If you ask me what the best thing is about this sundae cake, it’s not the graham cracker crust – which I could just eat by itself – and not even the super cute caramel-dipped hazelnuts. It’s the salted caramel topping that rounds up the cake and makes a great addition to the vanilla bean and hazelnut ice cream! See how it is running down the cake when it’s cut? Yum!
I am usually all for homemade. But, sometimes you need to whip up an impressive and delicious dessert in a hurry. If you are hosting a dinner party for a bunch of people you don’t want to spend too much time preparing dessert. So I used store bought ice cream instead of making my usual vanilla bean ice cream, and topped the cake with Smucker’s Simple Delight Ice Cream Topping in salted caramel flavor: just heat it in the microwave for a few seconds and pour over your cake or ice cream! It is incredibly good… I am a huge fan of salted caramel in any form but this ice cream topping just swept me off my feet! And it is such a time saver.
As you can see, this ice cream cake is both easy, and it will impress your guests with taste and looks. Ok, the cute little caramel-dipped hazelnuts involve a little more work, but those are optional. And they are easy, much much easier than you think, check out my tutorial here!
Also be sure to check out Smucker’s other decadent toppings!
- 8 graham crackers
- ⅓ cup butter
- ¼ cup hazelnuts, chopped
- 1 pint vanilla bean ice cream
- 1 pint hazelnut ice cream
- ½ cup Smuckers Delight Salted Caramel ice cream topping
- whipped cream
- Optional: caramel-dipped hazelnuts
- - Line the sides of a 6 inch cheesecake pan with heavy clear film.
- - Grind the graham crackers in a food processor and mix with melted butter. Place mixture into the cake pan and firmly push down with a coffee or pie tamper.
- - Place the hazelnut ice cream on the kitchen counter and let stand at room temperature for about 10 minutes.
- - Whisk the ice cream with your electric mixer on low to medium speed for about 30 seconds.
- - Spread the hazelnut ice cream on top of the graham cracker crust and place in the freezer for about 30 mins.
- - Warm up the caramel sauce according to the instructions and mix with the chopped hazelnuts. Set aside until it’s cooled down to room temperature.
- - Spread the caramel-nut mixture on top of the ice cream but make sure not to spread it all the way to the edges of the cake. Freeze for about 15 mins.
- - Place the vanilla bean ice cream on the kitchen counter and let stand at room temperature for about 10 minutes.
- - Whisk the ice cream with your electric mixer on low to medium speed for about 30 seconds.
- - Spread the vanilla bean ice cream on top of the cake and place in the freezer for about 30 mins.
- - Take the cake out of the freezer and make a little dent in the middle of the cake, pour the remaining caramel topping inside. This is important to prevent the topping from running all over the top of the cake.
- - Decorate the cake with whipped cream and caramel-dipped hazelnut
Compensation for this post was provided by The J.M. Smucker Company via AOL Media. The opinions expressed herein are those of the author and are not indicative of the opinions or positions of The J.M. Smucker Company or AOL.
I’m in love. This cake looks like absolute heaven!!! I’m definitely partial towards a graham cracker crust though (: This is such a fun idea for a summer birthday cake and I will for sure be trying it out! Have a great day Melina!
Thank you! It really is heaven this cake 😉
what a gorgeous cake!
Thank you DIna!
I think I love you.
That is all.
TYVM you’ve solved all my prmeobls
Hi
I’m making this beautiful dessert for a birthday luncheon in Texas. I have to transport the finished cake to a location where I will be able to remove it from the springform pan (by the way I doubled it since it’s a large group of 16. I have a few questions. It will need to be almost complete to the stage of the center caramel being added and the whipped cream dollops. I can carry the hazelnuts dipped in caramel separately if they can be made the day before. Our party is Wednesday and I made the ice cream parts to #10 today(Sunday).
Can I add the center caramel sauce now or do I need to do it Wednesday AM? Can I make the dipped hazelnuts Tuesday evening. I’ll be taking the cake at 9AM and will be able to use the freezer but no work space. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated. You photos are gorgeous and my goal is to duplicate it. Thank you so much for the idea. Our birthday boy requested caramel flavored anything and when I saw this I was sure it would wow him.