My challenge this year was how to post a few festive dessert recipes that covered all these angles: serves a smaller-more intimate gathering, fun to make so you can get the whole family involved, simple ingredients, a show stopper, a make-ahead dessert, and delicious. Then, I remembered the icebox cake I made filming CBC’s Best Recipes Ever.
This old school retro NO BAKE cake comes in many shapes, flavors, and forms but what it really is – is simple. I use hard cookies or wafers layered with sweetened whipped cream to form a cake that “bakes” in the fridge overnight. The result is that the hard cookies or wafers soak up the moisture in the whipped cream making thin cake-like slices. Slices of heaven, embedded in layers of fluffy whipped cream.
Now, in the recipe below, I wanted to add a punch of cherry flavor. The simplest way to do this was by folding in Bonne Maman‘s low sugar Intense Cherry Spread. I also wanted to make it a little more elevated, so why not mascarpone? Don’t like cherry? Replace the cherry spread with your favorite Bonne Maman flavor.
Cherry Mascarpone Ice Box Cake
Equipment
- loaf pan, stand mixer or hand held mixer
Ingredients
- 1 cup mascarpone cheese room temperature
- 1/2 cup low sugar cherry fruit spread such as Bonne Maman
- 2 cups 35% whipping (heavy) cream
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 1 pkg thin chocolate hard wafers
To Finish
- 1 cup 35% whipping (heavy) cream
- 2 Tbsp maple syrup or sugar
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
To Decorate
- 1 cup fresh berries of choice
- 1 cup shaved chocolate
- 1/2 cup candied fruit or nuts
Instructions
- Line a 9 x 5 inch loaf pan with plastic wrap with enough overhang to cover bottom of cake. Set aside. Paper clips can help you do this.
- With a stand mixer fit with paddle attachment or in a bowl with a hand mixer, whip mascarpone and cherry spread for about 1 minute, until combined and fluffy.
- In another bowl, using a stand mixer fit with a whisk attachment (or hand mixer) whip 2 cups of heavy cream with sugar and vanilla until stiff peaks form.
- Fold the cherry mascarpone mixture into the whipped cream just until combined.
- Spoon ⅓ of the whipped cream mixture to the bottom of the loaf pan and spread to create an even layer. Stand 3-4 cookies up along the outer edge (length-wise) of the pan, break cooking in half if needed. Using the remaining cookies, start layering cream on one side of each cookie and stacking it next to the cookies in the pan. You should get 3 or 4 rows of about 8 cookies. If there is any dead space, fill it in with extra cookies, standing upright.
- Finish by layering remaining whipped cream on top, pushing cream down with a small spatula or back of spoon to get cream in between all the cookies. Tap loaf pan gently on counter to get it all in there. Level with back of spoon and wrap with plastic wrap overhang.
- Place cake in the fridge for at least 4 hours, or overnight. After chilled, place in the freezer for 1-2 hours so the cake is easier to remove from pan, decorate and then slice.
- When ready to serve, in a stand mixer fit with a whisk attachment, whip the remaining 1 cup of cream with maple syrup and vanilla until stiff peaks form.
- Unwrap and invert the cake onto a platter then pipe/frost with whipped cream. Garnish, slice and serve. Any remaining cake should be kept in the fridge for up to 3 days or wrap and freeze leftovers.
Notes
Cherry Mascarpone Cake Photo by Ryan Hegarty / @ryanhegarty
Props by Matthew Medeiros / @bodyofworks
Love fruit dishes, or my Cherry Mascarpone cake, as much as me? If so, you should check out my other recipes here!
This post was sponsored by Bonne Maman. I only write about things I love and are passionate about. My thoughts are 100% my own.
