Ice Box Cake

A Personal Ice Box Cake

It just sounds old fashion, and it is.  This is my childhood summer dessert.  It reminds me of simple summers, crickets and locusts would be my soundtrack, and there is a breeze blowing off the Mississippi right through the enormous screened in porch where we lived from Memorial Day to Labor Day.  You might hear a train every few hours as the tracks were between us and the Mighty Miss, and if you were really lucky, you'd be home when the Delta Queen came by and her calliope organ would signal for you to get to high ground and see her coming past.  We had a balcony off my parents bedroom, and from there you could see her, plus the barges that came by all summer.  The Delta Queen was truly a glimpse of Mark Twain's river days, and I always thought it would be fun to the see the river from top to bottom.

I have blogged about ice box cake before, when I was hunting down Nabisco Famous Wafers and made this cake and some ice cream bon bons.  It was requested by my kids early this summer, and when I found a recipe for home made chocolate wafers in my email from King Arthur Flours, I knew I had to make it from scratch.  Wow.  Of course I used all Pernigotti Cocoa instead of black cocoa and Dutch process cocoa.  Also, why do we make round cookies?  We make our ice box cake in a 9X9, so I got smart and cut my cookies into squares!  And I had a few leftover cookies, so a week later I made a personal size Ice Box Cake for my sweetie.

Chocolate Wafers
(adapted from King Arthur's Flour)

1 cup sugar
1/2 cup unsalted butter
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon espresso powder
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 Pernigotti Cocoa

Cream butter and sugar.  Add salt, baking powder and espresso powder.  Mix well and add egg and vanilla.  Add flour and cocoa until all is incorporated.  Wrap in plastic wrap and chill a few hours.

Why not squares?  Use every speck of dough!

Preheat oven to 350F.  Roll dough to 1/8" and cut out and reroll scraps. Use cocoa instead of flour to keep the dough from sticking.  Bake on Silpat lined sheets for about 8-10 minutes, rotating sheets halfway through baking time.  Cool on racks and store airtight or frozen.

The cookies alone are delicious too!

Ice Box Cake

1 pint whipping cream
2 Tablespoons powdered sugar
6-8 bananas, perfectly ripe, sliced thin
Chocolate wafer cookies

Everything ready to go for assembly.

Yes, it's a banana slicer and I use it ALL the time!

A layer of bananas...

Beat cream and powdered sugar to stiff peaks.  In a 9X9, spread a little whipped cream on the bottom and begin layering.  Cookies, bananas, whipped cream, however you like, and quantities you like.  We like to crush a few cookies on top of the last layer of whipped cream.  Cover with plastic wrap and chill at least 4 hours to soften the wafers.

It doesn't cut perfectly, but it is delicious!