You want to be outside this weekend, not stuck in the kitchen slaving over a hot stove. Canada Day is all about grilling, ice cold drinks and something easy and fun for dessert. Ice cream cake is perfect. No cooking is required and just a few pints of ice cream and a mold are all that’s needed. Here is a round-up of some of the best ice cream cake recipes we could find online.

First up is Martha’s beautiful Watermelon Bombe. It’s so summery and fun and the recipe calls for exactly 5 ingredients. Martha actually has a whole directory of ice cream cakes on her site but this one is definitely the star.

Over on BBC’s Good Food site they’ve got a recipe for a Lemon Meringue Ice Cream Cake that is so inventive. No ice cream is actually used, you just assemble a bought Madeira cake with crushed bought meringues, lemon curd and creme fraiche, then put it in the freezer to set.

Lemon Meringue Ice Cream Cake

Nigella’s recipe for ice cream cake includes honey roasted peanuts, a chocolate bar, bourbon biscuits, butterscotch and chocolate sauce. Over on the Sugar Plum Blog she baked a fresh German Chocolate Cake, then sandwiched ice cream between the layers. Since we’re all about not turning on the oven this weekend, you can always go out and buy a lovely German Chocolate Cake and do the same.

Ice Cream Sandwich Cake

Finally, the best, most hilarious, and definitely the biggest on WOW factor has to be this crazy ice cream cake we found on Krissy’s Creations that is made with ice cream sandwiches layered with whipped cream and bananas! How awesome is that?

Happy Canada Day everyone!