Easy Ice Cream Cupcakes
Nothing is better on a long hot summer day than ice cream. What if you could easily make ice cream cupcakes that are gluten and dairy-free?
Summer is the perfect time for cookouts and get-togethers with friends and family. And what’s a cookout without ice cream? These easy ice cream cupcakes are the perfect dessert to bring to your next party. They’re sure to be a hit with everyone! Plus, they’re really easy to make – you just need a few basic ingredients. So give them a try today!
Everyone loves ice cream on a long hot summer day. When my children were small, the sound of the ice cream truck would inspire shrieks of excitement because their favorite treat was heading toward our home. Of course, every year we celebrated their birthdays with ice cream cakes. My husband loves to have a small dessert each evening and one of his favorites is ice cream cake. I thought it would be fun to make ice cream cupcakes for him so that he could have both cake and ice cream, but without the mess and hassle of a cake! These cupcakes are easy to make and assemble and they make the perfect-sized dessert. I am so excited to share this recipe with you!
Ice Cream Cupcakes Are So Easy to Make!
I wanted to create a recipe that was easy to make and assemble and also one I could whip up quickly with ingredients that I always have on hand.
To keep it easy, I used a gluten-free box cake for the cupcakes and So Delicious Ice Cream for the ice cream. For the topping, I whipped up a non-dairy buttercream frosting and the ice cream cupcakes were ready to assemble.
We went gluten-free and dairy-free about nine months ago and these ice cream cupcakes are both gluten-free and dairy-free. You can use whatever box cake and ice cream you like, but if you are looking for gluten-free and dairy-free recipes, this recipe is for you.
I Scream, You Scream, We All Scream for Ice Cream Cupcakes!
There is nothing better in the summer than ice cream. The cool creaminess of ice cream instantly reduces your body temperature and the sticky sweetness satiates your sweet tooth. So Delicious is a dairy-free ice cream that is so good. If you are looking for dairy-free dessert alternatives, give this brand a try. This is not a sponsored post, I just really love this product.
So Delicious is lower in calories than regular ice cream also. Each pint contains 3 servings at 130 calories each, 400 calories in the pint.
I garnished each of the cupcakes with a strawberry and think they look so cute in these cupcake wrappers.
These ice cream cupcakes are pretty close to guilt-free. They are small and they are gluten-free. They are also dairy-free. You can leave off the frosting or substitute your own favorite. So Delicious also makes a dairy-free coco-whip topping. How amazing would that be on top of these ice cream cupcakes? Oh my gosh! I am going to try this next!
If you do not want to apply the frosting with a piping bag, I also saw that Redi-Whip makes a dairy-free whipped cream in a spray can. You could use this whipped topping to make pretty cupcakes. There are so many whipped topping options.
Ingredients for Ice Cream Cupcakes
Easy Ice Cream Cupcakes
These easy ice cream cupcakes are a take on ice cream cake in a smaller cupcake size.
Ingredients
- 1 Box King Arthur Yellow Cake Mix
- 2 Pints So Delicious Vanilla Bean Frozen Dessert
- Buttercream Frosting
- 16 ounces confectioner's sugar
- 1 stick Country Crock Plant utter
- 1 Tsp Vanilla Extract
- 3-4 Tbl Coconut Milk
Instructions
- Follow directions on cake box. I used coconut oil and Country Crock plant-based butter so that the cupcakes were gluten-free and dairy-free.
- Bake the cupcakes in a well-greased muffin tin so that they will easily pop out of the pan.
- Cool the cupcakes on a cooling rack
- Once the cupcakes are cooled, using a serrated knife, slice the bottoms of the cupcakes for a 1" round of the cupcake.
- Place the 1" cupcake round into the bottom of a cupcake wrapper.
- Slice the pointy top off of the tops of the cupcakes for flat top.
- Put the cupcake tops into an airtight container until ready to use.
For the ice cream centers, you need to work quickly before the ice cream melts. Each pint of ice cream yields 6 ice cream centers.
