with not seeing your groceries posted in a pic., but guess what i will miss seeing? the childrens’ stuffed animals in the pics! So Sweet!!!!!!!!!!!
This Cake is So Pretty & Fancy !
Gonna Make this for My Brothers BDay.
Do you Remember the Watermellon Ice cream
cake ?
Green color IceCream Put into a Bowl then
a Bowl in to the Green Icecream to make the
Shape stay & Freeze.
Then take out & remove the Inner bowl.
& Add Red Color IceCream or Sherbert
with some Choc Chips to look like seeds.
& Freeze again .
Then Slice n Seever
Yum! I’m going to make this soon. Thanks.
hi,
i have a question,
since you are using peanut butter, what can I replace it with?
my child and i know others are allergic to peanut butter but cake sounds awesome.
please advise
You can actually use just chocolate chips if you’d like…when I’ve done that, I’ve just added another 2/3 cup of chocolate chips and left the peanut butter out entirely.
thanks! will do that!