A few weeks ago we were at a birthday party and they served a Kit Kat m&ms cake. This is apparently a thing, but I didn’t know that at the time. Do a google image search and you’ll see what I mean.

When Rose saw the cake she said “I want THAT for my birthday.” I asked if I could make it for her and she hesitated. Having grown up in a family that likes to cook from scratch, Rose covets all things store-bought. I knew she was wanting the supermarket cake, plastic cover and all.

I offered to make it for her with ice cream instead of cake, and it was a done deal. The cake is surprisingly easy to make, it has a lot of parts but none of them are tricky or take long – not even the hot fudge. I’m excited to share it with you!

recipe and process updated 10/20/19 

• Kit Kat M&Ms Ice Cream Cake •
makes one 8″ cake which serves about 16

Ingredients:
Cake & Assembly
2 quarts of good quality ice cream*
1 approx. 1lb bag m&ms
10 4-stick kit kat bars

Chocolate Crumbs
36 Famous Chocolate Wafers
4 tablespoons butter, melted

Hot Fudge (adapted from the New York Times)
1 cup heavy cream
2 tablespoons butter
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup chocolate chips
1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder, sifted
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

*We used Chocolate and Coffee Cookies n Cream from JP Licks. The cheaper store bought kinds are probably too airy to make good ice cream cake layers.

Equipment:
Two 8″ cake pans
One 8″ springform cake pan
Parchment paper

Make the ice cream cake layers. Line the bottoms of two 8″ cake pans with parchment paper. Leave your ice cream out until it gets soft, but not too soft, about 20 minutes worked for us. Mush the ice cream into the pans, one pan per quart and flatten it as much as you can. Freeze until rock hard, for several hours or overnight.

On the day you want to serve the cake, make the chocolate crumbs. Crush your 36 famous wafers into fine crumbs and mix with the 4 tablespoons of butter. Set aside.

Make the hot fudge. In a small saucepan, combine cream, butter & sugar. Bring to a simmer over medium-low heat. Simmer 45 seconds. Add chocolate chips, and whisk to dissolve. Remove from heat, add cocoa, and whisk until smooth. Return pan to low heat, and simmer sauce until glossy, whisking constantly, 20 seconds. Remove from heat, and stir in vanilla. Set aside to cool to lukewarm/room temperature.

When ready to assemble the cake, grease an 8″ springform pan and press half of the chocolate crumbs into the bottom. Take one of the ice cream cake layers out of the freezer and carefully run a knife dipped in hot water around the edge, flip the cake pan onto a plate and tap the bottom, the cake should pop out. Peel off the parchment and lay the ice cream cake layer on top of the crumbs in the springform pan. Pour the rest of the chocolate crumbs on top of your ice cream cake layer. Remove the second cake layer from the freezer, remove from pan (as above) and place it in the springform pan on top of the crumbs and first layer. Press the whole cake down firmly into the pan using a piece of parchment, to kind of congeal it together and pop it back in the freezer for at least an hour.

Break your kit kats into two-stick pieces. Take the cake out of the freezer and carefully remove the sides of the springform pan, leaving the cake on the bottom of the pan. Put the cake on a serving dish (don’t use a tall cake stand unless you have a lot of vertical space in your freezer) and glue each pair of kit kats vertically to the side of the cake using a thick shmear of hot fudge to adhere them. Once the kit kats are glued all around the outside of the cake, drizzle the remaining hot fudge over the top layer and pour in the m&ms. 

Freeze until ready to serve. You will need to use an ice pick or other sharp, pointy object to make holes for the candles.

Enjoy!