Mocha Ice Box Cake

Oh Man.... this is a fantastic cake. SO fantastic! Seriously, for those of you that have never made an icebox cake before- you need to get on that bandwagon. They are sooooo easy. No baking required (obviously) and you can do it the night before so it is ready for you the next day. And the whole preparation for the cake takes no more than 15 minutes, I promise! The longest part of the whole thing is maybe the assembly and that is only if your OCD like me and want to fill in all the spaces with little pieces of broken cookies. But you don't even have to do that for this cake to be great. This recipe is actually a rift on the classic icebox cake which is made even simpler by using simple vanilla sweetened whipped cream. Also oh-so-incredible. This takes it to a new level and adds mascarpone cheese, as well as chocolate and coffee flavors (thus the mocha). Honestly, I didn't want to spend the money on the mascarpone cheese so I just used cream cheese and it worked just as well. I was worried it wouldn't blend as well into the cream, or it wouldn't be sweet enough because cream cheese has a stronger flavor then mascarpone, but it did work very well. Feel free to splurge and follow the recipe though as is. I also ended up using homemade chocolate wafer cookies. In the original version by Ina Garten she uses thin crisp chocolate chip cookies, but I knew that the basic principles of the icebox cake would work perfectly with chocolate wafers since that is the original method.


Anyways, this cake is very, very easy and super delicious. So why wouldn't you make it? Maybe because you don't want to end up eating it all... like I pretty much did haha oh well! Oh and don't forget what a perfect summer dessert this is- "no bake"! Come on now. Perfect!


Want to make things even easier and just as delicious? Make a Classic Icebox Cake using just sweetened whipped cream. I would say use maybe 3 cups heavy cream, whipped with 1/4 cup sugar and  1 Tb vanilla extract. The sugar can be adjusted to the level of sweetness you prefer and this recipe can be easily halved and assembled in a lined loaf pan. Just another fabulous option for you.

I took an extra cookie I had and crumbled it over the top for a pretty garnish, but you could just as easily use cocoa powder or shaved/grated chocolate.
Or nothing even! Personally I think garnishes are overrated...

Mocha Ice Box Cake
adapted slightly from Ina Garten
Print Recipe

• 2 cups cold heavy cream
• 12 ounces Italian mascarpone cheese (or cream cheese)
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup  coffee liqueur, such as Kahlua
• 2 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder, such as Pernigotti or Valrhona
• 1 teaspoon instant espresso powder
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1 (9 oz) package chocolate wafer cookies
• Shaved semisweet chocolate, for garnish 

Directions

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, combine the heavy cream, mascarpone, sugar, coffee liqueur, cocoa powder, espresso powder, and vanilla. Mix on low speed to combine and then slowly raise the speed, until it forms medium to firm peaks. If you whip them too firm then they won't soften the cookies as well. 


To assemble the cake, arrange cookies along the bottom of an 8" springform pan, filling in spaces by breaking cookies into pieces. Spread 1/3 of cream evenly over cookies then cover with another layer of cookies. Continue layering until you end with remaining cream. You can make up to 5 alternating layers if you like, you will just need more cookies and less cream between layers.  Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.

I didn't have an 8" springform pan either, so I used my 9" springform pan. 

Worked perfectly fine.