German Chocolate Cake Ice Cream

A bowl of German Chocolate Ice Cream topped with a scoop of coconut pecan frosting, and two ice cream cones.

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This German Chocolate Ice Cream cream takes all the cake flavors and textures of those favorites and turns them into an ultra-creamy, ultra loaded ice cream that tastes like something you'd get from a fancy ice cream shop. It's rich, chocolatey, nutty, and totally indulgent.

Prep Time40

Cook Time15

Chilling Time7

Total Time55

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: Dessert

Keyword: cosmic brownie, ice cream

Servings:

Calories: 549kcal

Equipment

Hand Whisk

Ingredients

For the Chocolate Ice Cream Base:

4 large egg yolks
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2 cups heavy cream (divided)
1 cup whole milk
1/4 cup cocoa powder (sifted after measuring)
4 oz semi sweet chocolate (chopped)
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp salt

For the German Chocolate Frosting:

2 large egg yolks
6 oz evaporated milk
3/4 cups granulated sugar
6 TBS unsalted butter
3.5 oz sweetened coconut flakes
3/4 cups finely chopped pecans
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 cup chopped chocolate cake

Instructions

For the Chocolate Ice Cream Base:

In a medium sized bowl, whisk the egg yolks with 1/4 cup of the sugar until the color of the egg yolks starts to lighten. Set aside until needed. 4 large egg yolks, 3/4 cup granulated sugar
Add 1 cup of the heavy cream, the milk, remaining sugar, cocoa powder to a large sauce pan. Stir them together. 2 cups heavy cream, 1 cup whole milk, 3/4 cup granulated sugar, 1/4 cup cocoa powder
Heat the mixture over medium until the mixture just starts to bubble around the edges.
Slowly add 1/2 cup of the chocolate cream mixture into the egg yolks, while you stir them together. Add another 1/2 cup of the mixture, while stirring the whole time.
Slowly pour the chocolate custard mixture back into the sauce pan and continue to heat it over medium heat.
Add in the chocolate pieces, and let them melt into the mixture, stirring until smooth. 4 oz semi sweet chocolate
Cook the mixture for another 5 minutes or so, until the mixture starts to thicken, enough to coat the back of a spoon.
Remove the mixture from the heat and stir in the vanilla extract, salt, and remaining cup of cream. 1/2 tsp vanilla, 1/4 tsp salt
Pour the mixture through a strainer into a large bowl, on top of an ice bath. Let it sit for about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally as the mixture starts to cool down to room temperature.
Cover the bowl with plastic wrap, or a lid and place it in the fridge to chill for at least 2 hours, up to overnight.

For the German Chocolate Frosting:

Add the egg yolks, and evaporated milk to a large sauce pan, and stir them together until well combined. 2 large egg yolks, 6 oz evaporated milk
Add in the sugar and butter and stir them into the mixture as much as you can. 3/4 cups granulated sugar, 6 TBS unsalted butter
Cook the mixture over medium heat for about 10 to 15 minutes, stirring almost constantly, until it turns to be a golden brown color, and thickened.
Remove the custard mixture from the heat, and stir in the coconut, pecans, and vanilla. 3.5 oz sweetened coconut flakes, 3/4 cups finely chopped pecans , 1 tsp vanilla extract
Let the frosting cool to room temperature.

For Making the Ice Cream:

When you are ready to churn the ice cream, remove the mixture from the fridge. Start the prepared ice cream maker churning and pour the chocolate mixture into the ice cream maker. Let it run according to the manufactures instructions, or until the ice cream is thickened like soft serve. (Mine says about 25 to 30 minutes)
Add half of the frosting, and half of the cake pieces to the ice cream, and gently fold them into the ice cream with a rubber spatula. 1 1/2 cup chopped chocolate cake
Scoop about 1/3 of the ice cream mixture into a 2QT container, top with additional drizzles of coconut pecan frosting, and pieces of cake. Followed by another 1/3 of ice cream, more frosting, more cake. Then the final ice cream, frosting and cake pieces.
Cover the ice cream and freeze for an additional 6 hours, up to overnight.

Notes

Pre-Freeze the Bowl – Don’t forget to pre-freeze your ice cream machine bowl. Mine takes at least 12 hours to be frozen solid so it will churn my ice cream. Leave it in your freezer to use whenever you’re ready if you have room.

Be Patient: This ice cream takes time because we need to cook the custard, then cool it down, make the frosting, and let it cool too. Then freeze the whole tub of ice cream to make it scoopable, so you won't be eating this the day you make it. But I promise its all worth it.

Chill your Cake and Frosting: Before adding the cake pieces and frosting chill them for about an hour in the fridge. This will help them hold their texture.

Store Bought Frosting: You can use a can of store bought German Chocolate Cake Frosting if desired. I think making my homemade recipe is worth it, but if you want to save some time, go for it.

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