My very favorite ice cream is the cake batter flavor from Cold Stone Creamery.  Of course, I add sprinkles.  It’s not the same without the sprinkles.  However, the price of my very favorite ice cream is not one my favorites.  Cold Stone Creamery is a bit on the pricey side so I seldom go there.  I’m also not a gourmet chef (not even close!) who can whip up my own better version of their ice cream on a whim.  

I made an accidental discovery last Wednesday evening:  a bag of dry cake mix leftover in my baking cabinet from when I made these cake batter balls–which were NOT one of my Pinterest problems and quite yummy (we opted to not dip ours in chocolate).  Ice cream +dry cake mix and sprinkles=Cheater Cake Batter Ice Cream!

Here’s my accidental recipe.  It is satisfying and simple to make whenever a craving strikes. 

When I went to the store earlier this week, ice cream was on sale!  This is the only brand of ice cream I really like to buy:

YUM!

Did you know a serving of this is 1/2 cup?  I think you should just always plan on eating 2 servings of ice cream 😉   I start with a serving or I mean 2 of ice cream:

I think there may be 3 servings in my bowl but let’s not get caught up in the details of that.

Grab a cake mix of your choice:

I used yellow cake mix but I bet this would be good also!

 Sprinkle about 2 tablespoons (more or less to taste) of the dry cake mix on top of the ice cream:

Dry cake batter sprinkled on top of the ice cream.

Add sprinkles (or red, white, and blue nonpareils if that is all you have on hand):

I used end of our rainbow sprinkles the night I discovered the “recipe” but red, white, and blue nonpareils work also.

Once stirred together you have semi-homemade cake batter ice cream that tastes as good but is not as expensive as the Cold Stone Creamery version:

Semi-homemade cake batter ice cream!

Incidentally, when you combine red, white, and blue nonpareils into vanilla ice cream it turns a sickly purple color.  However, it still tastes good with the added bonus that if you have kids they make a face and you don’t have to share!   What kind of ways have you found to satisfy your craving for restaurant or store bought foods at home? 

This post is linked to Frugal Friday over at Life As Mom.  Be sure to hop over there and check out all the great money saving ideas!