Ice Box Cake
It’s my birthday week. The big 4-0. Numbers don’t mean a lot to me and I’m usually not someone who gets freaked out by big birthdays. I’m also the girl who got her first round of Botox in years and ordered a leopard unitard this past weekend so maybe we should be questioning how well I’m handling it.
Anyway, my birthday gift to you is this Ice Box Cake. When I was going to culinary school in New York I lived near Billy’s Bakery in Chelsea. I worked at a food magazine during the day and went to school at night. At least once a week I’d get out of school at a decent hour, the subway would run on time - all the stars would align to get me to Billy’s before they closed so I could grab a slice of their ice box cake. It isn’t super common on the West Coast and I’d never had it before moving to New York. I was obsessed.
In recent years I’ve forced my husband to drive across L.A. to the one bakery that makes ice box cake to bring it home for me for my birthday. This year, I saved him the trip and created my own recipe. If you’re not a baker, this is the cake for you. More assembly than baking, the key to this is not over whipping the whipping cream. 20-seconds too long and it turns into a grainy mess. Using a KitchenAid stand mixer? I’ve got you covered with speed and specific times.
I like to mix half the cream at a time. If you want to do it all at once, be sure you have a splash guard on your stand mixer. Cream will go flying! I also like to use an 8” cake ring to assist in building this cake. You can certainly do it free-form if you prefer or don’t have a cake ring.
Ice Box Cake
2 pints heavy cream
1/3 cup sugar
2 tbsp vanilla
2 boxes Nabisco Famous Chocolate Wafers
Mix one pint of heavy cream, half the sugar and one tablespoon of vanilla in a stand mixer at speed 4 for two minutes. If you’re using a handheld mixer, whip just until soft peaks form, taking care not to overmix the heavy cream. Place an 8” cake ring on a plate, cake stand or other serving dish you can fit in your fridge (you won’t be able to transfer the cake once it’s assembled). Place a layer of wafers on the dish inside the cake ring. If using an 8” cake ring, the outer ring of cookies will be slightly overlapping, with four cookies overlapping in the center. Top with about one cup of the whipped cream. Repeat layers until all the cookies are used up. When you run out of whipped cream, whip the remaining pint of cream, sugar and vanilla to finish the cake. You will have about a cup of cream leftover. I like to hang onto it in case I need to do any touch ups when the cake is served. Place the cake in the fridge overnight. When ready to serve, remove the cake ring and slice.