Our Graduation Celebration Ice Cream Cake is made with Chapman’s Cotton Candy Checkerboard Ice Cream and Yukon Great Canadian Wolf Bars for a fun, flavourful frozen dessert to celebrate your graduates! With just 4 ingredients and under 10 minutes to prepare, it makes a fantastic addition to your celebration’s dessert table!
*This post is sponsored by Chapman’s. Thank you for supporting Canadian brands that make recipe shares from La Cucina di Kerrs possible. View our Disclosure for more information*
This time of year always feels full of family celebrations and events, but this year is particularly special – our firstborn is graduating grade school! Also being the kick-start of ice cream season (it’s a whole food group in this family!), this big milestone calls for a celebration cake, and his choice flavour, Chapman’s Cotton Candy Checkerboard! For an added ‘hats off to the Class of 2022’ touch, this Graduation Celebration Ice Cream Cake also includes Chapman’s Yukon Great Canadian Wolf Bars for the edible grad caps on top.
Each slice reveals a playful pink checkerboard and the cotton candy flavour reminiscent of summer carnivals and fairs. Add your favourite sweet decorations on top and coordinate with your graduate’s school colours! The ice cream is gluten-free and peanut/nut-free, making this dessert suitable for all ages and allergy aware guests attending your party – one of the reasons Chapman’s has been a long-time favourite for our family. You could use whatever ice cream flavour your family likes best, or try one of Chapman’s newest additions – all honour roll-worthy!
I love making ice cream cakes in the kids’ favourite flavours year-round, not only because it’s a fun way for us to connect in la Cucina, but because they are so simple to prep (like 10-minutes kind of simple!). Creamy and cool desserts that bring a lot of joy to life’s celebrations both big and small.
Tips for making a fun-tastic Graduation Celebration Ice Cream Cake:
- Give yourself time for freezing: the cake will need at least 4 hours in the freezer to firm up for great slicing. Prep the base the day before or even a month or so before your celebration and wrap your cake well in saran to store it until your ready for those last decorative touches.
- Use a good quality ice cream: life’s sweetest celebrations call for top-notch ingredients. We love the richness of Chapman’s for our cool treats, and value that it’s Canadian-made with real cream and natural flavours and colours. We love the inclusivity and wide selection of gluten-free, peanut/nut-free, no sugar added & lactose free flavours so all of our guests can enjoy dessert too!
- Adjust the ice cream portion to suit the size of your party: we used two 2L cartons of Cotton Candy Checkerboard ice cream for this cake, but you can add/takeaway according to how big or small your gathering will be. We also used Yukon Great Canadian Wolf Bars on top, but you can choose from some of Chapman’s other delicious frozen products (like ice cream sandwiches) too.
- Colour coordinate your decorations: we used nut-free confectionery (sprinkles, candy-coated chocolate, etc.) and icing that match our kid’s school colours for graduation. Get creative with the toppings to match your party theme or colour palette.
- Edible Graduation Caps: we used the Yukon Great Canadian Wolf Bars (which *may contain tree nuts/peanuts*, so to keep the cake completely nut-free, you can substitute with one of Chapman’s nut-free ice cream sandwiches (*cut one in half for 2 squares*).
- Block letter message: we used bar chocolate cut into squares to create our G-R-A-D & grad year 2-0-2-2 messages!
Graduation Celebration Ice Cream Cake Recipe
A simple, no-bake grad or end-of-year dessert – CHECK!
Graduation Celebration Ice Cream Cake | La Cucina di Kerrs
Equipment
- 12 x 12 Cake Board
Ingredients
- 2 2L Chapman's Cotton Candy Checkerboard Ice Cream
- 1 1L Whipped topping
- 2 Chapman's Yukon Great Canadian Wolf Bars *allergy aware family's can substitute with Chapman's nut-free Ice Cream Sandwiches sliced in half*
- Blue tube icing *to add "tassles" to edible grad caps; use your school colours*
- 1 bar Chocolate *any*
- Various confectionery for decorating *sprinkles, candy-coated sixlets, etc. to taste*
Instructions
- Remove Chapman's Cotton Candy Checkerboard Ice Cream from the freezer. Open each carton fully to remove the ice cream in full slab. Lay two portions side-by-side on your cake board.
- Add your whipped topping over top of the ice cream, spreading evenly to cover the whole cake. Wrap well with saran and place in freezer for at least 4 hours.
- Remove ice cream cake from the freezer and decorate with your favourite confectionery. For the grad caps, use Chapman's Yukon Great Canadian Wolf Bars or Ice Cream Sandwiches sliced in half and add "tassles" with tube icing. For block writing of "G-R-A-D" or graduation year, we used bar chocolate cut into squares.
- Cover the ice cream cake & place back in the freezer until it's time for dessert. Slice the cake width-wise to reveal the checkerboard effect inside & enjoy! Tag us on social at @House_of_Kerrs if you try! ConGRADutlations 'Class of 2022'!
Slice your graduation celebration ice cream cake from front to back to reveal the playful pink checkerboard inside!
Enjoy some savings while stocking up on your family’s favourite Chapman’s Ice Cream flavours, or giving some of their latest melty additions a try with this $4 off coupon! Chapman’s frozen treats are widely available in most Canadian grocers – find the one closest to you HERE.
We hope you enjoyed this simple cool treat idea for your family’s celebrations! And if you have a graduate in your mix this year too, we send our ‘ConGRADulations’!
More treats for special family celebrations we think you’ll love:
Candy Cane Fudge Ice Cream Yule Log
Strawberries and Cream Ice Cream Cake
Keep well, celebrate well,
Cake looks so yummy. I am sure your grad or any grad will absolutely love it.
Thanks so much 🙂 Our grad gave it an A+! Great for all of those year-end celebrations!