Atomic Ice Cream Sandwich Cake was inspired by a South Side Chicago dessert called Atomic Cake. It's a tall cake consisting of a layer of banana cake, banana pudding, yellow cake, glazed strawberries & cream, then chocolate cake with a layer of chocolate fudge, all covered in whipped cream. I love the idea, but a whole Atomic Cake is not exactly practical for the two of us. With an ice cream sandwich cake, we can eat what we want and keep the rest frozen.
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Atomic Ice Cream Sandwich Cake Assembly
Ice cream sandwich cakes can be assembled and served in square pans or stacked high and built in loaves. Since I was modeling mine after a tall Atomic Cake, I used an 8 ½ by 4 ½ inch loaf pan. Because the bottom becomes the top, you work backwards. You start with a thin layer of chocolate fudge sauce, then pile on layers of ice cream sandwiches, strawberries, whipped cream, chocolate ice cream, vanilla wafers, and banana ice cream. Top it off with one more layer of ice cream sandwiches, which ends up being the base once inverted. Phew! That's a lot.
Decorating is fun, but you will need some freezer space so you can take the loaf out and do the multiple layers of whipped cream before the final stage of decorating.
Banana Pudding Ice Cream
One of the best things about Atomic Ice Cream Sandwich Cake is the flavor of the banana ice cream mixed with the chocolate ice cream and the sandwiches. I'm lucky enough to live near a Publix, where they sell their own house brand of banana pudding flavored ice cream that has vanilla wafer chunks in it and actually tastes like banana pudding. But any type of banana ice cream should work.
Recipe
Banana Split Ice Cream Sandwich Cake
Ingredients
- ⅓ cup fudge sauce or chocolate sauce
- 1 box mini ice cream sandwiches (You'll need at least 10)
- 2 cartons thawed frozen whipped topping or make your own Whip and sweeten 12 to 16 oz of heavy cream
- ½ cup strawberry topping or try strawberry pie filling
- 2 cups chocolate ice cream (approximate),softened
- 10 or so vanilla wafers aka Nilla Wafers
- 2 cups banana ice cream (approximate),softened
Instructions
- Line the inside of an 8 ½ by 4 ½ inch loaf pan with plastic wrap, leaving a large overhang on all sides so that you can wrap up the cake later.
- Spoon a layer of fudge sauce across the bottom of the lined pan.
- Lay 5 mini ice cream sandwiches horizontally in the loaf pan over the fudge sauce.
- Spoon a thin layer of whipped topping or whipped cream over the sandwiches, then spoon some strawberry topping over the whipped cream.
- Spread a layer of softened chocolate ice cream directly over the strawberry topping, then add a layer of vanilla wafers. Put back in the freezer to solidify the chocolate ice cream a bit, then repeat, adding a layer of softened banana ice cream. Lay 5 more ice cream sandwiches over the top. These will be the base when the cake is inverted.
- Wrap tightly in plastic and freeze until very cold and firm.
- Remove from the freezer, loosen and lift from pan. Peel back plastic. Cover entire block with a thin layer of whipped cream or whipped topping. This is your crumb layer. Return to freezer until firm. When frozen, remove from the freezer, invert, and cover with a neater layer of whipped cream or whipped topping. Set on a long tray, then cover with plastic wrap and keep very cold until closer to serving time.
- Closer to serving time, spread on a final layer whipped topping, smoothing it so you have a neat block, then decorate it as you wish.
- After you've decorated it you can go ahead and serve it or store it in the freezer. If you freeze it, let it stand for 10 to 20 minutes before serving.
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