Ice Cream Cupid
If you have been reading this blog for any amount of time, you will know that Valentine’s Day in my house is not celebrated with chocolates and champagne. Valentine’s Day is all about ice cream.

We’ve done sundaes and root beer floats. We’ve done multi-layer ice cream pies and straight up ice cream cones. This year I want to do a recipe that I love but haven’t had an occasion to make in a while. This Valentine’s Ice Cream Cake is not difficult, and you can use whatever assortment of ingredients inspires you. Your choice of flavors and candies or toppings will depend on the taste buds of your valentine, and individualizing the cake is fun.

The concept is pretty simple. You layer the ice cream of choice and pound cake with your favorite toppings (a.k.a. roughly cut candies, sauce, nuts, toasted coconut…you get the idea, think ice cream sundae). The basic recipe came from The Pioneer Woman, and I have adapted it to my personal tastes.

So, feel free to get wacky with the flavors and go all out with the combinations. Because our ice cream selection at Piedmont Grocery is fairly large, I have had the opportunity to come up with some great ideas. And you can get really creative.

The basic recipe is below, followed by a few of my favorite variations. Happy Valentine’s Day!

Valentine’s Ice Cream Cake

Basic recipe
Ingredients
1 pound cake, Frozen or Fresh can be regular or the chocolate version
1 cup vanilla ice cream, slightly softened
1/2 cup first topping
1 cup chocolate ice cream, slightly softened
1/2 cup second topping
1 cup mint ice cream, slightly softened
Chocolate shell ice cream sauce (the type that hardens), or something more fudgey if you want it gooey-er

Directions
Line a loaf pan with plastic wrap, allowing several inches to hang out over the sides. You need enough to wrap over the cake, and eventually to lift the cake out of the pan.

Using a long knife, carefully slice the pound cake horizontally into 3 pieces.

Place the first slice in the loaf pan. And, cover the cake layer with the first cup of ice cream, followed by the 1/2 cup of toppings.

Add a second layer of cake and cover with the next ice cream flavor, followed by three-quarters of the second topping (reserve some for the top of the cake).

Place the last layer of cake on top, followed by the last ice cream flavor. Cover the cake with the chocolate shell sauce or regular chocolate sauce, and decoratively sprinkle the remainder of the topping over the cake.

Let the shell sauce (if using) set for a few seconds, then fold over the plastic wrap and place in the freezer until frozen (about 4 hours).

When ready to serve, pull back the plastic wrap, gently lift the cake out. and peel off the wrapping completely. Slice to serve.

Variations
Apple Pie A La Mode
1 pound cake, Frozen or Fresh
1 cup Talenti Caramel Apple Pie ice cream, slightly softened
½ cup Le Caramel Sea Salt caramel Cream
1 cup McConnell’s Sweet Cream ice cream, slightly softened
1/2 cup chopped pecans
1 cup Talenti Caramel Apple Pie ice cream, slightly softened

Coffee Lovers
1 pound cake, Chocolate
1 cup Humphrey Slocombe Vietnamese Coffee  ice cream, slightly softened
½ cup roughly chopped Chocolate Covered Coffee Beans
1 cup McConnell’s Turkish Coffee ice cream, slightly softened
1/2 cup Stonewall Bittersweet Chocolate Sauce
1 cup McConnell’s Sweet Cream ice Cream, slightly softened

Berry Cheesecake
1 pound cake, Frozen or Fresh
1 cup Ben & Jerry’s Strawberry Cheesecake ice cream , slightly softened
½ cup Sliced Fresh Strawberries and/or raspberries
1 cup Honeymoon Strawberry tarragon ice cream, slightly softened
1/2 cup Fran’s Raspberry Sauce
1 cup Talenti Tahitian Vanilla ice cream, slightly softened