Jeni’s Gooey Butter Cake Ice Cream

The famous Jeni’s Gooey Butter Ice Cream is a cream cheese ice cream layered with crumbles of vanilla cake and a swirl of caramel-butterscotch sauce. One of the top selling ice cream flavors at Jeni’s ice cream shops. Step-by-step copycat recipe included.

Caramel Gooey Butter Cake Ice Cream

Creamy homemade vanilla ice cream with chunks of homemade butter cake and swirls of decadent sweet caramel.

This is the official start of summer and I am all about it. I love fresh cold watermelon, BBQ-ing on the grill, days spent on the lake, and making our own homemade ice cream. 

A few years ago, we traveled as a family to the South for our Spring Break. We stayed in Hilton Island, South Carolina, and would take day trips to Savannah, Georgia, and Charleston. The South just oozes charm and I soaked up every minute of it. One of our favorite stops was in Charleston. We stumbled upon an ice cream store with rave reviews. There was a long line which is always a good sign. 

This ice cream store, called Jeni’s, makes all of their ice creams from scratch and we decided to try just about all of them! I couldn’t believe that they were all slam dunks but the standout was her Gooey Butter Cake Ice Cream. I had to get my hands on the recipe and recreate it at home! 

If you’ve ever stood in line at a Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams scoop shop and seen Gooey Butter Cake on the menu, you already know what happens next: you order it, you taste it, and you immediately start trying to figure out how to make it at home. It’s one of those ice cream flavors that genuinely stops people mid-bite. Rich, tangy cream cheese ice cream layered with soft crumbles of vanilla cake and a swirl of made-from-scratch caramel-butterscotch sauce — it tastes like dessert inside of dessert, and it’s completely impossible to forget.

This post is here to help you recreate it. We’re breaking down everything — what’s actually in Jeni’s Gooey Butter Cake ice cream, what makes Jeni’s ice cream base so uniquely smooth, and a full step-by-step copycat recipe you can make at home with an ice cream maker. We’re also answering every question people typically have about making homemade ice cream so you can go in fully prepared.

Whether you live near a Jeni’s scoop shop or you’ve only ever seen the pint in the grocery store freezer, this recipe is going to make your kitchen smell and taste incredible.

Thankfully, Jeni has put out her own ice cream cookbook and it is AMAZING. This was the first ice cream recipe I tried from her book and have made it several times and kept tweaking it to get it just right for us at home. Now it is time to share the recipe with you!

What is Jeni’s Gooey Butter Cake Ice Cream?

Jeni’s describes their Gooey Butter Cake ice cream as “dense cream cheese ice cream with soft vanilla cake and butterscotch sauce” — and that description barely does it justice. Here’s what’s actually inside the pint:

• The base: A dense, tangy cream cheese ice cream that is noticeably richer and smoother than standard vanilla. Jeni’s signature cream cheese base is what sets this apart from any other brand’s cake-flavored ice cream.
• The mix-in: Soft crumbles of vanilla cake baked specifically for folding into ice cream — not crunchy, not soggy, just tender little pieces that hold their shape in the frozen base.
• The swirl: A caramel-butterscotch sauce made from scratch with brown sugar, honey, and butter that winds through the ice cream in ribbons, adding sweetness and a slight toasty depth to every spoonful.

You will love the creamy vanilla base with caramel soaked butter cake all in it with swirls of rich caramel sauce. It is sweet, buttery, with a touch of salty-sweet that will make you want to go back over and over again.

What makes Jeni’s Ice Cream base unique and special:

Most premium ice cream bases are custard-based, meaning they use egg yolks to create richness and a smooth texture. Jeni’s base is egg-free. Instead, Jeni Britton Bauer uses three unconventional ingredients that work together to create her signature silky, dense, scoopable texture:

Cream cheese — A small amount of cream cheese (about 1.5 ounces per quart) acts as an emulsifier, binding the fat and water in the base to prevent ice crystals from forming. It adds a subtle tang that balances the sweetness without making the ice cream taste like cheesecake. This is the ingredient that people always ask about when they discover it’s there. As Jeni herself has explained, the cream cheese gives the ice cream body and helps it melt slowly and beautifully rather than turning watery.

