a whisk and a spoon

Black-and-White Malted Icebox Cake and a BOOK GIVEAWAY!

Now that the days are getting warm– maybe even borderline hot– wouldn’t it be nice to just reach in the fridge and pull out a cool, creamy dessert that practically made itself?  That exists…it’s called an icebox cake!  At its most simple and familiar, an icebox cake is just store-bought wafer cookies and sweet whipped cream, stacked in alternating layers and left to meld in the refrigerator (or icebox– my dad actually calls it that, by the way) for several hours.  The cookies absorb moisture from the cream and soften during the rest, and what you get afterward is a rich, creamy dessert that falls somewhere between pudding and cake.

You can imagine that you can take this basic, yet brilliant, idea in a lot of interesting and delicious directions…like my friend and former co-worker Jessie Sheehan, who, along with her co-author Jean Sagendorph, just published a super-fun (and super pretty) new cookbook called Icebox Cakes: Recipes for the Coolest Cakes in Town.  They have the basic “old school” covered, of course, and recipes for 24 other awesome-sounding icebox cakes.  Espresso-chip– hello!  Chai-ginger– whaat?  And OMG– a black-and-white malted.  That’s the first one I decided to try.

You need four main components for this malt shop-inspired treat:  whipped cream flavored with malt powder (super easy), milk chocolate ganache (super easy), vanilla wafer cookies (not hard to make yourself, but super easy if you choose to buy them instead) and time (the hardest part!).  Oh, and some chopped malt balls scattered over top will make it extra pretty– let’s not forget that!   You just alternate layers of the cream, cookies and ganache in a springform pan and you’re ready to refrigerate.  If you’ve used store-bought cookies, you can get away with just 5-8 hour chill, but if you’ve made your own cookies, you’ll need a full 24 hours in the fridge for them to properly soften.  You can see I took a little artistic liberty and divided the components into individual-sized mini icebox cakes instead of a full 9″ springform.

Go find the full recipe for the Black-and-White Malted Icebox Cake on Jessie’s blog…and know that you can use shop-bought vanilla wafers (like Nabisco or Keebler) if you don’t have the desire or time to make your own.  It’s rich, creamy, malty, sticky and delicious, and when you see this black-and-white zebra striped beauty waiting for you on the icebox shelf, you’ll be very happy you put it together the night before.  Jessie says it’s a crowd-pleaser, and I can’t argue with that.

I’m so excited about Icebox Cakes: Recipes for the Coolest Cakes in Town that I want to send a copy to one of you!  A signed copy at that!  Just leave me a comment (one per person, please) on this post before 5:00 pm EST on Friday, May 15 and I’ll randomly choose a winner from the list.  Be sure your e-mail address is correct so I can contact you.

***Giveaway Winner Update: I have two copies to giveaway, actually!  I used random.org to generate two random comment numbers to find the winners. Congratulations to Maureen and franklyentertaining!  I’ll be in touch soon.***