Name: Ice Cream Bread
Prep time: 5 min
Cook time: 35 min
Total time: 40 min
Ingredients: 14 ounce container (approximately 1 ⅔ cups) Vanilla flavored ice cream (thawed to a pourable consistency (Haagen-Dazs brand)); 1½ cups self-rising flour; 3 tablespoons rainbow colored jimmie sprinkles

JUMP TO RECIPE

This 2-ingredient Ice Cream Bread recipe comes together in 5 minutes using only self-rising flour and your favorite ice cream flavor. Baking homemade bread has never been so simple. It’s a tasty treat to toast for breakfast and delicious to devour for dessert!

ice cream bread with lots of sprinkle sliced on a plate.

Ice Cream Bread Recipe

Our recipe for Ice Cream Bread is so easy and straightforward, especially because the 2 ingredients required already contain the components needed to cook a flavorful quick bread that lifts and rises into a sliceable loaf. Grab your favorite flavor of ice cream, some self-rising flour, and colorful sprinkles. Baking your own bread with a light texture and delicious taste has never been better!

Why Ice Cream Bread Recipes Work

Baking bread with ice cream sounds a bit silly, but it’s actually an ingenious way to cook a quick bread at home. Thawed ice cream already contains the full-fat dairy, eggs, sugar and vanilla needed for flavor, moisture, and binding. The self rising flour is a mixture of leavening agents (flour, baking soda and salt). When mixed together, the two make magic!

Ice Cream Bread Ingredients

Vanilla ice cream: For this recipe, be sure to use full-fat, good-quality Vanilla Ice Cream. I used Haagen-Dazs brand, but feel free to use your favorite. Low-fat or milk-alternative ice creams will not work well for this bread. You can also bake your bread using chocolate, strawberry, or another flavor that is not made with “mix-ins.”
Self-rising flour: For this simple recipe, be sure to use self-rising flour. It already has a leavening agent (baking soda) and salt added. For this reason, you will need to make sure that you are using fresh (non-expired) flour for best results. I like to add a sticker to my storage container with the flour’s expiration date since it is a type of flour I may not use as often.
Rainbow sprinkles: Use whichever color, shape, or kind of sprinkles that fit the occasion or festivity. You can also omit the sprinkles altogether or simply sprinkle them on top. But it’s always fun to eat a Funfetti-flavored bread!

See the recipe card for full information on ingredients and quantities.

ice cream bread sliced into a couple slices on top of wooden board.

How to Make Ice Cream Bread

Make The Mixture: Stir together the thawed vanilla ice cream and self-rising flour just until combined and no large lumps remain.
Pour In The Pan: Pour the batter into the pan and spread into an even layer. Top with rainbow colored sprinkles.
Bake The Bread: Bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 35 – 40 minutes or until lightly golden around the edges and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
Slice and Serve: Cool completely before slicing and serving. Enjoy!

mix ingredients and put in loaf pan. sprinkle with rainbow sprinkles and bake.

How To Soften Ice Cream

It is best to let the ice cream soften naturally (leave out on the counter) rather than thaw it in the microwave as the microwave can mess with the consistency of the ice cream. If you are in a pinch for time, you can help the ice cream melting process along by placing it in the microwave for 10-15 second increments. You don’t want to completely melt the ice cream so make sure to check it frequently (but this is not ideal).

How To Make Your Own Self-Rising Flour

If you don’t have self-rising flour at home, simply make your own! Whisk together 1 ½ teaspoons of baking powder ¼ teaspoons of salt, and 1 cup of all-purpose flour for every cup of self-rising flour needed.

Serving Suggestions

While it may not taste like cake and you certainly can’t lick it in a cone, this delicious ice cream and flour bread can easily be customized with fun flavors and fillings so that it looks like dessert that you can serve as a slice.

Delicious Any Time of Day: Smear your slice with butter or jam for breakfast or brunch. Pop a piece in the toaster to eat with afternoon tea or enjoy some as a snack with a cup of coffee. You can also serve it alongside your favorite scoop of ice cream and drizzle with chocolate or caramel sauce for a delicious dessert after dinner.
Make Your Own Masterpiece: Be creative with your add-ins and flavors. You can make your own perfect product by choosing different ice creams, sprinkles, or baking morsels.
- Double Chocolate Ice Cream Bread: Use chocolate ice cream and mix chocolate chips into the batter. Top with mini chocolate chips before baking.
- Strawberries and Cream Ice Cream Bread: Use strawberry ice cream and fold in sliced strawberries. Top with white chocolate chips before baking.
- Cookies and Cream Ice Cream Bread: Use cookies and cream ice cream and top with crushed Oreo cookies before baking. Or try vanilla ice cream topped with Oreo cookies.
- Peanut Butter Ice Cream Bread: Use peanut butter ice cream and fold in Reese’s peanut butter cups. Top with more chopped candy before baking.
- Butter Pecan Ice Cream Bread: Use butter pecan ice cream and top with chopped pecans before baking.

2 sliced of ice cream bread on the plate.

