Television has long been an escape, not just for me, but for many of us. This is where I could reference David Foster Wallace, the cycle of irony, and ‘algorithmic loneliness’—yet this is a recipe column, not a college paper. Still, I have been reexamining my relationship to such passive entertainment. Cooking has always been a surefire way to get me off the couch.
Even before my great-grandmother died, I spent many summer days in front of a television, soaking up TVLand offerings from the midcentury explosion of niche sitcoms. After she died, I started living with my mother full-time and took to watching the Food Network, The Cooking Channel, and reruns of Martha Stewart specials. TV chefs infiltrated my everyday life and became celebrities of equal caliber to pop stars or Oscar-winning actors in my mind.
On lonely mornings, I would power on the living room TV, pour myself a bowl of cereal and watch Sandra Lee make a tablescape for no particular reason or Rachel Ray make a three-course dinner with rapid fire commentary. Yet none of them quite matched the effortless elegance of Barefoot Contessa. A soft-spoken, calming cook with a beautiful life in the Hamptons, an adoring husband, and more chambray shirts than I could ever fit in one closet. Still, hers was a life that I coveted—a life of beauty, supplemented by beautiful spreads and not-so-easy-to-procure ingredients.
Ina Garten, the Barefoot Contessa’s real name, introduced me to julienned vegetables, camembert cheese, the term ‘anise-flavored’, and other such fancy terminology. I’ve already waxed poetic on my college journey to the perfect roast chicken, all sparked and encouraged by Ina Garten’s weekly Friday night tradition of a roast chicken dinner for her husband Jeffrey.
Her show would come on every weekday at 11:30 a.m., and I’d be sure to watch it with my lunch every day during the summer. Garten was one of my gateways to a world beyond my circumstances and into something aspirational. Of course, my scope has broadened over the years as I’ve collected recipes and inspiration from a variety of sources. Yet, if I encounter an Ina Garten recipe that peaks my interests, it’s almost guaranteed that I’m going to try it. Case in point, this week’s recipe.
If I had the knowledge I have now, I would’ve been making icebox cakes since grade school. It wasn’t until I was 25 that I encountered my first icebox cake recipe. The thought of stacking cookies with a creamy frosting together until they soften into a cake-like form was a revolution to me, even if it already existed long before my years on this earth. What resulted were many experiments with both cookies and flavor combinations to find the ideal icebox cake for me.
Then, one day, I came across a clip from Barefoot Contessa for a Mocha Chocolate Icebox Cake. In typical Garten fashion, there are such ingredients as Dutch-processed cocoa, marscapone cheese, and, the star, Tate’s chocolate chip cookies.
Tate’s is a newcomer around these parts in terms of cookies you can buy right off the shelf, but they’ve quickly cemented themselves as a premium pick among the usual fodder from Nabisco. They’re crispy, toasty, and rich enough to rival my adoration of Chips Ahoy! Not to mention the mocha aspect gives my coffee addiction a sweet outlet outside of tiramisu. In fact, you can add this to your “What To Do with Instant Espresso Powder” list that you may or may not already be generating ideas for.
So, get out your notebooks, because here comes the recipe:
Mocha Chocolate Icebox Cake
Ingredients
- 2 cups cold heavy whipping cream
- 12 ounces Italian marscapone cheese
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1/4 cup coffee liqueur, like Kahlua
- 2 Tablespoons unsweetened, Dutch-processed cocoa powder
- 1 teaspoon instant espresso powder
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 3 (8 ounce) packages chocolate chip cookies, like Tate’s Bake Shop
In a large bowl of either an electric mixer or a whisk, combine the heavy cream, marscapone cheese, sugar, liqueur, cocoa, espresso powder, and vanilla together. Mix on a low speed, slowly increasing the speed until stiff peaks form.
To assemble, cover the bottom of an 8-inch springform pan with a layer of cookies. Try to cover as completely as possible, breaking cookies as needed to fill in the gaps. Spread a fifth of the frosting over the cookie layer until covered. Repeat with the next layer until there are five layers in total. With the final layer, frost to cover the cookies and wrap with plastic wrap. Refrigerate overnight until ready to serve. Reserve any leftover frosting.
When ready to serve, run a knife around the edges of the pan, then release the springform sides from the bottom. If there is any reserved frosting, you may wish to frost the sides of the cake. Optionally you may decorate the cake with shaved dark chocolate, by using a vegetable peeler to shave curls off of a dark chocolate bar. Sprinkle the chocolate curls on top. Chill until ready to slice into wedges and serve cold.
Now for some tips, or tricks, if you will.
No marscapone cheese? Well, if you find yourself next to a Trader Joe’s or some more European-inclusive grocery stores, then you shouldn’t have much trouble locating some. However, you can make your own imitation marscapone cheese with 8 ounces of cream cheese and 2 ounces, or 2 Tablespoons, sour cream. Marscapone is a bit of a silkier, less tangy cream cheese. If you’re doing this, I’d suggest mixing these together first, then slowly adding the rest of your wet ingredients to make sure you don’t end up with globs of unincorporated cream cheese.
I didn’t have any Kahlua on hand, but for those of you wanting something a bit more versatile, I used the Ketel One Espresso Martini mix. It’s essentially coffee and vodka put together, but that’s not to say Kahlua doesn’t deserve a spot on your home bar, or in the pantry.
Also, if you don’t have Dutch-processed cocoa, the regular stuff will do. If you’re wondering what makes Dutch-processed cocoa so unique compared to others is the reddish hue the cocoa powder has. This comes from alkalization during the process, which takes away the acidity often present in other cocoa powders. As such, these cocoa powders make exceptional red (and black) velvet cakes—and, no, not the kind that rely on red food coloring. They also make any chocolate dessert exceptionally richer, especially brownies.
Next time you find yourself at a World Market or some other fancy grocery store, look for the Droste brand and its signature nun mascot, donning the Sally Field’s Flying Nun habit.
One other recommendation is adding a round of parchment paper to the bottom of your springform pan. This will make removing the cake from the pan’s bottom and onto a serving plate much easier. You can simply fold a 9-inch square of parchment in half, then in half again, then fold diagonally until a triangle forms. Place this into the center of your pan, marking where the ends of the folded triangle meet the sides of the pan. Then cut away this excess parchment to unfold your perfect round of parchment.
As long as you have a thin enough cookie, you could really switch this up to really change the flavor profile. An immediate upgrade that came to mind was Oreo Thins, which would send this into a chocolate lover’s paradise. Another could be Biscoff biscuits if you want something with a bit of cinnamon, or Chessmen for something buttery.
Now that icebox cakes have entered into my orbit, I’ll never look at the cookie aisle the same way again. All the time I’m scanning over new cookies for all kinds of possibilities.
People have told me how some of the recipes I’ve presented here can seem a little involved. Yet, I can’t think of any other dessert quite as simple and impressive as an icebox cake.
The thing I really love about these icebox cakes, other than not having to heat up an oven, is you get to skip all the technicalities of baking a regular cake and get right to the fun part: assembly.
When the sides of this cake are revealed, it appears more like a naked cake, with the layers exposed. Sometimes I want that, sometimes I like to keep folks guessing. Flip a coin and see how frisky you’re feeling that day.
Either way you’ll end up with a decadent, but not-too-sweet dessert that I’m sure will be making several appearances in your icebox.
