Pretzel Bar Ice Cream Sandwich Cake

This Pretzel Bar Ice Cream Sandwich Cake is a delicious summer treat. Ice cream is layered between two mounds of pretzels, giving you that satisfying salty-sweet, crunchy-creamy combo.

It is turning out to be the hottest summer of all time here in my neck of the woods. It's just so darn hot every single day. And no rain. We're shriveling up here.

Okay, I may be a little dramatic. But it does feel like the sun is really taking over this summer. The only reasonable solution? Ice Cream of course! And when it's this hot, an ordinary scoop of ice cream just isn't going to to cut it. No, mercury melting weather like this can only be survived with the best of the best ice cream treats.

I'm starting with this Pretzel Bar Ice Cream Sandwich Cake, which is everything I want my ice cream to be - cold, sweet, creamy, crunchy, salty, fudgy, and as delicious to look at as it is to taste.

It's like a great big ice cream sandwich, but you slice it and eat it cake style, thus the name "Ice Cream Sandwich Cake." Instead of using cake, however, I opted to skip anything that requires the oven (because we're already burning up here) and went with a no bake pretzel bar instead. The result is one I'm awfully proud of and one that I find makes a 102 degree day a little easier to endure, if not enjoy.

Really, a cold, sweet treat goes a long way on a hot day.

My favorite part of this recipe, and maybe all recipes that make it into my repertoire, is that it looks like something you'd pick up at an Ice Cream Shoppe. It really will make everyone ooh and ahh when you present it, but it's really no big deal to make. You have to set aside some time for it to freeze, but it's hands off time and the rest of it's a cinch.

The last thing you want to do when it's hot, is spend hours in the kitchen. This easy Pretzel Bar Ice Cream Sandwich Cake is a no fuss summer treat that doesn't even require a special occasion to indulge.

I have a few slices of this left in my freezer, but I just checked the weather forecast and I saw way too many triple digit numbers coming up. When I've licked up the last of this ice cream cake, I'm going to work my way through this list of perfect Ice Cream Treats. It may be hot with no end in sight yet, but this summer is already looking up!

Yield: 12

Pretzel Bar Ice Cream Sandwich Cake

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Ingredients

• 4 cups vanilla ice cream, softened
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 cup light corn syrup
• 2 cups mini marshmallows
• ¾ cup creamy, natural peanut butter, well stirred
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 4 cups thin pretzel sticks
• 4 cups puffed brown rice

For the Fudge Sauce

• 10 ounces dark chocolate chips
• ½ cup heavy cream
• 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• ½ teaspoon flaky salt (like Maldon's)

Instructions

1. Line a 9 inch cake pan with plastic wrap. Spread the vanilla ice cream in one even layer and freeze until firm - at least 6 hours, or overnight.
2. Grease 2 (9 inch) cake pans. In a large sauce pan (4 quarts), combine the sugar and corn syrup. Heat over medium-high heat and bring to a boil. Remove from heat and stir in the marshmallows until about half of them are melted, then stir in the peanut butter until well combined. Add the vanilla and salt.
3. Mix in the pretzels and puffed rice. Divide the mixture, pressing half into each greased cake pan. Spray your fingers with a little bit of cooking spray to press the mixture firmly into the cake pans. Chill in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour or up to 3 days.
4. To Prepare the Fudge Sauce: In a medium sauce pan, combine the chocolate and cream over low heat. Cook stirring often until melted and smooth. Remove from the heat and stir in the butter, vanilla and salt until smooth. Let cool to room temperature. Store extra sauce in the fridge.
5. To assemble the cake: When you are ready to serve, gently remove one of the pretzel bar layers from its cake pan and place on a cake plate. Remove the ice cream layer from the freezer and carefully remove it from the pan. Discard the plastic wrap and place the ice cream on top of the pretzel bar layer. Take the remaining pretzel bar layer from its cake pan and place it on top of the ice cream. Gently press them together. Drizzle all over with fudge sauce.
6. At this point, you can serve it or return it to the freezer for about 20 minutes to harden the fudge sauce.
7. Note: Once the cake is assembled, if you freeze all three layers together the pretzel layers are a bit harder to cut through. If you do want to freeze the assembled cake, just allow the cake to sit at room temperature for about 10 minutes before serving. Slice into the cake with a hot, wet knife.

Notes

I adapted the pretzel bar layers from the absolutely wonderful book Bakeless Sweets by Faith Durand

Find more Delicious Ice Cream Recipes in this sweet round up from Craftsy.