Cornstarch — Used in place of eggs to thicken the base. This technique is traditional in Southern Italian gelato, and it produces a lighter, cleaner flavor than an egg-yolk custard. The starch has to be activated by heat, which is why you cook the base on the stovetop even without eggs.

Corn syrup — A small amount of light corn syrup is added to the base, which inhibits ice crystal formation and contributes to the incredibly smooth texture Jeni’s is known for. This is one of the reasons the ice cream scoops so cleanly straight from the freezer instead of needing to soften first.

The result is what Jeni calls “American scoop shop ice cream” — hard-pack, scoopable, super creamy, and rich without being cloying. Once you make it this way, it’s very hard to go back to any other method.

The base of the ice cream starts with heavy cream, whole milk, brown sugar, cream cheese, light corn syrup, and a pinch of salt. The cream cheese gives it a slightly tangy flavor and balances out the sweetness. 

The gooey butter cake is a light and airy cake (the eggs and sugar are whipped for 10 minutes!) and perfect for the creamy ice cream. Once the cake is baked it is soaked in a caramel sauce. Then I love to add extra caramel and swirl it through the vanilla ice cream. It is ridiculously good!

You can use any type of ice cream maker for this Caramel Gooey Butter Cake Ice Cream recipe. I use the Cuisinart ice cream maker and love it. 

I made some changes to Jeni’s Ice Creams recipe and after making it several times. First of all, I reduced the cream cheese because I thought it was a little too tangy and added more heavy cream instead. Also, I added more caramel to the ice cream. Since the caramel is used to soak the gooey butter cake, I also wanted more to swirl around in the ice cream. There were a few more small variations to the recipe but those were the big ones!

How to make Caramel Gooey Butter Cake Ice Cream:

This recipe has three components that come together in the final assembly: the cream cheese ice cream base, the vanilla cake crumbles, and the caramel-butterscotch swirl. Each one can be made ahead and the whole thing comes together beautifully.

1. Start by making the Gooey Butter Cake. This is done by whipping the eggs, egg yolks, sugar, brown sugar, and salt for 10 minutes, until light and fluffy. This gives it the light and airy texture. This cake isn’t high in fat (it only calls for 1 1/2 Tablespoons of butter) so it is important to coat it with rich caramel. Once it is baked, set it aside. 
2. Cook the whole milk, heavy cream, brown sugar, and corn syrup until boiling. Before adding the cream cheese, you want to make sure it is very soft so it can be incorporated more easily. 
3. Make an ice bath. This is an important step to cool the ice cream mixture BEFORE putting it in the ice cream maker. Pour the mixture into a freezer-safe gallon-sized bag and place it in ice bath for at least 30 minutes. 
4. Let churn until it becomes thickened. If you want some extra buttery flavor, you can add a few drops of butter flavoring to the ice cream as it is churning. While it is churning, cut the gooey butter cake into very small squares. Place in a bowl and toss with 3/4 of caramel. 
5. Pack the ice cream into a storage container to place in the freezer, layering it with the cake and with caramel. Freeze until firm — at least 4 hours.

Tips for the Best Results:

Soften the cream cheese all the way. This is the step people skip and then regret. Cold cream cheese will create lumps in your base that no amount of whisking will fully smooth out. Leave it at room temperature for at least 2-3 hours, or briefly microwave for 10-15 seconds.

Chill the base as long as possible before churning. A fully cold base (ideally 40°F or below) produces a much smoother, creamier finished ice cream than a base that was only slightly chilled. Overnight in the refrigerator is ideal.

Freeze the cake pieces before adding them. This is the trick that keeps the cake from getting smashed during assembly. Frozen pieces hold their shape and distribute evenly throughout the ice cream.

Cool the caramel sauce completely before swirling. Warm sauce will melt the churned ice cream and make everything soggy rather than creating clean swirls.

Don’t over-churn. The ice cream is ready when it looks like soft-serve. Over-churning can cause it to become buttery and grainy. It will firm up significantly during the 4-hour freeze.

Press parchment against the surface before freezing. This simple step prevents the dreaded ice crystal layer that forms on top of homemade ice cream when it’s exposed to air.

More Popular Ice Cream Recipes:

Homemade Vanilla Bean Ice Cream

Homemade Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Ice Cream

Homemade Chocolate Ice Cream

Salted Caramel Ice Cream