Animal Cracker Ice Cream Cake Recipes

Steps:

• For the cake: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Coat two 9-inch cake pans and one 9-inch pie dish with cooking spray, then line with parchment and spray the parchment.
• Combine the cake mix and pudding mix in a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and mix on low speed to blend. With the speed still on low, add the oil, egg whites and 1 1/2 cups water and mix until combined. Raise the speed to medium and mix until increased in volume, lighter in color and smooth, about 5 minutes.
• Pour the batter into the prepared pans and smooth the tops with an offset spatula or butter knife. Bake until golden on top and the edges pull away from the pans, about 20 minutes for the pie pan and 25 minutes for the cake pans. Transfer to a rack and let cool completely in the pans, then unmold, remove the parchment and refrigerate until firm, about 30 minutes.
• For the Swiss buttercream: Meanwhile, bring a few inches of water to a boil in a saucepan that can hold a heatproof stand mixer bowl above the water without the bottom of the bowl touching it.
• Add the sugar, lemon juice, salt and egg whites to the mixer bowl and whisk together by hand. Set the bowl above the boiling water and heat, whisking, until the mixture is warm to the touch and the sugar is dissolved. Transfer to the stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment and beat at medium-high speed until cool and the whites hold stiff peaks, 10 to 15 minutes.
• With the motor running on medium-high speed, add the butter a couple of pieces at a time, making sure the pieces are completely incorporated before adding more. After all the butter is added, continue beating on medium-high speed. The mixture will deflate and appear curdled. Continue beating until the buttercream comes back together to form a smooth and spreadable consistency. Slowly drizzle in the vanilla while beating until smooth and light. (If the frosting is very soft or begins to break, refrigerate until set but still spreadable and then beat until light before using.)
• Scoop 2 cups of the buttercream into a medium bowl and mix in 3 drops of deep pink gel food coloring; the buttercream should be the same color as the pink animal crackers. Transfer 1/4 cup of the pink buttercream to a piping bag fitted with a small round piping tip. Cover the remaining pink buttercream in the bowl with plastic wrap.
• Scoop 1/2 cup of the white buttercream into a medium bowl and mix in 1 drop royal blue and 2 drops neon brite green gel food coloring to make teal. Transfer to a piping bag with a small star tip. Transfer 1/4 cup white buttercream to a piping bag fitted with a small round tip. Cover the remaining white buttercream in the bowl with plastic wrap.
• For the assembly: Mix 1 drop pink food coloring into the melted candy. Line a baking sheet with parchment. Put 8 animal crackers--both pink and white--on the baking sheet flat-side up. Spoon a small amount of melted candy onto each cracker and press on a chocolate-covered biscuit stick so the cracker is glued to the top third of the stick. Repeat with 8 more sticks and crackers, attaching the crackers to the bottom third of the sticks. Refrigerate until set, about 5 minutes.
• For the carousel base: If the tops of the cakes have domed, carefully trim them with a long serrated knife so that they are flat on top. Place one of the cake rounds on a 10-inch cake board. Spread the top with 1 cup white buttercream and cover with 3 tablespoons sprinkles. Top with the second cake round. Frost the whole cake with 1 cup white buttercream to crumb coat. Refrigerate until firm, about 30 minutes.
• Frost the cake with the reserved pink buttercream. Pipe white lines of buttercream down the sides of the cake every 2 inches to create panels. Press white animal crackers into every other panel. Pipe a shell border around the top and bottom edge of the cake with the teal buttercream and top the border with sprinkles. Refrigerate the cake until ready to assemble.
• For the carousel top: Wrap a 10-inch cake board with plastic wrap, making sure the plastic on one side is smooth and taut. Place the pie-shaped cake layer on the white side of a 6-inch cake board with the wider side of the cake facing up. Frost the cake with a thick layer of white buttercream. Put the smooth side of the 10-inch board against the top of the cake and flip it over so the 6-inch board is now on top. Frost the angled sides of the cake with white buttercream. Pipe pink buttercream lines down the angled sides every 2 inches, creating panels. Refrigerate until firm, about 30 minutes.
• Place a second 10-inch cake board on top of the 6-inch board and flip the carousel top back over. Gently peel the plastic-covered board off the top. (If you have difficulty doing this, chill the cake 15 minutes more. You can also gently loosen the edge of the buttercream from the plastic using a warm offset spatula). The top of your cake should be flat and smooth.
• Re-melt the melted candy. Pipe a shell border around the edge of the pie-shaped cake with the teal buttercream and top with sprinkles. With kitchen shears, trim 4 strawberry cream-covered biscuit sticks to 3 inches, gather them in a bundle and press them into the top of the center of the cake; they should stand upright like a column. Dip the coated ends of 10 strawberry biscuits in the melted candy and insert the uncoated ends around the rim of the cake, angling the sticks toward the center column like the spokes of a wheel. Dip the bottom of the gumdrop in the melted candy and affix to the top of the column. Refrigerate until ready to assemble.
• For the center column: Spread 1 teaspoon of white buttercream in the center of a second 6-inch cake board and top with a doughnut. Spread it with buttercream, add another doughnut, more buttercream and the last doughnut. Insert 3 chocolate biscuit sticks through the center holes of the doughnuts and trim to the height of the doughnut stack. Refrigerate until firm, about 30 minutes.
• Frost the doughnut stack with white buttercream. Press 8 strawberry biscuit sticks against the side of the doughnut stack 1 inch apart. Press 6 animal crackers into the buttercream between the biscuit sticks, using a little buttercream to get them to adhere if necessary. Refrigerate until firm, about 30 minutes.
• To assemble: Carefully transfer the doughnut stack to the middle of the carousel base. Insert the cookie sticks with the animal crackers around the rim of the cake, alternating heights and pushing them 1 inch into the cake. Carefully transfer the top of the carousel to rest on top of the doughnuts (leave the 6-inch board on the underside for support).
• Serve the cake on a lazy Susan or rotating cake stand. To serve, remove the carousel top and cut the base into wedges.

