Vegan Banana Split Ice Cream Cake

♫ Listening to: Goodbye by Echosmith ♫

Do you love someone enough to spend a week making them a cake for their birthday? If so, then read on. If not, then close your computer and go find someone to love! This recipe makes a 3” tall, 10” round ice cream cake.

Layer 1: Vegan Banana Split Ice Cream Cake Crust Ingredients

• An 8-ounce package of Newman O’s (or Oreos if you eat them)
• 4 tablespoons vegan butter or margarine (I like the organic whipped earth balance)* or coconut oil

Layer 1: Vegan Banana Split Ice Cream Cake Crust Directions

Crush the Newman O's cookies into crumbs using any number of methods. I used a food processor but some people use a ziplock bag and a rolling pin.

Melt 4 tablespoons of vegan butter or coconut oil.

Combine them both and mix well (I used a food processor but you can use your hands).

Press the cookie crust into the bottom of a springform pan lined with parchment paper (if you don’t mind cutting your cake on the springform pan, you can skip the parchment paper) .

Chill the crust in the freezer.

Layer 2: Banana

Slice 2-3 bananas thinly, and cover the entire cookie crust with sliced bananas, overlapping each one slightly.

Freeze the 2 bottom layers.

Layer 3: Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Ice Cream

Follow this recipe to make the cookie dough ice cream.

Add churned ice cream immediately to your ice cream cake. If you made the ice cream in advance, set it in the fridge for 30 minutes to soften, and then use your stand mixer with a paddle attachment to soften it before spreading onto the cake.

Layer 4: Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies

For this recipe, I used this recipe, but I used mini chocolate chips, omitted the sprinkles, made the cookies really small, and baked them for only 7 minutes. You can make these cookies up to a week in advance of making your ice cream cake, and then just keep the cookies in a sealed tupperware in the freezer until you’re ready to use them. Layer the cookies across the cookie dough ice cream. It’s okay for there to be gaps. (I might have accidentally eaten one of them.)

Freeze the ice cream and cookie layer for at least an hour.

Layer 5: Vegan Moose Tracks Ice Cream

Follow this recipe to make the moose tracks ice cream.

Add immediately to your ice cream cake. If you’re making this in advance, transfer the ice cream from the ice cream maker into a tupperware and freeze for up to 3 weeks until you’re ready to make your ice cream cake. When you’re ready to use it, set it in the fridge for 30 minutes to soften, and then use your stand mixer or a handheld electric mixer to soften it before spreading onto the cake.

Layer 6: Banana

Slice 2 bananas thinly (no thicker than ½ an inch), and cover the entire chocolate ice cream layer with sliced bananas, overlapping each one slightly.

Freeze the 6 layers you have completed so far.

Layer 7: Vegan Chocolate Ice Cream Ingredients

• 1 ½ cups nondairy milk (I used almond milk)
• 1 can coconut milk (Whole Foods organic 365 brand is fairly cheap)
• ¾ cup organic or raw sugar*
• 3 tablespoons arrowroot powder (or sub organic cornstarch)*
• ¾ cup cocoa powder
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Layer 7: Vegan Chocolate Ice Cream Directions

Whisk the arrowroot powder with ¼ cup almond milk. Add 1 tablespoon vanilla. Whisk again. Set aside.

Stir the sugar, remaining nondairy milk, coconut milk, and cocoa powder in a saucepan over medium heat.

Once the ingredients in the saucepan start to boil, remove from heat and whisk in the arrowroot powder mixture.

Leave on counter covered until it cools to room temperature.

Chill in the refrigerator for 4 hours or overnight.

Pour the chilled chocolate ice cream into an ice cream maker and start churning immediately.

Churn the ice cream until it’s a thick consistency.

Add immediately to your ice cream cake. If you’re making this in advance, transfer the ice cream from the ice cream maker into a tupperware and freeze for up to 3 weeks until you’re ready to make your ice cream cake. When you’re ready to use it, set it in the fridge for 30 minutes to soften, and then use your stand mixer or a handheld electric mixer to soften it before spreading onto the cake.

Smooth the top using an offset spatula or whatever you have. This layer is the most important layer to have smooth and even on the top since this will be the top of your cake. This is why it’s good to use a flavor without large chunks for the top layer. (I learned this the hard way as you can see in the photos below where there’s a large peanut butter cup in the top layer, making the cake uneven on top.)

Freeze the ice cream layer for an hour.

Layer 8: Vegan Penguin Coat Ingredients

• 1 ½ cups (a 12 ounce bag) of vegan chocolate chips
• 2 tablespoons coconut oil

Layer 8: Vegan Penguin Coat Directions

Melt the vegan chocolate chips and coconut oil in a double boiler until completely smooth.

Cool to room temperature.

Pour over the chocolate ice cream (layer 7) and freeze until firm.

Vegan Whipped Cream Topping

Follow part 2 of this recipe (about halfway down the page) to make the whipped cream topping. If you don’t have access to coconut cream, some people chill a can of coconut milk in the fridge overnight and when you open it, the liquid is usually separated from the cream, so you can just use the thick cream part and discard the liquid (or save for a smoothie).

Chill for 10-15 minutes before spreading all over the entire ice cream cake.

Reserve ½ cup of whipped cream to pipe on top for cherry garnish, and put into a small piping bag fitted with a cute Wilton star tip 1M or any tip you like best.

Vegan Banana Split Ice Cream Cake Garnishes

• Tillen Farms Merry Maraschino cherries
• Vegan sprinkles

Decorating the Vegan Banana Split Ice Cream Cake

Remove the cake from the springform pan by shimmying a silicone spatula down the sides to help it loosen. Set a plate on top of the cake and flip the cake upside down onto the plate to remove the sides and bottom of the springform, and then flip it back over the correct way, onto the cake plate you wish to serve from. If the springform ring or the bottom doesn’t easily come off after unlatching it, soak a kitchen towel in hot water and press it against the metal of the springform until lifts off.

Freeze the cake for an hour before starting to decorate.

Cover the cake with whipped cream so that you can no longer see any spots that aren’t covered.

Cover the entire cake in rainbow jimmies or any vegan sprinkles you like.

Freeze the cake for another 30-60 minutes.

Fill a piping bag with the remaining whipped cream and chill.

Set cherries on a kitchen rag to dry off while you wait for the whipped cream to chill.

Pipe swirls of whipped cream around the perimeter of the top of the cake (or wherever you want really). Make them large enough to set a cherry on.

Top each whipped swirl with a cherry.

Freeze the cake for another 30-60 minutes before serving.

Disclaimer: I used a hot fudge recipe instead of penguin coat on this version, so that’s why it looks like a hot mess. We can just pretend I did it on purpose to be like the 385,942 bloggers making overflowing smoothies on the internet. Let this be your lesson to never use hot fudge in an ice cream cake. If you want to see what an ice cream cake looks like if you use penguin coat, check out this strawberry ice cream cake recipe.

When you’re ready to cut the cake, dip a large knife into a tall jar of the hottest water and dry off between each cut.

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* I use mostly organic ingredients when I cook, but I realize that not everyone has the disposable income to purchase all organic ingredients. Therefore, I only specify organic on the ingredients that really matter - when buying the organic version is the only way to ensure that the item is vegan.