For a lot of, this icebox cake serves up an immediate hit of summertime nostalgia. It’s cool, creamy, and full of cookies. Plus, it’s extremely fast to drag collectively. Though you’ll be able to choose to decorate it up, the unique Well-known Icebox Cake—also called the Well-known Fridge Roll—consisted of solely wafer cookies layered with flippantly sweetened vanilla whipped cream or whipped topping that was then left to set within the icebox, or what we now name the fridge. Stored within the icebox in a single day, the moisture and fats from the cream could be absorbed by the cookies, which might then flip gentle and cake-like. It was the last word summertime dessert for the busy housewife, requiring no time within the oven and designed to be made the evening earlier than.
Though variations of icebox cake existed earlier than the debut of Nabisco’s Well-known Chocolate Wafers, it was the corporate’s back-of-the-box recipe that unfold the cake’s reputation throughout the nation. The wafer cookies have been born in 1924 as a product of the Nationwide Biscuit Firm, which might later tackle the title Nabisco. The primary chocolate wafer cookies have been packaged in a tin alongside ginger and sugar wafers. Nevertheless, the chocolate wafers have been in such excessive demand that the opposite flavors have been finally dropped. Nabisco’s Well-known Chocolate Wafers have been then packaged in their very own cardboard packaging with a recipe for icebox cake added to the labeling within the Forties. The remainder, as they are saying, is historical past. The enduring reputation of this no-fuss dessert proves that typically the best components make for probably the most scrumptious desserts.
Chocolate Wafer Icebox Cake
- 3 tablespoons (45 grams) chilly water
- 2¼ teaspoons (6 grams) unflavored gelatin
- 4½ cups (1,080 grams) chilly heavy whipping cream
- 2¼ cups (270 grams) confectioners’ sugar
- 1½ tablespoons (27 grams) vanilla bean paste
- ½ teaspoon (1.5 grams) kosher salt
- Chocolate Wafers (recipe follows)
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Line a 9×5-inch loaf pan with parchment paper, letting extra lengthen over sides of pan.
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In a microwave-safe measuring cup with a spout, place 3 tablespoons (45 grams) chilly water; sprinkle gelatin evenly on high. Let stand till hydrated, 5 to 10 minutes.
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In the meantime, within the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat chilly cream at low velocity, and progressively add confectioners’ sugar, vanilla bean paste, and salt, beating till mixed. Enhance mixer velocity to medium-low, and beat till starting to thicken.
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Microwave hydrated gelatin on excessive in 5-second intervals, stirring between every, till fully dissolved and combination is heat. (Don’t boil.)
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Regularly stir 2 tablespoons cream combination from bowl into heat gelatin combination till mixed. With mixer on medium-low velocity, add gelatin combination to cream in bowl in a gradual, skinny, regular stream; improve mixer velocity to medium, and beat till stiff peaks type. Reserve 2 cups (about 250 grams) whipped cream in a small bowl. Cowl and refrigerate till prepared to make use of.
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Unfold a skinny layer of remaining whipped cream in backside of ready pan. Organize 6 to eight Chocolate Wafers in a single layer over whipped cream, breaking wafers and overlapping barely as wanted. High with one other skinny layer of whipped cream and a layer of 6 to eight wafers. Cowl with sufficient whipped cream to fill pan about three-fourths full. Gently faucet pan on a kitchen towel-lined counter to settle whipped cream. Press 4 rows of 10 Chocolate Wafers vertically into whipped cream, overlapping rows if wanted and avoiding sides of pan. Put remaining whipped cream in a pastry bag, and reduce a ¼-inch opening in tip. Pipe whipped cream on high and between wafers to totally cowl. Easy into an excellent layer. (It’s OK if cream sits a bit increased than high of pan or if cookies peek by cream barely.) Cowl and refrigerate for a minimum of 8 hours or as much as in a single day. (Add any remaining whipped cream in pastry bag to reserved 2 cups in fridge.)
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Utilizing a spatula, gently stir reserved whipped cream till gentle. Invert cake onto a serving platter; discard parchment. Utilizing an offset spatula, clean high and sides, including a bit whipped cream as wanted to cowl any uncovered wafers or fill holes.
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Place remaining whipped cream in a big pastry bag fitted with a big petal piping tip (Wilton No. 125). With giant finish of piping tip touching cake and smaller finish pointing up, pipe a border round high fringe of cake. Pipe one ruffle at a time, left after which proper, alongside all sides of cake. (It ought to seem like hearts stacked on high of one another.) Refrigerate till able to serve. Finely crush 5 to 10 Chocolate Wafers, and beautify cake as desired. Cowl and refrigerate for as much as 3 days.
Chocolate Wafers
Makes about 90 wafers
- ½ cup (43 grams) black cocoa powder
- 3 tablespoons (42 grams) unsalted butter, melted
- 5 tablespoons (70 grams) unsalted butter, softened
- ½ cup (110 grams) firmly packed gentle brown sugar
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 giant egg (50 grams), room temperature
- 1 teaspoon (4 grams) vanilla extract
- 1⅔ cups (208 grams) all-purpose flour
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In a small bowl, whisk collectively black cocoa and melted butter. Let cool barely.
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Within the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat softened butter, brown sugar, and salt at medium velocity till fluffy, 3 to 4 minutes, stopping to scrape sides of bowl. Beat in cocoa combination. Add egg and vanilla, beating till nicely mixed. Add flour, and beat till nicely mixed and a clean dough types.
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Divide dough in half (about 1 cup or 263 grams every). Between 2 sheets of parchment paper, roll every half to ¼-inch thickness. Freeze dough between parchment till set, about quarter-hour.
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Preheat oven to 325°F (170°C). Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
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Working in batches, take away high sheet of parchment. Utilizing a 2-inch spherical cutter, reduce dough, twisting to launch from parchment. Place ½ inch aside on ready pans. (If dough tears when eradicating from parchment, freeze for five minutes.) Reroll scraps between 2 sheets of parchment paper to ¼-inch thickness, and freeze for a minimum of quarter-hour earlier than reducing.
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Bake till aromatic, tops are dry, and a slight indentation is left when pressed with a finger, 6 to eight minutes. Let cool on pans for 10 minutes. Take away from pans, and let cool fully on wire racks.