Steps:

• Preheat oven according package instructions.
• Prepare the cake mix as per package instructions. Divide the mix, putting roughly 1/3rd of the mix in another bowl. Into the smaller amount, add pink food dye and mix in until desired color. Divide the white batter into two greased and parchment bottomed 8-inch cake pans. Drop the pink batter into the white batter in small spoonfuls and then marble the pink into the white using a skewer or butter knife. Bake cakes, cooking until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool.
• Remove the cakes from the pan, leaving the parchment round on the bottom of one of the cakes, and level off the tops of both cakes. Place the parchment bottomed cake back into the pan and spread the softened ice cream into an even layer. Invert the second cake, so that the bottom is the top of the cake, and place on top. Place in freezer for 4-6 hours, until ice cream is frozen.
• In a large bowl, beat the butter until light and fluffy. Gradually add the sugar, and then add the cream and vanilla. Beat until completely smooth.
• Remove the cake from the freezer gently run a knife or spatula around the ice cream and remove to a cake round. On a lazy susan, if you have one, lightly frost the cake with a crumb coat. Place back in the freezer for 15 minutes. Remove from freezer and frost normally. Do not worry if the frosting is not perfect. Place the cake in the freezer while you prepare the drip. Transfer the remaining frosting to a piping bag.
• In a small bowl, melt the candy melts in 15 second intervals in the microwave until completely smooth. Thin the candy melts with 1 tablespoon vegetable oil. The candy melts need to be thin enough to drip but thick enough to give control over the process. Transfer to a squeeze bottle and test on a plate held sideways, thinning with additional vegetable oil if necessary.
• Remove the cake from the freezer and slowly pipe the circumference of the cake, stopping and applying extra as to drip down edges. Remove top from bottle and pour the remaining mixture over the top and spread out to edges. While soft, stand animal crackers into top and sprinkle with rainbow sprinkles and 1⁄2 of the crushed animal crackers. Pipe remaining buttercream frosting around bottom edge and decorate with additional sprinkles and animal cracker crumbs. Keep in freezer until ready to serve.

Steps:

• For the dough: Add the granulated sugar and butter to the bowl of an electric mixer and beat until smooth. Add the vanilla and egg and beat again, scraping the sides of the bowl halfway through. Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl. Alternate adding the dry ingredients and the milk to the mixer until the dough comes together. Flatten the dough into a disc and put it in a plastic bag. Refrigerate until chilled, about 2 hours.
• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper or baking mats.
• Roll out the dough to 1/4 inch thick and cut out as many cookies as you can in a variety of animal shapes. Place the cookies on the prepared baking sheets and bake until they're just barely done, 8 to 10 minutes; you want them to be set, but not brown. Let the cookies cool completely before decorating.
• For the frosting: Sift the powdered sugar into a bowl, add the food coloring and 1/4 cup cold water and stir to combine
• Transfer the cookies to a cooling rack set over a baking sheet and drizzle the frosting over them. Let the frosting dry before serving the cookies, about 2 hours.