Tips & Variations

Prepare Your Pan: I like to spray my loaf pan with baker’s spray and line it with parchment paper. Be sure to allow enough of the parchment paper to overhang the sides to easily lift the baked bread out of the pan to cool and slice.
Add Extract: This is not an overly sweet bread. You can add an additional 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract to enhance the “vanilla” flavor in your baked bread. The final flavor of your baked bread will depend entirely on the flavor of the brand of ice cream used. For example, if you use a French vanilla ice cream, your baked bread will be a little more yellow in color and have a slightly richer vanilla flavor.
Make Sure To Measure: Be mindful that while the Haagen-Dazs brand calls their smaller cartons of ice cream “pints,” they actually only contain 14 ounces (or approximately 1 ⅔ cups when thawed). Other brands of ice creams may have a 16 ounce size “pint”. This is an actual true measurement for the pint and measures 2 cups when thawed. If using a 16 ounce container, just reduce the amount of thawed vanilla ice cream by ⅓ cup before adding to the self-rising flour and baking.
Stir Slowly: When stirring this batter, gently push out any big clumps of flour with the spoon or rubber spatula to smooth out the batter. You do not want to stir, or mix, out the lumps vigorously or it can yield a very dense baked bread. And don’t overmix the batter! Use a spatula or mixing spoon instead of a hand or stand mixer.
Soften Before Stirring: The trick to making quick breads with a tender crumb and moist texture is to ensure that sure your ice cream is thawed to a pourable consistency before mixing it with the self-rising flour.
Make With More Mix-Ins: You can add chocolate chips, fresh fruit, dried fruit, nuts, chocolate jimmies, or colorful sprinkles to your ice cream loaf cake batter. Mix them in before baking and/or add them on top for an extra special treat.

Proper Storage

To Store: This bread is best stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for 3-4 days.
To Freeze: You can freeze this bread tightly wrapped in a layer of plastic wrap followed by a layer of aluminum foil for up to 2 months. Be sure to thaw in the refrigerator before serving.
To Reheat: You can re-warm individual slices of this bread for 20-30 seconds in a microwave, or lightly toasted in a toaster oven.

ice cream bread sliced on top of wooden board.

Other Easy Bread Recipes

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Ice Cream Bread

Author — Jennifer Fishkind

Serves —

Making 2 ingredient Ice Cream Bread is magical! One taste and you may never bake traditional bread again!

Print Rate PinSave

Prep Time 5

Cook Time 35

Total Time 40

Ingredients

▢ 14 ounce container (approximately 1 ⅔ cups) Vanilla flavored ice cream thawed to a pourable consistency (Haagen-Dazs brand)
▢ 1½ cups self-rising flour
▢ 3 tablespoons rainbow colored jimmie sprinkles

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350* F. Lightly spray an 8 ½ x 4 ½ inch loaf pan with baker’s spray and line the pan with a piece of parchment paper. Be sure to allow enough of the parchment paper to overhang the sides to easily lift the baked bread out of the pan to cool and slice.
To a large mixing bowl add the thawed vanilla ice cream and self-rising flour.
14 ounce container (approximately 1 ⅔ cups) Vanilla flavored ice cream, 1½ cups self-rising flour
Using a large rubber spatula, or wooden spoon, gently stir together the ingredients just until combined and no large lumps remain. Be sure to not overmix this batter or the baked ice cream bread will be dense.
Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan and spread the top into an even layer. Sprinkle the top of the ice cream bread with the rainbow colored sprinkles.
3 tablespoons rainbow colored jimmie sprinkles
Bake the ice cream bread for 35 – 40 minutes or until lightly golden around the edges and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
Allow the bread to cool in the pan for 8-10 minutes before lifting out of the pan, removing the parchment paper, and placing the bread onto a wire rack to cool completely before slicing and serving.

Jenn’s Notes

Storage:

To Store: This ice cream bread is best stored in an airtight container, in the refrigerator, for 3-4 days.
To Freeze: You can freeze this bread, tightly wrapped in a layer of plastic wrap followed by a layer of aluminum foil, for up to 2 months. Be sure to thaw in the refrigerator before serving.
To Reheat: You can re-warm individual slices of this bread for 20-30 seconds in a microwave, or lightly toasted in a toaster oven.

Tips:

Be sure that you use full-fat, good quality, vanilla ice cream for this recipe. Haagen-Dazs brand was used to develop this recipe. Low-fat, or milk alternative, ice creams will not work well for this bread.

This is not an overly sweet bread. You can add an additional 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract to enhance the “vanilla” flavor in your baked bread. The final flavor of your baked bread will depend entirely on the flavor of the brand of ice cream used. For example, if you use a french vanilla ice cream, your baked bread will be a little more yellow in color and have a slightly richer vanilla flavor.
Be sure that you are using Self-Rising flour for this simple recipe. It already has a leavening agent (baking soda) and salt added to the flour. For this reason you will need to make sure that you are using fresh (non-expired) flour for best results. I like to add a sticker to my storage container of the flour’s expiration date since it is a type of flour I may not use as often.
Be mindful that while the Haagen-Dazs brand calls their smaller cartons of ice cream “pints” they actually only contain 14 ounces (or approximately 1 ⅔ cups when thawed). Other brands of ice creams may have a 16 ounce size “pint”. This is an actual true measurement for the pint and measures 2 cups when thawed. If using a 16 ounce container, just reduce the amount of thawed vanilla ice cream by ⅓ cup before adding to the self-rising flour and baking.
When stirring this batter, gently push out any big clumps of flour with the spoon, or rubber spatula, to smooth out the batter. You do not want to vigorously stir, or mix, out the lumps or it can yield a very dense baked bread. And don’t overmix the batter! Use a spatula or mixing spoon instead of a hand or stand mixer.
The trick to making quick breads with a tender crumb and moist texture is to ensure that sure your ice cream is thawed to a pourable consistency before mixing it with the self-rising flour.
You can add chocolate chips, fresh fruit, dried fruit, nuts, chocolate jimmies, or colorful sprinkles to your ice cream loaf cake batter. Mix them in before baking and/or add them on top for an extra special treat.
This recipe is so easy because the thawed vanilla ice cream already contains the full-fat dairy, eggs, sugar and vanilla needed to add to the self rising flour (contains flour, baking soda and salt) to give you all the ingredients needed for a simple and delicious quick bread.