Chocolate Peanut Butter Icebox Cake
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This chocolate peanut butter icebox cake is entirely make-ahead, easy enough for the kids to pitch in, and doesn’t require an oven.
Wondering what to make for Father’s Day this weekend? May I suggest one of the simplest but most impressive summer desserts I know? This chocolate peanut butter icebox cake is entirely make-ahead, easy enough for the kids to pitch in, and doesn’t even require an oven.
You simply layer store-bought chocolate wafers with peanut butter-flavored whipped cream in a loaf pan and then chill the dessert overnight. In the fridge, the cookies soften and meld with the cream, creating a dessert that resembles a fancy layered mousse cake. Can’t beat that!
What you’ll need to make Chocolate Peanut Butter Icebox Cake
The hardest part about this recipe (other than waiting for it to set in the fridge) is finding Nabisco Famous Chocolate Wafers. My local supermarket, Giant Food, stocks them near the Oreos, but they can be tough to spot; be sure to ask if you don’t see them. Some grocery stores don’t carry them, so it’s a good idea to call ahead to be sure. And, though not pictured here, I always buy two boxes for one recipe because the cookies break easily.
How to make Chocolate Peanut Butter Icebox Cake
Begin by whipping the cream to stiff peaks; set aside. In another bowl, combine the cream cheese, peanut butter, confectioners’ sugar, vanilla, and salt.
Beat until smooth and creamy.
Add about a third of the whipped cream to the peanut butter mixture.
Beat until well combined. This lightens the mixture so you can fold in the remaining cream.
Add the remaining cream.
Fold into the peanut butter mixture, turning the bowl as you go.
When the mixture is even in color and texture, it’s ready.
Line a 9×5-inch loaf pan with plastic wrap so that it hangs over the edges. Fill the pan with about two-thirds of the cream.
Starting at a short side of the pan, arrange 12 cookies in the cream, standing them on their edge in a row. Do the same with a second row of cookies, slightly overlapping the cookies from the second row with the cookies in the first row. Continue with two more rows for a total of four rows.
Cover the cookies with the remaining cream.
Pull the plastic wrap over the edges and place in the refrigerator to chill overnight.
Unmold the cake onto a serving platter.
Decorate with cocoa powder, crushed wafers and peanuts.
Slice with a sharp knife and serve cold.
You may also like
- Chocolate Peanut Butter Tart
- Classic Icebox Cake
- Chocolate Peanut Butter Squares
- Chocolate Cream Pie
- Salted Peanut Butter Cookies
Chocolate Peanut Butter Icebox Cake
This chocolate peanut butter icebox cake is entirely make-ahead, easy enough for the kids to pitch in, and doesn’t require an oven.
Ingredients
- 4 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
- 1 cup smooth peanut butter (I use Skippy All Natural, No Need To Stir)
- 1 cup confectioners' sugar
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- Pinch salt
- 2 cups cold heavy cream
- 50 Nabisco Famous Chocolate Wafers, from one box (see note)
- Cocoa powder, for dusting
- ¼ cup unsalted dry roasted peanuts
Instructions
- Line a 9x5-inch loaf pan with two pieces of overlapping plastic wrap, allowing the excess to hang over the edges of the pan.
- In the bowl of an electric mixer, whip the heavy cream until stiff peaks form. Do not over-whip. Set aside.
- In another bowl, using an electric mixer, beat the cream cheese, peanut butter, confectioners' sugar, vanilla, and salt together until smooth.
- Add ⅓ of the whipped cream to the peanut butter mixture and beat with the mixer until smooth. Add the remaining whipped cream and fold with a rubber spatula, turning the bowl as may go, until the mixture is evenly combined and uniform in color and texture.
- Spoon about two-thirds of the cream into the prepared pan. Starting at a short side of the pan, arrange 12 cookies in the cream, standing them on their edge in a row. Do the same with a second row of cookies, slightly overlapping the cookies from the first row. Continue with two more rows for a total of four rows. Save the last two cookies for the topping.
- Cover the cookies with the remaining cream. Smooth the cream with a spatula, gently pressing to make sure any gaps between the cookies are filled.
- Cover the cake with the excess plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight or up to 48 hours. When ready to serve, peel the plastic wrap from the top. Set a platter on top of the pan and invert the cake onto it. Lift the pan off and gently peel away the plastic wrap. Use a warm offset spatula to smooth the edges, if desired. Dust the cake lightly with cocoa powder through a fine sieve. Crush the remaining wafers and scatter the peanuts over top, pressing down on them slightly so they adhere. Slice with a sharp knife and serve cold.
