I don’t know if you’ve seen all the ice cream bread being made on TikTok but there’s a reason this is a TikTok viral recipe – it’s a super versatile recipe and a super yummy sweet treat! This particular funfetti ice cream bread combines just regular vanilla ice cream (although you could substitute with something else), self-rising flour, and sprinkles for a great bread for parties, birthdays, and more! Plus that icing on top is amazing! Serve up this and a little of this funfetti dip for one epic birthday celebration!
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
Six ingredients – the bread itself only needs three ingredients but even with the yummy icing on top, the bread only takes six ingredients – all ingredients you probably have at home! If you love easy recipes, you’ll love this one! Moist bread – since this is made with ice cream, the bread itself is moist even after baked!Not super sweet – if you like breads that aren’t particularly sweet, you’ll love this one! The sweetness is added with the icing on top! If you do like sweet breads, I recommend trying out this pineapple bread instead! This is a slightly dense bread but somehow with a tender crumb because of the ice cream inside. It really has a great texture, it’s just one of those magical recipes, kind of like a science experiment that you can’t believe until you see!
Ingredients
Ingredient Notes
Ice cream – I used vanilla ice cream in this just to keep it simple but you really could trade it out with any of your favorite ice cream flavors, just make sure that it’s a full-fat ice cream, not a sugar-free, low fat one. It needs to be full-fat regular ice cream to work the same way! Next time I’m trying a chocolate ice cream bread! Or maybe rocky road or butter pecan ice cream! I also do not recommend a dairy-free ice cream. I’ve never tried it but I can’t imagine the magic works correctly. Self-rising flour – you have to use self-rising flour in this recipe or the bread won’t bake correctly, all-purpose or bread flour will not work.Sprinkles – you can use either nonpareils or regular sprinkles in this, it really doesn’t matter! Just make sure they’re rainbow sprinkles to give it the funfetti look! Milk – I recommend whole milk to give the glaze as much fullness as possible, but this would also work with a lower fat content milk.
While many call this a two-ingredient ice cream bread, I probably wouldn’t eat this particular version without the glaze on top. The end result just isn’t quite sweet enough for me.
How to Make Ice Cream Bread
Okay now are you ready? Let’s start making this quick bread recipe, quickly! The first thing you need to do is take the ice cream out of the freezer so that it can soften. It won’t mix properly if it’s still super hard straight out of the freezer. Just make sure not to let the ie cream melt, you don’t want melted ice cream. While the ice cream softens, preheat the oven to 350°F and spray a loaf pan with non-stick spray and set aside. You can either use a 8×4 or 9×5 inch loaf pan for this recipe. Once you have softened ice cream, it’s time to make the ice cream bread batter! In a medium mixing bowl or stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, combine ice cream and one and a half cups of flour just until combined. Don’t leave it there and over mix. You can also do this with a hand mixer if you don’t have a stand one. You could also stir it together by hand with a wooden spoon, but that’s going to take a lot more effort to make this sweet ice cream bread. And I personally like easy! Fold in the sprinkles with a rubber spatula. This is important because you want the sprinkles to just be added to the batter, not transfer all of their color to the batter (and that happens if you actually use the mixer to mix them in). You want your final bread to look like this with all of the sprinkles spread out inside and the regular color of bread, not like a colored mess. I tried it both ways and the mixed in with the mixer sprinkles made the color bleed and turned my bread blue. It would’ve made much better Smurf bread… Now pour the batter into the prepared pan. Depending on the size of the pan, it should fill up 1/2 to 3/4 of the bread pan. For best results, don’t fill higher than 3/4 of the pan so it doesn’t overflow while baking. Place in the preheated oven and bake for 40 to 45 minutes until a toothpick comes clean when inserted into the center of the bread. If it doesn’t come out clean, put in for another 3-5 minutes and check again. Once it’s done, remove from the oven and allow the bread to cool in the pan on a wire cooling rack for a few minutes. While the bread is cooling, make the icing by whisking together the powdered sugar, milk, and vanilla until smooth, adding more sugar or milk as needed to reach desired consistency. You want the icing to be spreadable with a spatula, not runny, so that it’ll stay on your bread when you add it. I recommend erring on the side of thicker than thinner. Remove the still warm, but not hot, bread carefully from the loaf pan and place on a wire cooling rack. Spread the icing over the top of the loaf and top with more sprinkles. Once the bread has completely cooled and the icing has set on top, slice and serve immediately.
Expert Tips
Pat the bread loaf pan on the counter gently to get out any existing air bubbles before baking. Mix it up and try it with different ice cream flavors. I recommend sticking with plain ice cream flavors that don’t have add-ins (nuts, cookies, etc.) at first. But then you can get as creative as you want! The key is to always use self-rising flour! Serve with ice cream for a double treat. It’s actually really good with ice cream, almost like a sweet pound cake and ice cream! Store the ice cream bread in an airtight container and enjoy for up to five days.
More Ice Cream Bread Flavor Options
I’ve seen all sorts of different ice cream bread options out there but here are some options you can try next after you’ve made ice cream bread for the first time! The flavor possibilities are pretty much endless!
Banana bread – try a fun variation on banana bread by using banana flavored ice cream in place of vanilla! Strawberry ice cream bread – switch out the vanilla for strawberry for a yummy strawberry version! Peanut butter – try a peanut butter flavored ice cream combined with all-purpose flour for peanut butter bread! Cherry – you know that ice cream with chunks of cherries in it, that’d made a delicious loaf of bread!
If none of those sound good to you, try out your favorite flavor of ice cream and let me know if it works! Anything with a plain flavor and not a ton of chunks (or nuts) should work great!
More Easy Bread Recipes
If you’re a fan of delicious bread, these recipes might be a great option for you to try next! They’re all just as yummy as the ice-cream bread!
Fairy Bread – this fun Australian inspired treat combines bread and sprinkles in a treat any fairy would love! Cranberry Orange Bread – this delicious sweet bread has almost a perfect five star rating and is the best cranberry orange bread recipe you’ll ever try! Honey cornbread – if you like your cornbread sweet, you’ll love this yummy recipe! It’s perfect for serving up with chili or just serving as a side at any barbecue! Lemon Poppy Seed Bread – this bread is thick, sweet, and tastes almost like a lemon cake! It’s the perfect refreshing bread! Chocolate chip zucchini bread – this zucchini bread recipe uses a secret ingredient to keep it super mois and delicious, and it’s not the chocolate chips!
