Ice cream cake is either ice cream

Ice cream

Ice cream is a frozen dessert usually made from dairy products, such as milk and cream, and often combined with fruits or other ingredients and flavours. Most varieties contain sugar, although some are made with other sweeteners...

 in the shape of a cake

Cake

Cake is a form of bread or bread-like food. In its modern forms, it is typically a sweet and enriched baked dessert. In its oldest forms, cakes were normally fried breads or cheesecakes, and normally had a disk shape...

 or ice cream and cake layered together to make a single form. The idea of ice cream cake came from dessert

Dessert

In cultures around the world, dessert is a course that typically comes at the end of a meal, usually consisting of sweet food. The word comes from the French language as dessert and this from Old French desservir, "to clear the table" and "to serve." Common Western desserts include cakes, biscuits,...

s composed of cream and cookies or cake called trifle

Trifle

Trifle is a dessert dish made from thick custard, fruit, sponge cake, fruit juice or gelatin, and whipped cream. These ingredients are usually arranged in layers with fruit and sponge on the bottom, and custard and cream on top....

s, which first turned up in the Renaissance

Renaissance

The Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Italy in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe. The term is also used more loosely to refer to the historical era, but since the changes of the Renaissance were not...

. Ice cream cake is often eaten at birthdays and weddings.

Victorians

Victorian era

The Victorian era of British history was the period of Queen Victoria's reign from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. It was a long period of peace, prosperity, refined sensibilities and national self-confidence...

 made desserts called bombes, which consisted of ice cream and fruit in fancy molds

Mold (food)

A mold or mould is a container used in various techniques of food preparation to shape the finished dish. The term mold may also refer to a finished dish made in such a container .-Types of molds:...

. Sometimes these desserts were lined with cake or biscuits. Ice cream cake recipes dating to the 1870s have also been found.
Ice cream cakes often consist of chocolate ice cream, then fudge, cookie crumbs, vanilla ice cream, and then soft serve ice cream which is supposed to be like icing.

U.S. market

Ice cream cakes are popular in the U.S. Carvel has a history of themed cakes advertised on television including Fudgie the Whale

Fudgie The Whale

Fudgie the Whale is a type of ice cream cake produced and sold by Carvel in its franchise stores. It was developed by Carvel in the 1970s as an expansion of its line of freshly made products, along with Hug-Me Bear and Cookie Puss.-Development:...

 and Cookie Puss

Cookie Puss

Cookie Puss is an ice cream cake character created by Carvel in the 1970s as an expansion of its line of freshly made products sold only in its stores, along with Hug-Me Bear and Fudgie the Whale...

. Baskin Robbins, Dairy Queen

Dairy Queen

Dairy Queen, often abbreviated DQ, is a chain of soft serve and fast food restaurants owned by International Dairy Queen, Inc, who also owns Orange Julius and Karmelkorn. The name "Dairy Queen" is taken from the name of their soft serve product, which the company refers to as "Dairy Queen" or...

, Friendly's

Friendly's

Friendly Ice Cream Corporation is the owner and operator of the Friendly's restaurant chain on the United States' East Coast. Founded in 1935 in Springfield, Massachusetts by brothers Curtis Blake and S. Prestley Blake, 20, their first shop served double-dip cones for 5 cents...

, Cold Stone Creamery

Cold Stone Creamery

Cold Stone Creamery is an American-based ice cream parlor chain. The company, based in Scottsdale, Arizona, is owned and operated by Kahala Franchising, L.L.C. The company's main product is premium ice cream, or ice cream made with approximately 12-14% butterfat, that is made on location and...

, and other retailers also sell ice cream cakes.