Dairy-free Oreo Crunch Ice Cream Cake

This dairy-free oreo crunch ice cream cake has the perfect combination of cool, smooth ice cream combined with a sweet, crispy crunch and topped with the most delicious allergy-friendly sandwich cookies! Honestly, this ice cream cake couldn’t get much better as far as I am concerned! Made with dairy-free ice cream, gluten-free rice crispy cereal, and allergy-friendly chocolate sandwich cookies, this pie is perfect for modern pioneers who have dietary restrictions. You can enjoy this cake relatively guilt free and satisfy your cake craving! It is the perfect no-bake dessert for any summer occasion and is sure to be loved by all ages of modern pioneers!

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Modern Pioneer Recipe

Yup, this cake is through and through a modern pioneer recipe. The early pioneers did make cake, and the homesteaders who followed did make homemade ice cream, but I still don’t think this dairy-free oreo crunch ice cream cake qualifies as a heritage recipe. The chocolate sandwich cookies and rice crispy cereal throw things right off.

As modern pioneers though, we can enjoy making and eating this cake as a modern pioneer privilege! Part of being a modern pioneer means making healthy, sustainable ingredient choices, avoiding processed sugars, and making things from scratch as much as possible. It also means being mindful of what we put in our bodies and how that will effect our health, energy, and attitude.

This dairy-free oreo crunch ice cream cake uses simple ingredients that are sustainable and healthier than refined, processed ingredients. No, everything in this cake is not made from scratch, but it’s okay to splurge every once in a while and make a special treat that is quick, easy, and uses healthier ingredients that you can buy at a local health food store.

I love that this cake is made with healthier ingredients and is allergy-friendly! It is not as allergy-friendly as some of the dessert recipes I share, but it still has its specialties that allow this delicious dessert to fit into various allergy-friendly diets. This oreo crunch ice cream cake is…

• gluten-free
• refined sugar free
• tree nut free
• corn free
• dairy-free
• egg free

So Many Options!

When I had to determine what kind of ice cream cake to make, I was overwhelmed with all the options! There are as many different ice cream cakes out there as there are ice cream flavors! A cake for every preference as far as I am concerned! Narrowing it down to just one cake was so hard!

Thus this dairy-free oreo crunch ice cream cake is really quite flexible when it comes to flavor options. I chose to use chocolate sandwich cookies in this cake because they are my favorite store-bought cookie that I like to splurge and buy ever so often. The crunch part comes in because I saw this great idea of using rice crispy cereal in an ice cream cake to give it some flavor, texture, and crunch! Combining the two ideas made for an insanely pleasant experience!

However, you can also adapt this recipe to your preferences! Try different ice cream flavors, use a different cookie topping, or even experiment with the no-bake crispy base and filling. Here are a few ideas to start with:

• Minty Cake– Ice Cream: mint chip & vanilla; Topping: crushed chocolate mint cookies
• Cookie Dough Cake– Ice Cream: cookie dough & chocolate; Topping: crumbled homemade cookie dough
• Caramel Cake– Ice Cream: caramel & vanilla; Topping: crushed Ocho caramel candy bars
• Peanut Butter Cake– Ice Cream: peanut butter swirl & chocolate; Topping: crushed peanut butter cookies Base: moose bar rice crispy base

Also, make sure you check out this ice cream pie recipe! I love the brownie base and crushed chocolate sandwich cookies on top! It is definitely a fitting rival for this cake and is even more allergy-friendly!

How to Make an Ice Cream Cake

Every year I request an ice cream cake for my birthday, so needless to say my sister and mom are pretty good at making a variety of different ice cream cakes. However, every year they say I should try making an ice cream cake just so I know how hard it is to work with ice cream! Of course, I accepted the challenge and have had experience with making ice cream cookie sandwiches, an ice cream pie, and now this ice cream cake!

Yes, working with ice cream is tricky. But no, it doesn’t have to be hard! Patience is your most useful tool when dealing with ice cream (aside from the freezer). Allowing everything to chill and freeze up is the longest and hardest part of making ice cream based desserts. While I will cover more ice cream cake tips in the Recipe Tips section, I wanted to cover a few fundamental basics when it comes to making an ice cream cake.

