Neapolitan Ice Cream Cake

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease a 9-inch cake pan that’s at least 2 inches high. Remove the two cartons of ice cream from the freezer and allow to soften at room temperature.
2. First you’re going to create your chocolate cake layer. Beat the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt together in the bowl of a stand mixer (or just a large bowl).
3. In a separate bowl, whisk the buttermilk, vegetable oil, eggs, and vanilla extract. Add these wet ingredients to the dry ingredients; mix to combine. Pour the coffee into the batter and beat until batter is smooth. Stop to scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl before giving one final mix.
4. Pour the cake batter into the prepared cake pan and bake for approximately 35 to 40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
5. Meanwhile, line two 9-inch cake pans with plastic wrap. To keep the plastic wrap from moving around, you can tape the plastic to the outside of the pan. Pour the softened vanilla ice cream into one plastic wrap-lined pan, and then the softened strawberry ice cream into the second plastic wrap-lined pan. Spread and smooth out each until they’re even layers in their pans. Cover each with a sheet of plastic wrap and freeze until firm (about 2 hours).
6. Once your chocolate cake is done baking, allow the cake to cool in its pan before flipping it out onto a freezer-safe serving dish. Let it cool completely on this dish. Once the ice cream layers are firm again, remove the plastic wrap that was covering each ice cream layer’s surface. Flip the strawberry layer on top of the chocolate cake layer. Then flip the vanilla layer on top of the chocolate layer. Cover the entire cake with a large piece of plastic wrap and freeze while you create your whipped cream frosting.
7. Before you create the frosting, create some ganache by heating 2 tbsp of heavy cream in small saucepan just until the edges begin to bubble. Remove from the heat and add 1 oz of dark chocolate. Stir until chocolate melts. Allow the ganache to cool before using. Alternatively, you can use chocolate syrup.
8. To create the frosting, whisk the heavy cream on high speed until soft peaks form. Add in the powdered sugar and vanilla extract. Whisk again until stiff peaks form. Put about 1/2 a cup of frosting into a pastry bag with a star tip.
9. Bring the cake back onto your counter and use an offset spatula to frost the top and sides of the cake with frosting. You want to work fast to prevent the ice cream from melting. If you find the ice cream is melting, quickly put the cake back into the freezer (without the plastic wrap) and let it firm up again for another 15 minutes.
10. Stick the whipped cream frosting in the fridge to keep cool too. Pipe swirls along the top rim of the cake before sprinkling pink, brown, and gold sprinkles over the swirls. Stick the cake back in the freezer for 2 minutes. Take the cake out and drizzle the ganache (or chocolate syrup) over the swirls. Then place in the freezer until ready to serve.