Yummy Icebox Cake

An icebox cake (American), zebra cake (British), or chocolate ripple cake/log (Australian) is a dessert consisting of whipped cream and chocolate wafers. The back-of-the-box recipe on Nabisco Famous Chocolate Wafers indicates that the wafers are stacked to form a log with whipped cream cementing them together, and then the log is laid on its side. A second log is formed and the two are set side-by-side and more whipped cream covers the exterior. The cake is then left overnight in the refrigerator (or "icebox)." The wafers absorb moisture from the whipped cream and the whole can be served in slices. The dessert is usually served by cutting it into slices at a 45 degree angle, so bands of chocolate and cream are visible across each slice. The traditional wafers are the Nabisco Famous Chocolate Wafers, but they can be hard to find so other cookies are often substituted.

American variations:
A variation of icebox cake is made using pudding (usually chocolate) and graham crackers layered in a square or rectangular baking dish. Additional variations include alternating layers of chocolate and vanilla pudding, or the addition of sliced bananas or pineapples between the layers. While this can be done with cold ("instant") pudding, if given ample time in the "icebox," the best results come from assembling the dessert with still-hot stove-cooked pudding, and then refrigerating overnight.
Australian version: In Australia the cake is made from Arnotts Chocolate Ripple biscuits, hence the name in that country of Chocolate Ripple cake.

I have to thank Theresa O. for inspiring me to post this recipe. She had made this cake for one of our office parties and I loved it. I got the recipe from her and went shopping. I must say it was a little legwork to find two simple ingredients: Chocolate wafers and Dream whip. As usual I ended up modifying the recipe but this time because I did not buy enough Dream whip.

Both dream whip and chocolate wafers are a bit expensive, but the end product is definitely worth it. Also I found a recipe to make the chocolate wafers from scratch which I will be posting in next, just in case you can not find the chocolate wafer in the grocery stores (they were hard to find for me)

Valentines day is just around the corner and I wanted to post this recipe to give you an easy to bake idea for this quick yummy dessert for your Valentine. It is a fun recipe and you can get kids involved. You will need following

Ingredients:

? 2 packs of chocolate wafers (Nabisco brand Famous Chocolate wafers 9 oz box each contains about 40 thin wafers)

? 1 box of Dream whip (contains two envelopes)

? 1 cup of cold milk

? 1 tub of cool whip

? 1 (8 oz) pack of softened (at room temp) cream cheese

? 1/3 can of condensed milk

? 2 teaspoon of vanilla

? 1/4 cup of shredded chocolate shavings

? 1 table spoon of unsweetened cocoa powder

Method:

? In a mixer whisk milk, vanilla and dream whip (I used mixer attachment of my food processor that is why you see the food processor in the picture) for 5 min until fluffy and thick.

? Add softened cream cheese, condensed milk and cool whip and mix well until smooth.

? Set aside.

? Arrange a layer of chocolate wafers in large casserole dish in shape of heart filling the center with wafers as well.

? Top it with the Dream whip mix, spread evenly, maintaining the heart shape.

? Layer this Dream whip layer with chocolate wafers again and repeat the process until all the wafers and cream mix is utilized with top layer being of the cream mix.

? Take the shredded chocolate shaving and make a border of heart on the prepared top cream layer of towe and fill the middle with cocoa mix.

? You can leave it like that or put additional wafers if any remaining on top to decorate like the way I attempted to make two dots. (you can get kids involved for this fun)

? Cover the casserole carefully with plastic wrap and refrigerate it overnight or for 6-8 hours.

? Serve chilled.

Yummy !! Enjoy :)

Hints:

* You can make the cake in round shape or just layer them in a casserole.

* If you prefer individual servings and want to do more work, you can make individual cup cakes. Take a foil cup cake and layer individual wafers and cream making layers of about 4-6 wafer and cream. Top them with cherry or strawberry, refrigerate for 4-6 hours and serve chilled individually.

Description of Icebox cake Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Icebox_cake
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Text_of_Creative_Commons_Attribution-ShareAlike_3.0_Unported_License

Recipe modified by Surekha from a recipe give to her by Theresa O.

Photographs by Surekha.

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