Carrot-Pecan Ice Cream Cake

1. Position the racks to divide the oven into thirds and preheat it to 325°F. Butter or spray three 9x2-inch round cake pans, line each pan with parchment paper and butter or spray the paper. Flour the insides of the pan and tap out the excess.

   To Make the Cake

2. Whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. In another bowl, stir together the carrots, chopped nuts, coconut and cranberries.

3. Working with a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the sugar and oil together on medium speed until smooth. Add the eggs one by one, and continue to beat until the batter is even smoother. Reduce the speed to low and add the flour mixture, mixing only until the dry ingredients disappear. Using a spatula, gently mix in the chunky ingredients. Divide the batter among the baking pans.

4. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes, rotating the pans from top to bottom and front to back at the midway point, until a tester inserted into the centers comes out clean; the cakes will have just started to come away from the sides of the pans. Transfer the cakes to cooling racks and cool for about 5 minutes, then run a knife around the sides of the cakes and unmold them. Remove the parchment paper and cool to room temperature right sides up. (The cakes can be wrapped airtight and kept at room temperature overnight or frozen for up to 2 months.)

To Assemble the Cake

1. Line a 9-inch springform pan with plastic wrap. Put one layer, top side up, in the pan.

2. Turn one pint of the ice cream onto the cake and, using an offset spatula or the back of a spoon, smooth it all the way to the edges of the layer. Top with the second layer of cake, this time placing the cake top side down, and cover with another pint of ice cream. Top with the last layer of cake, right side up, and cover with the remaining ice cream. If you want to top the cake with toasted nuts or coconut, sprinkle them on now, while the ice cream is soft.

3. Freeze the cake for about 6 hours before serving.

Tips

Few cakes look more impressive than this one. Its got three layers of great carrot cake "frosted" with three layers of ice cream.
The recipe for the carrot cake is one you'll want to hold on to. It makes a wonderful traditional carrot cake--just add cream cheese frosting.
If you'd like, you can freeze the cake without the sprinkling of nuts and then, at serving time, cover the cake with lightly sweetened whipped cream and finish with the toasted nuts.
The cake has to be frozen before you can serve it, but it can stay in the freezer for up to 2 months.