What the heck is an icebox cake you ask? Well if you ask my mom she'd tell you its a lazy cake. That being said it's really a take on similar desserts like an ice cream cake which descended from the Charlotte (Colonial Era) which defended from the Trifle (Renaissance Era). It was first introduced during WWI, and was most popular in the 1920's and 1930's, however there are recipes dating all the way back to 1917 for Ice Box Cakes (aka Refrigerator Cakes). The thing I find the most interesting is that the icebox cake paved the way for those "back of the box" recipes many consumers have come to love! It gave companies manufacturing ice box cake ingredients a way to capitalize on their products.
Regardless of its origins, it really doesn't get much easier than an icebox cake when it comes to creating a quick semi-homemade dessert. Store bought ingredients make pulling it together simple, the hardest part is letting it set up in the fridge! You could get away with as little as 4 hours in the fridge but its better if you let it set for at least 12 hours and up to overnight.
Strawberries are in season right now so we opted to go that route for our fruit. You could however use just about any fruit that's in season, raspberries or blueberries would be equally delicious. We wanted to try two different layer options to see which on we liked the best. One side of our cake was layered with Italian Pizzelle, which is like a flat waffle cookie. I thought the waffle cookie might hold up well to the cream as it reminded me of a flat ice cream cone. For the other half of the cake we used Strawberry filled biscuit cookies which held up very nicely to the cream and the strawberries. We also chopped up some strawberry wafer filled cookies and shortbread, then tossed it with some Callebaut White Crispearls for extra texture and crunch. It was surprisingly tasty. The only modification I would make is to double up the pizzelle's for a thicker layer in-between the whipped cream and berries. Try it out and let us know what you think!
Here's what you will need: Topping:
Chopped Shortbread Cookies
Chopped Strawberry Wafer Cookies
Callebaut White Chocolate Crispearls
Filling:
Fresh Strawberries
Heavy Whipping Cream
Whip It Cream Stabilizer
Italian Pizzelle Cookies -OR- Strawberry filled Biscuit cookies
Directions:
Topping:
Chop shortbread cookies and strawberry wafer cookies up and place in a bowl. Add in Crispearls and toss, set aside.
Filling:
In a bowl beat the whipping cream with whip cream stabilizer until fluffy. In the bottom of a freezer safe pan, start to build your layers.
First spread a thin layer of whipping cream and then arrange either the Pizzelle or Strawberry Biscuit cookies.
Next add a layer of whipping cream.
Then a layer of strawberries and to that sprinkle a bit of the topping.
Repeat based on the depth of your pan.
Finish the icebox cake off by piping rosettes across the top and sprinkling more of the toping for a finishing touch.
Allow to firm up in fridge for 4-24 hours and serve!
Need visual instructions? Check out the video recipe we made just for you!
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