Container:

To start with, you must choose a suitable container for your ice cream cake. For this recipe, I use the Pampered Chef ice cream cake pan which was actually on clearance when I bought it. The pan is made with a plastic base and silicon sides that help contain the ice cream when it is soft but can easily be removed for serving purposes. However, you can also make this ice cream cake in a pie plate, a springform pan, a cheesecake pan, or a large loaf pan. A container that is easy to work and will contain the soft ice cream is ideal for an ice cream cake.

Chilled:

When assembling an ice cream cake, you MUST make sure all your elements are cold or frozen. Whether it be the ice cream cake container, the rice crispy base or the cookie topping, it helps to have everything chilled and cold when it comes time to assemble the ice cream cake.

Softened:

Lastly, I think the trickiest part to working with ice cream is getting it just soft enough so that it is spreadable but not too soft that it is like dairy-free ice cream soup. For this part, I recommend letting your ice cream soften in the fridge. By softening it in the fridge you can keep the ice cream cold but still allow it to become soft and workable. Don’t leave it in the fridge too long though! Keep checking the ice cream and use it as soon as it is soft enough for you to manage!

Different ice cream brands will unthaw faster than others. Some dairy-free ice creams are so soft you can use them straight from the freezer and don’t even need to soften them. Other brands definitely need to be allowed to soften before you can easily make them into an ice cream cake.

Serving & Storing

Obviously an ice cream cake needs to be stored in the freezer, so I’m pretty sure I don’t need to go into too many details about that aspect of this dairy-free ice cream cake. However, I will mention that it is important that the ice cream cake be covered when it is in the freezer. Keeping the ice cream cake covered with an air tight lid prevents the cake from getting ice crystals on the top of the cake.

When it comes to serving this dairy-free oreo crunch ice cream cake, there is not right or wrong way! Add more toppings or even serve it with more cookies or ice cream, whatever floats your boat! Or maybe it’s more like how much sugar do you want all at once!? Remember, everything in moderation! Although that sure is hard with this ice cream cake!

Either way, I highly recommend you let the cake soften up just a tad before slicing into it to serve. Again, this might depend on what brand of dairy-free ice cream you use as well as how long it has been allowed to freeze before you serve it. Basically, you want the cake to be relatively easy to slice so that you don’t slaughter its appearances while trying to serve it!

No matter how you serve this cake up, it’s bound to be delicious and loved by all modern pioneers!

Recipe Tips

I already mentioned a few important points to keep in mind when working with an ice cream cake in general, but here are a few more tips that are more specific to this ice cream cake recipe.

• Make sure the rice crispy base is completely chilled before spreading on the first ice cream layer. Also, the first ice cream layer should be allowed to completely re-freeze before adding the second layer.
• Note: If your first layer of ice cream isn’t completely frozen the two flavors will mush together and you won’t have that distinct chocolate/vanilla line. Still totally delicious though!
• I have found that NadaMoo! dairy-free ice cream is pretty easy to work with when it comes to making an ice cream cake. SoDelicious dairy-free needs a little more softening time, but is still totally usable. Coconut Bliss ice cream is pretty soft to start with and has bit more of a coconut flavor. Hudsonville dairy-free ice cream is extremely soft and needs no prior softening time.
• You can make this cake coconut free by using a different kind of dairy-free ice cream alternative, like almond milk ice cream, cashew milk ice cream, or oat milk ice cream.
• For the rice crispy base, you can experiment with using large flake coconut shreds or chopped nuts instead of the brown rice crispy cereal to make a grain-free crunchy base.
• For the crushed cookie topping, feel free to make your own chocolate cookies to sprinkle on the top!

This dairy-free oreo crunch ice cream cake is cool, sweet, and perfectly delicious! It is sure to be a favorite summer dessert amongst modern pioneers of all ages! It’s super fun to make and can easily be stored in the freezer until you are ready to serve it!

Where to Find the Ingredients:

• Gluten-free rice crispy cereal
• Navitas cacao powder
• Nutiva coconut sugar
• Kinnikinnick chocolate sandwich cookies
• Supplies: rectangle cheesecake pan, circle springform pan

I love sharing this dairy-free oreo crunch ice cream cake with my friends and family who have dietary restrictions! It is the perfect dessert for me to bring to summer family gatherings, birthday parties, or special events where I know I need to bring my own allergy-friendly dessert (and may even have to share it too!). This cake has the perfect crispy, crunchy base combined with two flavors of smooth dairy-free cream, and topped with my favorite allergy-friendly chocolate sandwich cookies! If you love ice cream, then you are bound to love this allergy-friendly, no-bake summer cake recipe!

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by Alexa