I absolutely LOVE Memorial Day weekend. It’s like all the good things in the world come together in one weekend. I look forward to this three day weekend at the start of May. Not only is it my birthday weekend, but it’s also the unofficial start of summer, the start of outdoor grilling and parties with friends, and just all around good times.
If I had a lake anywhere near me, I’d be down at the lake all the time, just so I could say, “I’m going down to the lake!” That feels like an ultra summer thing to say. Lake or no lake, I feel a beautiful summer coming on.
And as if I couldn’t get more excited, I’ve discovered I can make ice cream cupcakes! These little gems are really easy to throw together and you can make them with any flavor combination you can imagine. The only slight downside is that they melt (as ice cream tends to do) when they’re not in the freezer. Melting won’t be too much of an issue because these don’t tend to stick around long. I’ve already eaten 5, and the party isn’t until Sunday.
How to Assemble Ice Cream Cupcakes
Start with cupcakes. I made mine mini cupcakes in a tiny muffin pan, making 2 bite ice cream cupcakes. You can use a regular sized cupcake pan if you like! You’ll just have bigger treats.
Make any sort of cupcake batter you like. I used cake mix (gasp!) because… I just did. Spray the muffin tins with nonstick spray. Fill the muffin tins only half as full as you normally would. For the mini muffin tins, this means using a little less than a teaspoon of batter. For the regular muffin tins, this means using about 1 Tablespoon of batter. Bake cupcakes at 350 degrees F and check them after 8 minutes.
Remove the cupcakes from the oven, let cool in their tins for 15 minutes. Loosen the cupcakes by running a knife along the edges of the muffin cups. Make sure that none of the cupcakes stick to the pan, but keep the cupcakes in the cupcake pan, cover with plastic wrap and put in the freezer for 3 hours, or overnight is best.
Remove the cupcakes from the freezer when you’re ready to use them. If some of the cupcakes have domed up while cooking, remove them from their cup and use a small serrated knife to even out the top of the cupcake. Ideally, you’d like to have 1/2-inch little cupcake bottoms.
Remove the ice cream from the freezer to let soften before filling cupcake tins. Leave on the counter for 10minutes or defrost in the microwave. When ice cream is softened, use a quick hand to spoon and flatten ice cream on top of the cake. It’s a little messy, but don’t worry about that. When all of the cakes are topped with ice cream, return to the freezer to harden. I left my ice cream cupcakes in the freezer over night, but give them at least 4 hours.
Be creative and top your cupcakes with anything you like. Whipped cream, chocolate ganache or caramel would be lovely.
To remove the ice cream cupcakes from their tins, warm a small sharp knife under hot running water. Run the warm knife along the edges of the ice cream cupcake until it’s easily lifted out of it’s tin. This isn’t too hard a process, mine practically jumped out. Place the cupcakes on a plate and return to the freezer for 15 minutes.
Remove from freezer and apply whatever topping and decoration suits your fancy. I chose chocolate ganache and colored jimmies. Apply the topping and decoration quickly and return to freezer on the dish you’d like to serve them on. When ready to serve, remove from freezer and eat promptly!
Update: If you’d like to make ice cream cupcakes in cupcake liners, I wrote another tutorial. Here it is!
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Got quick ? .what kind of cake mix did u use? Homemade or by box? Didn’t the cupcakes freeze when you left the in the freezer? How did they not get hard?
Geez, talk about EASY to make and a plethora of flavor possibilities!
I absolutely love this recipe and the picture makes me want to eat my monitor!!!!!!
I’m going to make these but with ALL Chocolate ingredients.
THANK!!! :)
These look amazing. What a great idea! I would love to try this with brownie instead of cake & raspberry ice cream…yum.
YUM! Cant wait to make these for my 2 year old daughter…she (obviously) LOVES ice cream!!!
Wow, these were fantastic! I made mine with lemon cake, vanilla icecream and chocolate ganache, and man….seriously, seriously good. You rock!
Mine are freezing away, can’t wait! I made 1/2 with mint chocolate chip and 1/2 with raspberry chocolate chip, I think the moms at our play date will love these as much as the kids, great idea :)
I made these for a party last night and everyone loved them. They were so easy and so delicious!
made them in this heat wave.. used YOUR vanilla cupcake recipe for the base.. then some Hagan Daz Dark Chocolate Raspberry Ice cream.. topped with your ganache.
Fantastic
I am sooo going to make these when I have a kid…if I have a kid!
Simply put, Joy, you are a joy! I will make these up for our gang visiting over Christmas. Thanks for always putting a smile in my day and a recipe in my collection…not to mention filling my tummy!
These are so cute joy! i love them!
I’m getting fat just looking at these!!!
Has anyone tried using crushed cookies instead of the cake base?
i was wondering the same thing. if you try it let us know how it goes. otherwise maybe i will give it a try next weekend.
Wow, what a creative recipe. I love love love ice cream… it’s the downfall of my existence. I can’t say I’d complain about having an ice cream-cupcake-combo mix up in here.
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