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Okay, I’m not gonna lie to ya, this Frozen Chunky Chocolatey Monkey Cake is a bit of a project! BUT … despite the abundance of steps, it’s really pretty easy, and the work can be spread over a couple of days – OR- you can choose your level of difficulty and simplify it!
I went all out on the decorations, and it was a labor of love as we celebrated the end of an unprecedented school year for my nephew. It’s pretty impressive looking ice cream cake, and everyone, even the non-AIPers, loved it!
To be honest, I’ve tried to keep things as easy as possible without sacrificing the “WOW!” factor. There are only SIX ingredients plus the AIP compliant cookie mix that’s used for the cake base and decorations! (See below for more about this cookie mix or follow the link in the recipe to order!)
Since I’m not a pro recipe developer and I’ve never made an AIP ice cream cake before, I wasn’t sure if I would have enough to create one large cake or just a small one, so I opted to play it safe and created two smaller cakes instead.
In hindsight I was really glad I’d made two instead of one – it allowed me to have one perfectly decorated and ready to present to my guests and one pre-cut so I could avoid the stress of making sure my ice cream cake was thawed enough in advance.
And as if that wasn’t good enough, since we only ate one cake, I was able to safely store the other in a large freezer bag and have friends over for a nice treat more than a week later! Talk about an unexpected batch cooking victory!
Level of Difficulty
Don’t let all the ingredients and steps fool you, you can make this cake as complicated (you can add more layers and flavors if you want) or easy as you want it to be!
I went all out because it was a celebration, but you can still make this look impressive with one flavor of ice cream and some cookie chunks and basic chocolate shell drizzle. OR or don’t worry about layering it and swirl the two flavors together instead … anything goes!
I really do recommend the chocolate covered bananas though for the Chunky Chocolatey Monkey Cake theme – they’re so easy and you’ll fall in love with them! I’d even serve them as a stand alone dessert in the future – they were a huge hit! HINT: They keep really well in an air-tight container in the freezer and make a great treat when you need a little something!
Don’t have a spring-form pan or don’t want the hassles of trying to cut an ice cream cake? You can also make these into individual servings by using a muffin pan with parchment liners instead! Don’t have a muffin pan? Just buy some parchment liners and place them on a baking sheet and bake your cake base/cookies right in the liners.
Not into bananas or chocolate? Try different flavors of ice cream and decorate with freeze-dried or fresh fruit … the options are limited only by your imagination! You can find lots more ice cream recipes in the AIP Recipe Collection Facebook Group that will inspire you!
Have fun with it!
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♥ RECIPE & IMAGE BY: AIPRecipeCollection.com ♥ This one's a labor of love, but I think it's totally worth it for the WOW factor alone .. never mind the fact that this ice cream cake is 100% AIP Elimination Stage Compliant! These can be made in advance and stored in an air-tight container a day or two in advance if you prefer. The optional decorations for this cake can be made, piped on parchment paper a day in advance and stored in an air-tight container in the fridge. When your vanilla ice cream layer is firm you can begin this step. When you're ready to put the final touches on your cake, prepare the chocolate shell drizzle Remove your cake 15-20 mins prior to serving so that the ice cream softens a little. Cutting an ice cream cake can be tricky. Warm a large knife by running it under hot water. Rather than trying to cut all the way across the full diameter of the cake, insert the tip of the knife in the center of the cake and slowly press down. Rinse and warm the knife and continue cutting into slices. Enjoy! ♥ Leftovers can be stored in the freezer for several days or even a week in a Freezer-capable ZipLoc bag or airtight container if you have one suitably sized.Frozen Chunky Chocolatey Monkey Cake
Ingredients
Layer 1 - Cookie Base (also used as cookie crumble and decorations)
Layer 2 - Frozen Bananas
Layer 3 - Dairy-Free Vanilla Ice Cream
Layer 4 - Dairy-Free Chocolate Banana Ice Cream
Layer 5 - Chocolate Shell Drizzle
Decorations - Chocolate Covered Frozen Banana Bites
Optional Decorative Icing
Instructions
Layer 1 - The Cookie Base:
Layer 2 - Frozen Bananas
TIP: I keep a supply of whole, ripe, peeled bananas individually wrapped in my freezer for use in smoothies or ice cream so I didn't even need to plan ahead!Layer 3 - Dairy Free Vanilla Ice Cream
Decorations - Chocolate Covered Frozen Banana Bites
the freezer.Optional Decorative Icing
Layer 4 - Dairy Free Chocolate Banana Ice Cream
Decorating
It looks nice to cut some in half.
pre-piping it onto parchment the day before I planned to serve the cake really took the stress out of the process.Serving