Icebox cake
dessert
An icebox cake, or ice box cake (also known, in Australia, as a chocolate (or choc) ripple cake (or log), and, in the United Kingdom, as a biscuit cake), is a dairy-based dessert made with cream, fruits, nuts, and wafers (or another type of cookie or biscuit) and set in a refrigerator. The recipe for one particularly well-known version used to be printed on the back of boxes of thin and dark Nabisco Famous Chocolate Wafers.
History
The icebox cake is derived from similar desserts such as the charlotte and the trifle, but made simpler to prepare. It was first introduced to the United States in the 1920s, as companies were promoting the icebox as a kitchen appliance. Its popularity rose in the 1920s and 30s, as it used many commercial shortcuts and pre-made ingredients, such as pre-packaged cookies instead of sponges or ladyfingers that people had to bake at home. In response to the dish's popularity, companies that manufactured ingredients for the cake, such as condensed milk and wafer cookies, began printing recipes on the backs of their boxes, including those of Nabisco's Famous Chocolate Wafers.
Regional variations
Australia
In Australia, the cake is made from Arnott's Choc Ripple biscuits, hence the name in that country of chocolate (or choc) ripple cake. It has been described as "[a] major contender for Australia’s favourite dessert ...", and is strongly associated with Christmas. The biscuits are covered in sweetened whipped cream, and placed in a log formation. This dessert is typically made the day before serving and kept in the refrigerator overnight.
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This entry incorporates text from “Icebox cake” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.