Chew on This | Icebox Cake

Hi. How's your Tuesday? Are you doing all right? Are we able to reminisce about the weekend? Since we've clobbered Monday with as much grace as we could muster, are we now too far gone and locked into the focus of the work week to remember the goodness of Friday night, Saturday and Sunday? 


Bah. Weekends should be discussed. And often. We should soak ourselves in weekend thought until our fingers are prune-like. 


We should extend our weekends right into our week days.

Fun is fun. And fun should not be reserved for just the weekend, this is true. But you've got to admit, there's just something a tad sweeter about weekend fun. So revel in it. Discuss it on a Tuesday. Or Thursday. Keep the feeling alive my friends.

Sweet weekend memories. Literally.

Cares

Here's our recipe:

Icebox Cake

1 box graham crackers

Vanilla custard cream

Chocolate cream

Whipped cream

9x13" casserole pan

Vanilla Custard Cream:

2 C milk

1/2 C granulated sugar, divided

1 egg 

2 egg yolks

3 T cornstarch

2 T butter

1 1/2 t vanilla

In a mixing bowl, whisk together your egg yolks, egg, 1/4 C sugar and cornstarch until smooth and a light yellow color. Next, over medium heat in a sauce pan, combine your milk and 1/4 C sugar. Bring to a low boil. When your milk mixture is boiling, remove pan from the heat and slowly drizzle the milk into the egg mixture while whisking the eggs (to prevent eggs from curdling). 

Return the entire mixture back into the sauce pan and slowly heat the mixture over medium-low heat, stirring constantly. The custard cream will begin to thicken pretty quickly, when it does, remove pan from the heat and add your butter and vanilla. Stir to incorporate thoroughly. 

Pour custard cream into a clean bowl, cover with plastic wrap (make sure the wrap is touching the custard to prevent a skin forming on top) and place into the refrigerator to chill until ready to use.

Whipped Cream:

1 C cold heavy cream

1 T granulated sugar 

Place your cold cream into a bowl and whip on high with an electric mixer. As you're mixing, add your sugar. Stop whipping when nice, soft peaks form. Cover bow with plastic wrap and place whipped cream into the refrigerator until ready to use. 

Chocolate Cream:

1 C semi sweet chocolate chips

1/4 C heavy cream

1/2 of your prepared whipped cream*

Combine your chocolate chips and cream into a microwave safe bowl. Microwave on half power for 20-30 seconds - stir. Continue to cook in the microwave in 20 second intervals, on half power, until the ganache is smooth and warm, not hot. Allow your ganache to cool for 5 minutes and then fold in half of your prepared whipped cream. Mix until combined and place, covered, into the refrigerator until you're ready to assemble your cake.

To prepare your cake:

To start, place a layer of graham crackers on the bottom of your 9x13" casserole pan. Break crackers to fit and completely layer the bottom of the pan, if necessary. Spread 1/3 of your vanilla custard cream over the graham cracker layer. Use an offset spatula to evenly spread the layer. Next, spread 1/3 of your chocolate cream over the custard cream using your spatula to layer evenly. Repeat this process two more times, finishing by placing a final layer of graham cracker on top of the last chocolate cream layer. Finally, layer your reserved whipped cream over the graham crackers and cover the casserole pan with plastic wrap and place into the refrigerator for at least 4 hours and up to overnight. Dust with cocoa powder and cut to serve. Enjoy!