I Tried the Fruity Pebbles Ice Cream Cake Recipe and It Gave Me More Baking Confidence than I Imagined
Cake ingredients: 1 cup (heaping) Fruity Pebble Cereal, 1 ½ cups (285g) granulated sugar, ½ cup (118 ml) vegetable oil, 3 large eggs, 1 tablespoon (14.8 ml) pure vanilla extract, ½ cup(118 ml) sour cream, 2 ½ cups (350 g) all-purpose flour, 3 teaspoons (11.2 g) baking powder, 1 teaspoon (5 g) salt, 1 ¼ cups (296 ml) milk (I use nonfat)
Ice cream: 8 ounces (226g) full-fat cream cheese at room temperature, 1 ½ cups Fruity Pebbles cereal, 1 ½ cups (354ml) heavy whipping cream, ¼ cup (32g) powdered sugar, ¼ cup (48g) granulated sugar, 1 teaspoon (5g) vanilla extract
Whipped frosting: ¾ cups (413ml) heavy whipping cream, 1 cup (130g) powdered sugar
First, I must start by saying that I am by no means an experienced baker. In fact, up until this year, I would sooner buy from the bakery than make anything from scratch on my own. That being said, a lot has changed over the course of six months. I recently set out to make a cake from scratch and I couldn’t have felt more simultaneously excited and in-over-my-head at the same time.
When I stumbled upon the talented and creative Julianne from Beyond Frosting and her recipe for Fruity Pebbles ice cream cake, I knew I had my work cut out for me, but I was up for the challenge. And thankfully, the recipe was more than easy to follow. Initial hesitation thrown to the side, I decided to push forward and give it my best shot — and let me tell you, this recipe does not disappoint.
How to Make Fruity Pebbles Ice Cream Cake
Prepare two greased 8-inch cake pans and dust with flour and line the bottoms with parchment paper. Pulse the cereal in a food processor to break into smaller pieces. In a large mixing bowl beat together the sugar, oil, eggs, and vanilla until well-incorporated. Next, add sour cream and mix until combined.
In a separate bowl, combine the dry ingredients. Add half of the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients as well as half the milk. Beat until the flour incorporates and then repeat the step. And finally stir in the Fruity Pebbles cereal.
Evenly divide the batter into the cake pans and bake for 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Remove from the oven and let cool in the pan for 15 minutes before letting them completely cool on a rack.
To make the ice cream filling, pulse more cereal in the food processor to break into smaller pieces just like for the cake layers. Freeze a bowl of heavy whipping cream for 5 to 10 minutes. Beat the whipping cream until soft peaks form, then slowly add powdered sugar and beat until stiff peaks form. In another bowl, beat the room-temperature cream cheese, sugar, and vanilla extract until completely smooth and fluffy. Combine the whipped cream with the cream cheese mixture, then stir in the Fruity Pebbles cereal and mix well.
Assembling the cake starts by cutting the domes off both cake halves, making them as even and flat as possible. Use a springform pan (or the original cake pan you used before lined with plastic wrap and a cake board), then line the sides of the pan with a cake collar. Place the first cake layer into the bottom of the pan, before pouring the ice cream batter over it and spread evenly.
Next, place the top cake layer inverted, so that the top of the cake is nice and flat. Wrap the cake twice in plastic wrap and freeze for at least 2 to 3 hours. You can use a cake board (or cut a piece of cardboard into an 8-inch circle) to help seal the cake and wrap it tightly.
Dressing your cake begins once your cake has frozen. Make a second batch of whipped cream that will be used to frost the cake. Remove the cake from the pan and use a piping bag to apply whipped cream around the outside edges and top of the cake. Using an angled spatula, smooth out the whipped cream to cover the whole outside of the cake. Decorate with the leftover whipped cream and Fruity Pebbles cereal. Freeze for an additional 30 minutes to an hour before slicing. And finally, pat yourself on the back because you did it!
My Honest Opinion of Fruity Pebbles Ice Cream Cake
Truthfully, this recipe gave me a TON of confidence once I completed it. I had several moments of doubt and even had a slight breakdown while assembling without a proper cake collar. In the end, though, it all came together, and I have Julianne to thank for that. She details this recipe step by step, giving tips and alternatives along the way, which really helped me when I needed to be told everything will be OK.
I would recommend this recipe to anyone trying to dip their toes into making cakes. It is the perfect combination of challenging and fun to make, and I truly feel like it is a great introduction to the ever-so-creative world of baking. Before this, I had never used a piping bag, never made my own ice cream, and never made my own whipped cream. The closest experience I had to offer was making cookies and banana bread from scratch. So, if you find yourself thinking that you are under-qualified for this recipe, you’re not. Give it a shot!
Tips for Making the Fruity Pebbles Ice Cream Cake
No springform pan? No problem. If you don’t have access to a springform pan, an easy hack is to line your regular cake pan with plastic wrap, leaving extra hanging over the sides. When the time comes to remove your cake from the pan, just grab the excess sides of plastic wrap and lift the cake out.
Make your own cake boards, A good substitute for store-bought cake boards is a cardboard box. Trace the bottom of your 8-inch cake pan onto a piece of cardboard, then cut out the circle. Now you have a perfectly good cake board. Repeat the step if you need more.
You can also make your own cake collar. Although I really recommend finding an actual cake collar for all-around ease of assembly, if you don’t have access to one, I found that double-lined parchment paper taped together to form an 8-inch circle worked just fine. It took a little extra love and care, but is a totally suitable substitute for the cake collar.
Don’t take the cake-dressing process so seriously. Have fun with it. I just wanted to take this opportunity to say that this is probably the most tedious part of the process because this step determines the overall look of the cake. To me, it’s important to remember that this should be a fun process, so there is no wrong way to do this. Everyone has their methods that yield different results, but this is your time to shine and get creative. All cakes are beautiful and each one you make is just a part of the learning process. Happy baking!
Get the recipe: Fruity Pebbles Ice Cream Cake