- Using kitchen shears, slice the pint packaging at the seam.
- Remove the ice cream from the packaging and slice the ice cream into 4 evenly cut pieces.
- Using a round cookie cutter the same size as your cupcake wrapper (measure before you start!) cut a round from each of the ice cream slices. There will be extra from each ice cream slices.
- Smush together the extra ice cream, pat to the same thickness as the ice cream slices and cut two more rounds with the cookie cutter.
- Place the ice cream rounds into the cupcake wrappers on top of the cupcake bottom.
- Put back into the freezer as quickly as possible.
- Allow the ice cream to freeze again while you slice the second pint of ice cream and assemble the rest of the cupcakes as above.
While the ice cream is re-freezing, make your buttercream frosting. This recipe is one I have used for years. I have adapted this to be dairy-free by using the Country Crock Plant-Based Butter and Coconut Milk.
Mix together the powdered sugar, softened butter, vanilla and milk and whip with a hand mixer until all lumps are gone.
For final assembly. Remove the cupcakes from the freezer. Place the cupcake tops into the cupcake wrapper on top of the ice cream. Using a piping bag, decorate the cupcake with the buttercream frosting and place back into the freezer until ready to serve!
Ice Cream Cupcake Assembly
The assembly sounds harder than it is, so here it is in photos!
- one – make cupcake batter according to the directions on the box. I used coconut oil and plant-based butter
- two – after baking per instructions, allow the cupcakes to cool completely
- three – slice the bottom off of the cupcake (about 1″) and place into the cupcake holder
- four – cut open the pint of So Delicious frozen dessert at the seam of the package
- five – remove the ice cream from the package and slice into four equal slices
- six – using a cookie cutter the size of your cupcake wrapper, cut the ice cream into cupcake sized rounds. Add the ice cream, then the cupcake top and frosing. I topped my ice cream cupcakes with a fresh strawberry and my husband loves them.
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Frequently Asked Questions
No. An ice cream cupcake has an ice cream center. A cupcake baked in an ice cream cone is just that, without an ice cream center.
Links to the Items Shown in This Post
Ten Frozen Summery Dessert Recipes
I teamed up with some of my favorite bloggers and we all made frozen desserts. These all look amazing!
10 Summery Frozen Dessert Recipes
3-Ingredient Keto Strawberry Creamsicle Popsicles // Tatertots & Jello
Easy Strawberry Cheesecake Ice Cream Recipe // Twelve On Main
Mochi Ice Cream Recipe // Happy Happy Nester
Easy Ice Cream Cupcakes // My 100 Year Old Home
Homemade Ice Cream Cookie Sandwiches // Modern Glam
Homemade Mango Ice Cream Recipe // Paint Me Pink
Biscoff Ice Box Cake // Most Lovely Things
Frozen Mini Key Lime Pies // Life Is Better At Home
Frozen S’mores Bars // My Sweet Savannah
Best Ever Chocolate Hazelnut Gelato // Maison De Cinq
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This sounds amazing!
So glad you think so!! Thanks Renae!
All ten of these frozen desserts sound SO GOOD. I love frozen desserts in the summer – they’re so helpful for cooling off!
I agree!!
I am so glad you posted this as my husband is to be off dairy products for a couple of weeks and I learned from you that there is a good product out there called So Delicious and I see it’s available at my Wegmans store! Yeah!
Yay! I am glad to help you!
So cute and unbelievably easy! Definitely going to make this for my dairy and gluten free family!
Yay! I am so glad! Let me know how you like them.
These ice cream cupcakes look amazing! I will definitely be trying these! Thanks for sharing with us!
You are welcome!
I am going to try your Easy Ice Cream Cupcakes. I have never used cupcake wrappers. When I look up on the internet, it appears most have no bottom. Is that correct? Does yours have a bottom? Could you tell me the link?
Mine did have a bottom but some don’t! You can use either and I linked both at the bottom of the blog post. Let me know if this helps.
Thanks you I’ll try them soon
Let me know what you think.