- Note: I recommend buying two boxes of chocolate wafers, as they tend to break easily. But don't worry if you have to use the broken ones; just try to piece them together as best you can when you place them in the cream.
Nutrition Information
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- Calories: 595
- Fat: 40g
- Saturated fat: 15g
- Carbohydrates: 52g
- Sugar: 34g
- Fiber: 4g
- Protein: 12g
- Sodium: 324mg
- Cholesterol: 57mg
This website is written and produced for informational purposes only. I am not a certified nutritionist and the nutritional data on this site has not been evaluated or approved by a nutritionist or the Food and Drug Administration. Nutritional information is offered as a courtesy and should not be construed as a guarantee. The data is calculated through an online nutritional calculator, Edamam.com. Although I do my best to provide accurate nutritional information, these figures should be considered estimates only. Varying factors such as product types or brands purchased, natural fluctuations in fresh produce, and the way ingredients are processed change the effective nutritional information in any given recipe. Furthermore, different online calculators provide different results depending on their own nutrition fact sources and algorithms. To obtain the most accurate nutritional information in a given recipe, you should calculate the nutritional information with the actual ingredients used in your recipe, using your preferred nutrition calculator.
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This is the BEST! I made this for my sons birthday cake and he LOVED it! I used the organic (need to stir) peanut butter and it was fantastic. Thank you again for another winner! ❤❤❤
I couldn’t find the wafers, but used chocolate oreo thins…. the result was fantastic!!! One of the best desserts we’ve ever made!!!
Hi Jenn, what a knock-out. My husband is s peanut-butter fanatic and he is crazy about this dessert! Easy, but oh so delicious!
I have made several of your recipes and all are excellent!
Thanks so much for superb recipes which provide such amazing food for me to share with family and friends.
Jani
You’re welcome, Jan. So glad you’re enjoying the recipes ?!
I couldn’t find the chocolate wafer cookies so I used the new oreo thins. Took apart the oreos and scraped off the cream. It was extra work, but the results were delicious!
How far ahead can I make this? Specifically, could I make it on a Thursday and serve it on the Sunday? Thanks!
Sure, Kim, I wouldn’t let it go much longer than that but a few days in the fridge will be fine. Hope you enjoy!
Your Chocolate Peanut Butter Icebox Cake recipe was a real hit! I had planned to make this recipe months ago, but today was the day I finally accomplished the goal! Thanks to your impeccable tutorial, I knew what to expect for the procedure. I did, however, deviate from the prescribed presentation. I use my Corningware dish and since it was smaller in dimension than the loaf pan, I didn’t use as many Nabisco Famous Chocolate Wafers. The wafers were all intact and firmly inserted in the cream! So delicious! I made this dessert to honor our friend who will be leaving to study abroad and really enjoys the peanut butter and chocolate combination! Both our friend and my nephew really were delighted with the dessert. I thought that the next time, I would try it with a Chocolate Pie Crust to make a pie or experiment with making layers of the chocolate wafers horizontally instead of inserting them vertically in the peanut butter cream! I was really so happy to share this recipe with two special people!
Hi Jen,
I made this but although the cake looked really nice and the taste was good, the peanut butter was a little bit overpowering for us, even though we really like peanut butter, I wanted to reduce the peanut butter quantity to 1/2 or 3/4 of it. Do you think if I reduce it, the cake would not hold as nicely?
Hi Nancy, I think you’d be fine to reduce by 1/2. Please lmk how it turns out!
Ugh – those chocolate wafers and nilla wafers have HFCS – I think I would use chocolate graham crackers.
Hi Brenda, One reader commented that she used graham crackers with success, so it’s definitely worth a try. Hope you enjoy!
I made this using Nutella and omitted the sugar. I also made half using the chocolate wafers as per recipe and half using Nilla wafers. Both came out good. Love recipes that need no baking for the summer!
This cake is so pretty! However, since we have some peanut allergies, I was wondering if raspberries or strawberries could be used instead of the peanut butter?
What changes would need to be made to the recipe?
Love your recipes! Thanks so much for sharing them.
Hi Jan, Unfortunately, I don’t think berries would work here. If you really want to make this, you could try it with a different nut butter like almond butter or even Nutella. If you’d like something that incorporates fruit, you can want to give this trifle a try.