Gingerbread Icebox Cake
Published Dec. 20, 2024
- Total Time
- 3½ hours
- Prep Time
- 5 minutes
- Cook Time
- 1 hour 25 minutes, plus at least 2 hours’ freezing
- Rating
- Comments
- Read comments
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Ingredients
- 3cups/680 grams heavy cream
- ½cup/140 grams unsulphured molasses (such as Grandma’s)
- 1tablespoon ground ginger
- 2teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1teaspoon kosher salt (such as Diamond Crystal)
- 1teaspoon vanilla paste (or extract)
- ½teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
- ½teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 1(1-pound) box ginger snap cookies (such as Nabisco brand)
- Assorted candy and cookies (optional) and ½ cup white chocolate chips for decorating (see Tip)
Preparation
- Step 1
Set up your mixer with the whisk attachment. Place the heavy cream in the mixer bowl and whip on medium until it thickens to the consistency of yogurt, 2 to 3 minutes. Add the molasses, ginger, cinnamon, salt, vanilla, nutmeg and black pepper, and continue whipping on medium until the mixture hits a medium peak, is thick and smooth, and doesn’t fall off the whip when lifted, another 1 to 2 minutes.
- Step 2
Line an 1-pound, 8-by-5-inch loaf pan with enough plastic wrap to cover the interior fully and have at least 3 inches of overhang on each side. Lightly wet the sides of the loaf pan with a pastry brush moistened with water to help the plastic adhere. Using an offset spatula or small spoon, spread 1 cup of the spiced whipped cream all along the interior sides of the pan and then spread a ¾ cup layer over the base. Place one layer of gingersnap cookies along the bottom of the pan, breaking some if necessary to ensure one layer of cookies. Top with another ¾ cup layer of whipped cream, spreading until even. Place another layer of cookies on top and continue layering cream and cookies until you reach the rim of the pan, using slightly more whipped cream on the top layer as needed. Fold the overhanging plastic over the pan and freeze until set, at least 2 hours. Save leftover whipped cream and ginger snaps for decorating.
- Step 3
When ready to unmold, unwrap the top of the loaf pan and invert it onto a serving plate. Lift the pan and remove the plastic from the cake. Transfer the leftover whipped cream to a piping bag with a fine tip, then pipe cream on any cracks, smoothing it with an offset spatula. Use a rolling pin and a large resealable bag to crush the rest of the ginger snaps into crumbs. Dust the cake all over with the gingersnap crumbs. Use a pastry brush to clear away the crumbs from the serving plate. Decorate the cake if desired (see Tip), or slice and serve. Cake will keep, refrigerated, up to 5 days, or frozen up to one month.
- If you’d like to decorate the cake, you’ll want to start with some white chocolate chips, which you can melt and use as glue. (Melt the white chocolate chips in a microwave in 15-second bursts until melted and creamy, stirring after every blast.) Use a variety of your favorite christmas candy to decorate; marshmallows, tiny chocolates or licorice make great options. Use the melted white chocolate as the glue to stick the candy to the cake, pressing the candy lightly into the cream. To make a Pocky steeple (using about 40 cookie sticks), press the unfrosted cookie handle into the cake, about ¼ inch from the edge, at an angle, alternating with the opposite side so the two cookies support each other. Continue until the steeple covers the top of the cake. Use the white chocolate in between the Pocky to create a solid roof. While decorating, if the cream starts to soften, stick it in the freezer for 10 minutes to harden.
Private Notes
Comments
It is a great tragedy that Nabisco discontinued their chocolate wafers, which were perfect for a black and white icebox cake, which is so incredibly delicious. But this looks like a decent consolation prize.
I made this and enjoyed it though it's not a common flavor profile, the molasses is quite strong. Guests liked it but would maybe tweak next time. Super easy and fun to assemble. A few things: - I regret not making several layers of the cookies. If you see the photo in the recipe, it's thin layers of the cream. Mine was cream heavy in the layers which is a strong molasses flavor. I think I needed more cookies. I only did 3 layers of cookies. - The cream tasted salty to me, I may cut back some salt next time. I added about 1 TBS of powdered sugar for some sweetness to counteract the saltiness. I tasted it before adding the molasses. - Break up the cookies, not into crumbles - but into bite size pieces. The whole pieces were hard to cut through in the end and started to collapse my "loaf".
I used Tate’s Ginger Zinger cookies, which worked well. They have small chunks of chewy ginger in them. I reduced the molasses and salt by half based on others recommendations - that was the right call. Kept in freezer for two days, then moved to fridge a couple hours before serving.
As suggested, I reduced the molasses to 1/3 c. it was still too strong. I would redu e more, and maybe add some dark chocolate to the mix, although I doubt I will make this again. As my 11 year old said, "I like all the flavors, I didn't like the last."
I used Speculoos cookies (Biscoff brand) to avoid completely duplicating the flavor profile of the cream, as I feared ginger snaps would. Chocolate would have been good, too, as others have suggested. Also I added a few Tbsp powdered sugar, and a bit of instant clear gel to the whipped cream. I’m sure the recipe would stand up as written, but I have had an icebox cake that I THOUGHT was sufficiently whipped and set turn into a delicious mousse-like dessert that we had to serve in bowls. It collapsed as soon as I tipped it out of the pan. The instant clear gel protects against that possibility without changing the flavor. **For those looking for a substitute for FCW, look online for empty Oreos. I have found large, ice-cream-sandwich-sized cookies that have been great in an icebox cake. Or Goya chocolate Maria cookies. Not as chocolatey, but delicious.
Used 1/3 less molasses, stacked cookies sideways as per FCW instructions (and as is done routinely in the Midwest). Home run. Ate it for breakfast.