In honor of celebrating America’s birthday, here is a fun homemade ice cream recipe – 4th of July birthday cake ice cream! With a few simple ingredients, you can easily make this yummy homemade vanilla ice cream with patriotic birthday cake pieces swirled throughout! The perfect treat for a hot 4th of July celebration!
This post contains affiliate links. This means I may earn a commission should you choose to make a purchase using my link. It’s okay – I love and use all of these products, and you will too!
I really can’t believe it is almost 4th of July – it’s only a few weekends away! We always like to grill, be outside and, of course, eat ice cream on this day. Do you have any fun 4th of July traditions?
Because it is America’s birthday I thought that a patriotic birthday cake ice cream would be fitting! This homemade ice cream is the perfect treat to enjoy on this warm and sunny holiday. It is pretty simple if you have the right tools, so read on for how to make this festive 4th of July dessert!
How to make 4th of July Ice Cream
This recipe requires an ice cream machine but, I will also have instructions on how to make this as a no-churn recipe too! We received this Cuisinart ice cream machine as a gift and we have LOVED using it. You can get creative and make so many flavors! Plus, anything you make in the machine tastes way better than store-bought ice cream in my opinion.
For the Patriotic Cupcakes
For the cake part of this birthday cake ice cream, you will simply need a white cake mix (plus the ingredients on the back of the box) and red and blue food coloring. That’s it! I like to use these gel food colorings because they are really vibrant and a little bit goes a long way. Plus, gel food coloring is great for baking because it won’t mess up the liquid ratios in your batters. Liquid food colorings can throw things off a bit if you add too much.
For the Vanilla Ice Cream
This is such a simple vanilla ice cream recipe! All you will need is milk, heavy whipping cream, sugar and vanilla extract! You’ll then mix everything together and chill for 2 hours or up to overnight before pouring into your ice cream maker and letting it work its magic!
No-Churn Ice Cream Instructions
No ice cream maker? Don’t worry! You can still make this 4th of July ice cream using a no-churn method. See below for instructions:
Ingredients
- 1 White Cake Mix (plus ingredients listed on the back of the box)
- Red and Blue Food Coloring
- 2 Cups Heavy Whipping Cream
- 1 can (14 oz.) Sweetened Condensed Milk
- 1 Cup Whole Milk
- 1 tsp. Vanilla Extract
Directions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Prepare muffin pan with cupcake liners as directed on box.
- Prepare cake batter as directed on the box.
- Divide batter into two bowls.
- Tint one bowl with red food coloring and one bowl with blue (you can make it as light or dark as you’d like!).
- Bake the cupcakes and then remove from the oven to cool. Once cooled crumble the red and blue cupcakes up into separate bowls and set aside.
- Meanwhile, in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, or in a large bowl with a hand mixer beat the heavy whipping cream on medium-high speed until stiff peaks form.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together the sweetened condensed milk, vanilla and whole milk.
- Gently pour the mixture over the whipped cream and fold, taking care not to deflate the whipped cream.
- Add in desired amount of crumbled cupcakes and gently fold to combine. Pour ice cream mixture into a shallow dish and freeze for 6 hours until firm.
- Before serving, top ice cream with extra cupcake crumbles and patriotic sprinkles if desired. Enjoy!
Storing 4th of July Ice Cream
You can store your ice cream in a pie dish, loaf pan, bowl or really anything you want! I prefer to store my homemade ice cream in this container that I found on Amazon. It keeps your homemade ice cream fresh and is slim and easy to fit into a full freezer!
I hope that you have a wonderful 4th of July celebration! I know that there are a lot of fireworks shows cancelled which can be a bummer, but try making this ice cream instead since you may have some extra time on your hands!
And as always, be sure to tag me in your photos on social media if you make this 4th of July ice cream! I love to see what you are making.
If you are looking for another yummy frozen summer treat, check out my No-Bake Strawberry Cream Pie! It would also be the perfect summery 4th of July dessert.
4th of July Birthday Cake Ice Cream
Ingredients
For the Cupcakes
- 1 boxed white cake mix (plus ingredients on back of box)
- red and blue food coloring (I like to use gel food coloring)
For the Ice Cream
- 1½ cups whole milk
- 1 cup + 2 tbsp granulated sugar
- Pinch of kosher salt
- 3 cups heavy whipping cream
- 1½ tbsp vanilla extract
Instructions
For the Cupcakes
- Prepare cupcake batter as directed on the back of the boxed cake mix. Divide batter into two bowls and dye with red and blue food coloring (make them as bright as you would like!)
- Bake cupcakes as instructed on the back of the box. Cool on a wire rack.
- Once cooled, crumble up the red and blue cupcakes in separate bowls and set aside for your ice cream.
For the Ice Cream
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, or in a bowl with a hand mixer, beat the milk, sugar and salt on low speed until the sugar is dissolved. Stir in the heavy cream and vanilla.
- Cover and refrigerate mixture for two hours up to overnight.
- Make your ice cream per the instructions on your ice cream maker. Mine had to churn for about 20 minutes before thickening. A few minutes before the ice cream is done churning, add the cupcake crumbles. I used about 12 cupcakes, but add as much as you would like!
- Transfer ice cream to a container and freeze for 2 hours. Once ready to serve, remove from freezer and top with extra cupcake crumbles and patriotic sprinkles. Enjoy!
Notes
- See the instructions in my post for a no-churn version!
- You will have leftover cupcakes – so crumble them up and freeze them to sprinkle on other ice creams, or save for another batch of this 4th of July ice cream!
- Sprinkles
- Ice cream cones
- Extra cupcake crumbles for garnish
- Whipped cream
