This post is sponsored by Collective Bias, Inc. and I Love Ice Cream Cakes. All opinions are mine alone. #IceCreamCakeBreak #CollectiveBias

Colorful, Unicorn Homemade Magic Shell is an easy, fun ice cream cake topping to help you celebrate summer!

ice cream cake sprinkles and homemade magic shell
Save this recipe
Enter your email address and we’ll send this post straight to your inbox.

July is National Ice Cream month and to celebrate, I indulged in one of my childhood favorites: ice cream cake!

Ice cream cake is the best of both dessert worlds, isn’t it? You get the yummy fluffy cake with a layer of creamy ice cream, topped with sweet frosting. It’s one of the greatest dessert combos, all in one perfect slice!

ice cream cake sprinkles and homemade magic shell
carvel ice cream cake with confetti

I purchased one of the Carvel® Ice Cream Cakes with Confetti from my local Walmart, in the freezer right next to the bakery section. The ice cream cakes come in many different styles and sizes, including original Carvel®, Jon Donaire® and OREO®. To find these ice cream cakes in your area, you can check this website for locations.

ice cream cake slice

I thought the Carvel® Ice Cream Cake with Confetti that I purchased – with its layers of vanilla and chocolate ice cream, chocolate crunchies, whipped topping and bright, fun confetti sprinkles – was perfect for a colorful celebration of summer and National Ice Cream Month!

ice cream cake corner

With the unicorn food craze continuing to sweep the internet – and with a daughter who loves all of the unicorn food she sees on YouTube and Instagram – I also thought it would be fun create a super simple, colorful homemade magic shell that could fit the unicorn food theme!

Easy Unicorn Homemade Magic Shell

If you’re in the parental age group, you may have fond memories of magic shell like I do: a liquid chocolate concoction that magically hardens after a minute of being poured onto ice cream.

It turns out, this “magic” creation is actually super simple: mix together melted chocolate and some coconut oil. That’s it! You can use regular chocolate chips for chocolate magic shell, or add store-bought or natural food coloring to create colorful magic shell.

pink pitaya homemade magic shell

I made two bowls of magic shell and added natural superfood powders to create a classic pink/blue/purple-ish unicorn color: one with pink pitaya powder and the other with blue spirulina powder.

homemade magic shell - blue spirulina

To create a super traditional unicorn-esque magic shell, you can swirl the two colors together.

My daughter thought it looked “plenty unicorn-like” by putting the pink and blue magic shell separately on the ice cream cake, since it already had some blue frosting, so we left them separate. You do you, Boo!

ice cream cake sprinkles and homemade magic shell
ice cream cake sprinkles and homemade magic shell

Within about a minute of spooning the homemade magic shell onto the top of an ice cream cake slice, the chocolate hardened to create a crunchy shell – just like magic. I can’t even tell you how EXCITED I was to tap my spoon onto the mixture and hear the crunch as I pushed the spoon through the hardened chocolate shell. I was transported to my childhood, you guys! It’s ridiculous how happy this made me and how much I loved making homemade magic shell and introducing this to my own kids!

eating ice cream cake and homemade magic shell

And as you can see, there is no such thing as too many sprinkles. We added even more sprinkles to our celebration ice cream cake!

Homemade Magic Shell Recipe

Easy Homemade Magic Shell

5 from 6 votes
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 5 minutes
Total Time: 10 minutes
Servings: 4
Top your favorite ice cream cake or ice cream with this yummy homemade magic shell! 
Save this recipe!
Get this sent to your inbox, plus get new recipes from us every week!

Ingredients 

  • 1 cup white chocolate chips
  • 3 tbsp coconut oil
  • 2 tsp your choice of superfood powder, OR
  • 4-5 drops food coloring

Instructions 

  • In a heatproof bowl, melt the white chocolate chips and coconut oil together in a microwave in 30-second increments, stirring the ingredients together in-between each time. Continue until melted and combined.
  • Add the tsp of superfood powder OR start with 4-5 drops of food coloring. Gradually add more powder or food coloring until you achieve the desired color and the color is well blended with the white chocolate. Allow to cool just slightly, for a minute, before serving on top of ice cream cake or ice cream. 

Notes

This recipe makes about 3/4 cup of magic shell. I made two servings of this for the photos here: one with pink pitaya powder and one with blue spirulina powder. 

Nutrition

Calories: 330kcal, Carbohydrates: 27g, Protein: 3g, Fat: 25g, Saturated Fat: 17g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g, Monounsaturated Fat: 5g, Cholesterol: 9mg, Sodium: 41mg, Potassium: 129mg, Fiber: 0.1g, Sugar: 27g, Vitamin A: 14IU, Vitamin C: 0.2mg, Calcium: 90mg, Iron: 0.1mg

Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.

Tried this recipe?Please leave a star rating and comment! Then snap a pic of your dish and share it on social media. Tag @UrbanBlissLife and #UrbanBlissLife!

IF YOU MAKE THIS RECIPE, SHARE IT ON INSTAGRAM WITH #URBANBLISSLIFE AND TAG @URBANBLISSLIFE. I’D LOVE TO SEE WHAT YOU MAKE! AND IF YOU LIKE THIS RECIPE, PLEASE DO ME A HUGE FAVOR AND LEAVE A STAR RATING. THANK YOU, SWEET FRIENDS!

