My college roommate flew all the way across the country to visit me last week, and in my book, that sort of special occasion calls for some celebratory cake. But with the sweltering heat, I just couldn’t bring myself to bake in the oven. So what to do when you’re facing cakelessness or an even hotter house?! You make an icebox cake, my friend!
An icebox cake is made of layers of cookies or wafers, cream and other tasty fillings that go into the refrigerator (that’s the icebox part) and come out the next day as soft and moist as freshly baked cake layers. I used graham crackers for my s’mores icebox cake and layered them with mascarpone whipped cream and silky chocolate ganache, then topped it all off with some toasted marshmallows. The cream soaked into the graham crackers, making them soft and cakey, and let’s just say it’s really hard to go wrong with chocolate and mascarpone. Yum!
S’mores Icebox Cake, makes one loaf pan-sized cake
Box of graham crackers
8 oz. container of mascarpone cheese
2 1/4 cups heavy cream
1/4 cup confectioners sugar
8 oz. chocolate, broken into pieces (I used a mix of milk and dark)
Marshmallows, sliced in half
Loaf pan
Electric beaters
Plastic wrap
Kitchen torch (optional but highly recommended)
Prepare the mascarpone whipped cream by beating the mascarpone, 1 1/4 cup whipped cream and the confectioners sugar in a bowl just until stiff peaks form. It only takes a minute or two.
Prepare the ganache by heating the remaining cup of cream until it’s piping hot but not boiling, then pouring it over the chocolate in a heat-proof bowl. Let stand one minute, then stir until the chocolate is melted and smooth.
Now it’s time to build those layers! Line a loaf pan with plastic wrap, leaving enough excess on the sides that it can be folded over the top. Line the bottom with a single layer of graham crackers. You can break up or crumble graham crackers to fill gaps in any of the graham cracker layers and it will all look consistent in the end.
Next spread a layer of whipped cream. Make sure the graham crackers are completely covered. Beyond that, you can make the layers as thick or thin as you like!
Time for your first ganache layer! Spread it evenly to the corners of the pan. Repeat the layers until the pan is full, ending with a graham cracker layer. That way when you invert the cake, it will be standing on a “cake” layer. Fold the plastic wrap over the top layer and refrigerate overnight.
When the cake is nice and chilled, it’s time to flip it. Fold back the plastic wrap, lay a plate across the cake then quickly invert it. Lift the pan away and remove the plastic wrap. The plastic leaves creases in the cake that I don’t really like the look of, so I spooned leftover ganache over the top to hide them. A prettier cake and more chocolate? Yes, please.
Lastly, add the marshmallows and toast them, moving the torch quickly. Slice, serve and watch your cake vanish almost instantly.
This cake was a huge hit in my house and I have a feeling it’s one I’ll be making every summer from now on. Have you ever made icebox cake? What are your favorite toppings?
22 Comments
I love the recipe looks delicious as everything they do here lol!
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This looks sinfully good! Anything s’mores works for me! 😉
Charmaine Ng | Architecture & Lifestyle Blog
http://charmainenyw.com
Oh yum! looks delicious! We have a traditional type of desert here in Québec, Canada which is very similar. We call it “gâteau firgidaire” which literally means “fridge cake” (although Frigidaire is a brand of fridges, the word is used to describe a fridge much like saying “hand me a Q-tip” for cotton swabs or “do you have a kleenex” for tissues). It’s intermittent layers of graham crackers, whip cream (although some people use at least one layer of custard as well…..which I personally don’t like) and chocolate pudding, toped with a layer of icing sugar marbled black and white.
That sounds delicious! I’d love to try marbling the top next time.
This looks SO decadent and delicious! I have a major sweet tooth so this is totally calling my name. I’ve never made an icebox cake before, but this one will be first on my list to try!
Mia | http://www.verymuchmia.com
That cake looks absolutely delicious, yum! I really like that it doesn’t have to be baked!
https://www.makeandmess.com/
This cake looks amazing! I need it in my life!
Paige
http://thehappyflammily.com
Oh dear me – this looks truly delicious – YUM!! Gorgeous photos too, everything looks so good!!
Rebecca
xx
http://www.peppermintdolly.com
So now I’m wondering, as a Brit, what would be a good Graham’s crackers substitute….. I think some research is necessary. Yes. Lots of biscuit trials. Nom.
I’m sure any thin, semisweet biscuit would work perfectly. I wish we had as many biscuits to choose from here as you do in Britain!
We do love a biscuit in Britain! ? I have literally just put my first trial cake into my fridge using digestives. They may be too thick and dense – I’m excited to see how it goes!
This looks to die for! I believe I will be stopping by the store on my way home just to get the ingredients to make this…and a bottle of wine…because one must always purchase a bottle of wine at the store…just in cases!
Definitely going to soak up this recipe during these last couple weeks of summer! This is the perfect sweet treat making it easier to get into fall. Yum!
OH MY GLOB that looks amazing. I wonder how I could make a vegan version? Hmmm..
Elly
http://curiousdisposition.com
Let me know if you come up with a good vegan version! Now I’m dreaming up a vegan tropical fruit icebox cake with some sort of whipped coconut cream…!
This would be perfect for the bank holiday weekend, it’s a scorcher!
I made these this weekend for a BBQ and they were a huge hit with kids and parents, alike! Thanks so much for making me look like a rock star. 🙂
I loved the recipe. I did last Sunday, it was very good, the whole family approved. Thank you, and congratulations on the site. xx.
This looks divine, thanks for sharing! As it’s now September, I think this recipe is so worth making!
Life inside the Locket
That looks so good… guilty pleasure! Easy and no cook… that’s a keeper for sure. And I just bought one of those torch.
Love this idea for a no-bake dessert! And so fancy, yet so easy! Yum!
This is a great recipe! I found that I had plenty of extra ganache to coat the top, some extra mascapone whipped cream, and almost 1/2 of the box of graham crackers left over. I do not have a kitchen torch, so I arranged the marshmallows in a rectangle shape on a strip of parchment, and broiled them in my oven, checking them every 30 seconds or so until nicely toasted. It wasn’t too hard to slide them onto the chilled cake. It looked and tasted great!