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Birthday Cake Homemade Ice Cream

Birthday cake ice cream—creamy, pale-golden vanilla cake batter-style ice cream with rainbow sprinkles in every scoop. Made by gently cooking a custard base to 175F, chilling 4 hours, churning, then folding sprinkles for a confetti-studded finish.
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Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 10 minutes
chilling + freezing 4 hours
Total Time 4 hours 30 minutes
Servings: 8 servings
Course: Dessert
Cuisine: American
Calories: 410
Ingredients Equipment Method Notes

Ingredients
  

Ice cream base
  • 2 cup heavy cream
  • 1 cup whole milk
  • 0.75 cup granulated sugar
  • 4 egg yolks
  • 1 tbsp butter extract
  • 1.5 tsp vanilla extract
  • 0.25 tsp almond extract
  • 0.25 tsp salt
Sprinkles
  • 0.5 cup rainbow sprinkles plus more for serving

Equipment

  • 1 ice cream maker
  • 1 saucepan

Method
 

Cook the custard base
  1. In a saucepan, heat the heavy cream and whole milk until steaming. While it heats, whisk the egg yolks and granulated sugar until smooth.
  2. Slowly whisk the hot cream mixture into the egg yolks. Return everything to the saucepan and cook until it reaches 175F, stirring constantly.
Chill and flavor
  1. Strain the custard into a clean container, then stir in butter extract, vanilla extract, almond extract, and salt. Continue mixing until fully combined.
  2. Cover and cool completely, then refrigerate for 4 hours. Chill until very cold before churning.
Churn, assemble, and freeze
  1. Churn the chilled custard in an ice cream maker until it thickens to soft-serve consistency. Fold in rainbow sprinkles during the last 2 minutes of churning.
  2. Transfer the ice cream to a container and freeze until firm. Serve with more rainbow sprinkles on top.

Notes

Pro tip: keep stirring when the custard hits 175F so it thickens evenly without scrambling. Refrigerate leftover ice cream in a sealed container for up to 1 week. Freezing is best for storage—freeze in a flat layer for quicker firming, and it keeps well for about 2 months. For a lighter option, substitute part-skim milk for some of the whole milk and use the same sugar and extracts.