Enter to win your own Ice Cream Cake Break!

Don’t you and your friends/family deserve an Ice Cream Cake Break, too? My friends at I Love Ice Cream Cakes are giving you the chance to win a $500 Gift Card for the Ultimate Ice Cream Cake Party! PLUS: you can return every 24 hours during the month of July for a chance to win the daily prize and additional entries toward the $500 grand prize! Click here to enter to win.

ice cream cake break

No Purchase Necessary. The #IceCreamCakeBreak #Sweepstakes begins on July 1, 2018 at 12:00:00 AM ET and ends on July 31, 2018 at 11:59:59 PM ET. There are Daily Drawings and a Grand Prize Drawing during the Sweepstakes. Legal residents of the 50 US/DC only 18+. Void where prohibited. By participating, you agree to the Official Rules at http://cbi.as/a20zy

PIN IT:

easy homemade magic shell recipe

More Colorful Dessert Ideas

What’s YOUR favorite flavor for ice cream cakes? 

Marlynn Jayme Schotland 2021 profile pic

About Marlynn

I'm a cookbook author, recipe developer, photographer, WSET 2 Certified wine pro, mom of two, and dog lover. I'm here to help you with fast, easy, and delicious recipes, food & wine pairings, cooking & baking tips, plus food and wine travel guides.

5 from 6 votes

Leave a comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recipe Rating





This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

34 Comments

  1. Waz says:

    Yay, it’s ice cream cake season! Love how colorful your cake is and that you made your own magic shell. So fun!

    1. Marlynn | UrbanBlissLife says:

      It adds such a fun twist! Thanks, Waz!

  2. Clair says:

    What a fun and cute party idea! My oldest would absolutely love this!

    1. Marlynn | UrbanBlissLife says:

      Yay! Thanks, Clair!

  3. Leah says:

    My daughter will love this and it sounds so simple!!

    1. Marlynn | UrbanBlissLife says:

      It really is! Thanks, Leah!

  4. Catherine @ To & Fro Fam says:

    This is AWESOME! My girls’ birthday party is this weekend so I may just have to slightly adjust the cake plans. Thanks for sharing, Marlynn!

    1. Marlynn | UrbanBlissLife says:

      Of course! I’m glad you enjoyed it! :)

  5. Francesca says:

    Omg this is genius! My daughter is unicorn obsessed! Definitely trying this out for her!

    1. Marlynn | UrbanBlissLife says:

      Unicorns are so trendy right now! Let me know how she likes it!

  6. Erin @ Platings and Pairings says:

    5 stars
    What a fun idea to make your own magic shell – And I love how colorful it is!!! I’ve always been a huge fan of ice cream cake too.

    1. Marlynn | UrbanBlissLife says:

      The colors are definitely my favorite part!

  7. Pech says:

    So fun and pretty!!!!

    1. Marlynn | UrbanBlissLife says:

      Thank you!

  8. Sam @ The Haunted Housewife says:

    5 stars
    This look so yummy and perfect for summer! I didn’t know you could just pick up an ice cream cake in Walmart’s freezer section but now it’s on my list because I NEED to try this!

    1. Marlynn | UrbanBlissLife says:

      Yeah! Makes things so much easier! Thank you, Sam!

  9. Jade Helm / Tasting Pour says:

    You don’t have to have a little girl or be a little girl to love all this pastel color and pattern. I am a special kind of grown-up. :)

    1. Marlynn | UrbanBlissLife says:

      I agree! lol! :)

  10. Tabitha Blue says:

    Oh my goodness, this is so fun, I’m sure my kids would LOVE it!!

    1. Marlynn | UrbanBlissLife says:

      You should give it a try with them! :)

  11. lauren says:

    Yes! I use coconut oil in my chocolate when I make chocolate covered strawberries to help it firm up nicely! I love the colors you made!

    1. Marlynn | UrbanBlissLife says:

      I love coconut oil! Thanks, Lauren! :)

  12. Shadi Hasanzadenemati says:

    5 stars
    What a fun idea! I love ice cream cake and this trick to customize it is so cool!

    1. Marlynn | UrbanBlissLife says:

      There’s so many different options! Thanks, Shadi!

  13. Gabi says:

    5 stars
    I never would have thought, that natural superfood powders could create such magic pink/blue/purple-ish unicorn colors. What an amazing project!

    1. Marlynn | UrbanBlissLife says:

      They worked so well for this! Thank you, Gabi!

  14. Heidy L. McCallum says:

    I love this idea, I wish my kids were still little they would love this idea too. Heck, I think I might use it for a girls night at the house to brighten up the ice cream and dessert. can’t go wrong with a refreshing dessert wine and fun dessert can you?

    1. Marlynn | UrbanBlissLife says:

      No! That’s such a fun idea!

  15. Liz says:

    5 stars
    The different colors are such a fun idea! Perfect for a party!

    1. Marlynn | UrbanBlissLife says:

      Thank you, Liz!

  16. Marie – Not Enough Cinnamon says:

    5 stars
    This looks like such a fun little project! I bet kids go crazy over this!!

    1. Marlynn | UrbanBlissLife says:

      They love it! Thanks, Marie!