Sarah Carey’s Favorite Ice Cream Desserts Will Sweeten Your Summer

Ice cream desserts are all about nostalgia. Whether an ice cream sandwich takes you back to greeting the ice cream truck when it turned onto your block or reaching into the chest freezer at the corner store on a Friday after school, you likely have fond memories of frosty ice cream treats on hot summer afternoons. 

Making your own ice cream creations is much easier than making homemade ice cream, and it’s a delicious way to create new memories. I’m sharing my favorite ice cream desserts that start with store-bought ice cream—they’re the coolest way to enjoy a sweet ending this summer. 

Getting Started

These ice cream creations are easy; aside from ingredients, there are a few things you need—time, a freezer, and a little creativity.

Time to chill: Most of these desserts need to be made ahead and frozen, which is great if you’re entertaining or making a special meal. You can get dessert done and in the freezer and concentrate on other elements. (Sundaes are the exception.) 

A (very) cold place: The other key to making these ice cream creations is to keep them very cold. Their biggest enemy is heat. And refrozen ice cream never has the same texture. If you’re planning an ice cream creation, you need to make room in your freezer. Once you have the ice cream cake melting on your counter, it’s too late. Clean out your freezer before you start. You never know what gems you might find!

Creativity: The recipes and ideas here are starting points for your creativity. Switch up the flavors and make them your own. Make a tweak on the classic ice cream sandwich by swapping the usual vanilla for coffee ice cream if that’s your number one flavor—or use that amazing strawberry ice cream you just tried. Ditto the three-flavor Neopolitan ice cream cake. It calls for strawberry, vanilla, and pistachio, but why not try it with your preferred triple play?

Ice Cream Sundaes

Who doesn’t love an ice cream sundae? Growing up, a birthday treat each year was to take two friends to a local ice cream shop chain and get the make-your-own sundae—hot fudge, caramel sauce, sprinkles, jimmies, everything! These days I’m more sophisticated with my sundae creations but I still adore the layered fun of a sundae. 

Strawberry Shortcake Sundae

I love this subtle yet easy strawberry version because, in addition to being a sundae fan, I’m a shortcake lover. It’s a clever recipe that has you make a quick strawberry sauce and use it two ways: mixing it into vanilla ice cream to create a strawberry scoop and using it as the sauce for the sundae. The shortcake element is store-bought pound cake (you can definitely use homemade if you have it), and the only other elements you need are sliced strawberries, tossed with a little lemon juice and sugar, and whipped cream.

Easy Hot Fudge Sauce

Need a quick route to hot fudge deliciousness? We’ve got you—and it’s so much better than store-bought. This three-ingredient recipe is much easier to make than a traditional hot fudge sauce. I make it all the time and keep it in my fridge. It’s basically a chocolate ganache, that’s cream and chocolate—with corn syrup. It will keep at least a month, but in my house it never lasts more than a few days. 

It pairs with just about any ice cream, gelato, or sorbet, upgrading a simple scoop to sundae status—well it does if you also add whipped cream. My favorite hot fudge pairing is with mint chocolate chip ice cream and whipped cream. It’s a combination I’ve loved since college when I first discovered it at Baskin Robbins. These days I’m a Haagen Daz mint chocolate chip ice cream fan.

Ice Cream Cakes

Neapolitan Ice Cream Cake

I definitely remember favoring the three flavors together in one tub as a kid. No idea why it is called Neopolitan, did the combination really come from Naples? I still love the fact that you get a bit of each flavor in every scoop. This Neopolitan ice cream cake is an elegant riff on that triple-flavored favorite. It has three flavors of ice cream elegantly presented in layers separately by a thin chewy layer of cake. Top the whole thing off with a generous frosting of whipped cream and some macerated strawberries for a dinner party-worthy dessert that is a make-ahead dream.

Fudgy Ice Cream Cake

Another favorite ice cream cake is this hot fudge sundae mash-up. Vanilla ice cream is layered with graham crackers and gooey hot fudge sauce. It’s simple to put together and hard to resist.

Watermelon Bombe

I couldn’t resist and just had to include this classic Martha Stewart Living creation. I’ve been obsessed with it for years. Technically ice cream bombes are just ice cream cakes in another form—shaped in a bowl rather than a cake pan. This one is created by layering watermelon sorbet and pistachio ice cream to resemble a watermelon, it’s one of my all-time favorites! 

Ice Cream Sandwiches

No story about ice cream creations would be complete without an ice cream sandwich or two. I’ve developed quite a few ice cream sandwiches over the years but these are the three I come back to and make most.

Classic Ice Cream Sandwich

This one hits right in my nostalgia zone. Sure you could run to the curb next time the Mister Softee truck comes around, but why not make them at home? It’s a super simple recipe and makes enough to share!

Spiced Ice Cream Sandwiches

I also like to spice up the classic. This recipe offers a a similar texture but with a refreshing ginger lemon cookie.

Lemony Ice Cream Sandwiches

This one is so simple it’s almost not a recipe, more a great way to show off an excellent lemon curd. Storebought wafer cookies are sandwiched with store-bought pistachio or matcha ice cream and a generous drizzle of lemon curd. You could also use store-bought lemon curd but our recipe is so easy—and so much better.