Ice Cream Pizza

Frozen Dessert Pizza

Originally published April 11, 2011. Updated on 4/29/2021

Learning about differences - in our cultures, the way we've been raised, linguistic quirks, etc - has always been an interesting thing to explore in our marriage. We're always learning new things!

When it comes to birthdays, we come from VERY different backgrounds.

Though my mother struggled to pay the bills, as a single mother with no support, birthdays were important in our family. What she lacked in budget, she made up for in creativity - and she went all out with it.

I remember making "grass skirts", leis, etc for a Hawaiian luau party - she even used acrylic paints to design a wall covering. I think it may have been a sheet or something, painted with big, tropical leaves.

One year, she made me an elaborate little 3 tiered birthday cake, covered in lattice work and a TON of meticulously piped flowers.

My husband, however, was raised in a religion that prohibits a lot of the celebrations that are pretty commonplace for most - including birthday parties.

That whole experience left him a dyed-in-the-wool Atheist... but more importantly, it left him an absolutely blank slate, as far as birthday parties go.

The Birthday Party Project!

Coming from my background, I was horrified at the idea of him missing out on all of those experiences and memories, growing up. I mean, I don't have many good memories from my childhood, so those birthday party memories are definitely bright spots, for me.

So, shortly after we met, I set about to rectify the situation. I would work to give him all of the typical birthday experiences that many of us would see as... typical.

To date, he's had a surprise party, a roller skating party (WITH bad, roller-rink pizza!), a sleepover with bad horror movies, and even a party at Chuck E Cheese.

Yes, our group of adults looked horribly out of place, but fun was had by all!

Oh, and goodie bags. Yes. I make cheesey, sugar-laden goodie bags for his birthday parties.

Why don't more adult birthdays include goodie bags, by the way? Everything is better hopped up on sugar. Pixi Stix all around, baby!

This year, it was time for him to have the bowling alley birthday party... and dessert pizza!

Frozen Dessert Pizza

Now, one of my absolute favorite birthday cakes of my childhood wasn't even a cake!

It was this colorful, fruity, frozen dessert pizza concoction. I vaguely recall my mom getting the recipe - or idea? - from the grocery store.

Remember those little stacks of pull-off recipes in the refrigerated section? I have no idea who put those out, if it what whatever grocery store she was shopping in, or maybe sponsored by a brand... but they were fun to collect as a kid.

This is the only one (well, in theory - I don’t have the actual recipe, had to recreate it from scratch!) that I remember specifically, but I remember the “hunt” - and being excited to see new ones.

Anyway.

I was a bit of a weird kid, in that I preferred fruit and sherbet over cake and ice cream, so it REALLY stood out to me.

It was just so much fun, I decided to make one for his birthday this year. It went over so well, I'm sharing the recipe with you!

How to Make Frozen Dessert Pizza

(Full recipe is at the end of this post!)

Spray a metal or tinfoil pizza pan with nonstick spray, set aside.

In a glass bowl (microwave) or large pot (stove top), melt butter and marshmallows, stirring until completely melted and well combined.

Add cereal, stir until well coated.

Press mixture into bottom of pizza pan to form a "pizza crust" - keep the middle relatively even, and build up a bit of a "crust" around the outside.

Cool until set.

Note: While you don’t HAVE to freeze the crust before moving on, I find it gives a better result. It helps prevent the softened sherbet from melting down into the crevices.

Spread with softened - but not melted - sherbet.

Wrap with plastic wrap, freeze until ready to serve.

At some point before serving, prepare your fruit. Wash, peel, slice - whatever you need to do. You want your toppings ready to go before you take the pizza out of the freezer!

Just before serving, remove from freezer, top with fruit!

Slice and serve like you would any other pizza 🙂

Dessert Pizza Variations

As pictured, this is how I’ve always made this, as an adult.

I THINK it may have been strawberry ice cream - rather than sherbet - when I was a kid, but I can’t remember. Something frozen, sweet, tasty and pink, however you want to do it!

That said, feel free to play with it.

I love the fresh fruit for the toppings, but you could totally do something different. Some ideas:

- If you don’t care about the “tomato sauce” being red/pink, you can use chocolate ice cream as a base... or any other flavour of ice cream or sherbet, for that matter.

- Chopped up chocolate bars on a chocolate ice cream “sauce” would be perfect for any chocoholic.

- Gummy candy on a bright green or yellow sherbet would be a lot of fun.

- It’s an over-the-top dessert. Chunks of cookies or brownies are absolutely acceptable! As my husband just pointed out - unchopped oreos could be “Chocolate pepperoni”!

- Peanut butter can be melted and drizzled over a chocolate based pizza.

- Consider drizzling other sauces - chocolate, caramel, strawberry, etc.

Just have fun with it!