Recipe: Orange Creamsicle Cake

There are some things from childhood that stick in my memory… one is the “Ice Cream Man”. I think every kid in every generation has memories of the “Ice Cream Man”. I remember hearing that jingle and running into the house to ask if I could have ice cream, wishing my Mother would move faster or I would miss him!

When my son was little we lived in an apartment… we were on the second floor but we had our own entrance… and when that jingle came around… there was my son running up the stairs as fast as his little legs could go… all the while… yelling.. “The Ice Cream Man… Mom hurry… or he’ll leave!!!”. I just smiled to myself, savoring the thought that my son was enjoying something I did when I was his age.

I grew-up in New York… a quiet, tree lined block of one-family houses in Queens. We had several different “Ice Cream Men”… there was the Good Humor Man, the Bungalow Bar Man… and then there was Mr. Softee, which sold soft serve ice cream.

As a kid… I loved the Bungalow Bar Man… he was all dressed in white and drove a cute truck with a little brown shingle roof on top…like a bungalow… I was fascinated with his coin gadget on his belt… ahh… back then ice cream cost coins not dollars… how times have changed. Unfortunately, they are no longer in business but every kid from Brooklyn, Queens and the Bronx my age probably still remembers the Bungalow Bar Man.

In fact, those trucks even made it into an episode of the Sopranos when Tony tells the story of when he tried to bid on a Bungalow Bar truck at an auction and lost to John Gotti, but John let him ride in the truck and ring the bells.

Each Ice Cream Man had a favorite kind of ice cream pop or cone… I rarely deviated from my favorites… I loved Toasted Almond… vanilla ice cream covered in tan colored almond flavored crumbles.. then there was Chocolate Eclair and Strawberry Shortcake… (both of these I have since found in the ice cream section of the grocery store)….

Then there was the Creamsicle… it was just so refreshing… I loved the creamy vanilla with the orange sherbet-like outer layer… just yummm… so when one of my Facebook friends posted the picture and the name of the cake.. I just had to have the recipe. I’m sure it's one that Jell-O came up with… but I got it from Heidi. The picture above is her’s too.

Thank you Heidi for sharing and bringing back a few childhood memories of the beloved “Ice Cream Man”.






Recipe: Orange Creamsicle Cake

All you need:

1 box white cake mix
Orange Extract
1 small box vanilla pudding mix
1 small box orange jello mix
1 cool whip (thawed)

All you need to do:

Mix white cake mix according to the directions on the box, using a 9x13 cake pan.

Bake and let cool for 15 minutes.

Using the other end of a wooden spoon or straw, poke holes all over the cake.

Mix orange jello with 1 cup hot water.

Spoon orange jello all over cake.

Refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Mix vanilla pudding with 1 cup milk in large bowl.

Add cool whip and 1 tsp. orange extract to pudding.

Mix well with mixer.

Spread mixture over cake.