Root Beer Float Ice Cream Cake!

Best Idea Ever. I saw this recipe on foodbuzz.com and HAD to try it out. And since my father-in-law is pretty much the Root Beer Float King, and his birthday was last week...it was perfect.

I was surprised at how much the root beer really flavors the cake. AND probably my favorite thing was the way my kitchen smelled as it was baking. Heavenly!

Be Warned: This makes for a sticky, sticky cake. Light, moist, delicious, but sticky! Refrigerate the cakes before you try to take them out of the cake pan. Don't try to plop the cake out onto a cooling rack like I did with the first one; the cake stuck to the cake pan AND stuck to the cooling rack AND stuck to the plate I tried to invert it onto and ended up a big mess. (I squished it into the ice cream layer before re-freezing the ice cream layer and that saved it.) The second cake was much easier to get out of the pan after having been refrigerated and much easer to transfer around with the use of a sheet of wax paper.

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1 box white cake mix
1 12 oz can/bottle root beer (diet or regular)
abt 4 cups vanilla ice cream
16 oz Cool Whip (2 small containers or 1 big one)

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Spray two 9-inch round cake pans with cooking spray; set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk together cake mix and soda until almost all the lumps are gone. Divide cake batter evenly between cake pans and bake for 16 to 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Refrigerate to cool (you can even cool the cake layers in the freezer.)

While cake is cooling, prepare ice cream layer: Line an 9-inch cake pan with wax paper and press ice cream down into pan. Put this layer in the freezer until firm, about 1 hour.

Once ice cream has hardened and cakes have cooled, you can begin to build your cake.

Place first layer down on a cake plate. Top cake with ice cream layer by turning wax papered ice cream upside down over cake and then peeling wax paper. Top ice cream with second layer of cake and press down lightly. Re-freeze cake until ice cream is well frozen again, about 20 minutes.

Ice entire cake with cool whip and refreeze until cool whip is set. Slice and serve.

Store leftovers in the freezer covered tightly with saran wrap for two weeks.


(Apologies for no pictures, I was too stressed about getting to Bill's parent's on time with a frozen rather than a melted ice cream cake!)