How to Make Chef John's Mocha Chip Icebox Cake
Learn how to make Chef John’s Mocha Chip Icebox Cake in this video! This delicious no-bake dessert combines rich coffee flavor with creamy layers of chocolate chips and coffee-infused whipped cream. Watch as Chef John guides you through each step, ensuring you achieve a decadent, chilled dessert that's sure to impress your friends and family.
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00:00Hello, this is Chef John from FoodWishes.com with Mocha Chip Ice Box Cake.
00:09That's right!
00:10Instead of baking a cake in an oven, we're going to make a cake in the refrigerator,
00:14which back in the days before electric appliances used to be called an ice box.
00:18And now that we've gotten that kitchen history lesson out of the way, let's go ahead and
00:22get started on making one of the easiest and most delicious chilled desserts ever.
00:26And the first thing I'm going to do is put a few dabs of butter on this round piece of
00:30parchment paper, which is going to help hold it in place in the bottom of this 9-inch springform pan.
00:35And you only have to do this if you're going to eventually flip this over and the bottom
00:39is going to be the top, which I wasn't sure if I was going to do or not, but I wanted
00:43to play it safe.
00:45But anyway, the real point is, this is the best size and type of pan to make your cake in.
00:50And once that's set, we can move on to our mocha filling.
00:53And that's going to start with some white sugar, to which we will add some instant coffee
00:56or espresso powder, followed by a little bit of unsweetened cocoa, as well as a little
01:02splash of pure real vanilla extract.
01:04And then if we're able, this is very nice if we add some coffee liqueur.
01:09And I'm using the one featured in The Big Lebowski, but anything will work, so you decide.
01:13I mean, you are after all the dude of what goes in your food.
01:17But regardless, we will follow that up with two cups of very cold heavy cream.
01:22And please note, the colder your cream, the faster this is going to whip up, which is
01:26exactly what we're going to do next.
01:29But we're not going to whip this up all the way yet, right?
01:32We still need to add some mascarpone cheese to this, but I think we want to give the whipped
01:35cream a little head start before we transfer it in.
01:39So what we'll do is whip this until it just starts to thicken up.
01:42And has the texture something close to a thin pancake batter?
01:45And once we do get it to about this stage, we will stop and we will transfer in what
01:49is basically a very rich Italian cream cheese.
01:53Which reminds me, yes, you can use cream cheese instead.
01:56And once that's in, we'll continue mixing this until we have fairly stiff, but not too
02:00stiff peaks.
02:02And as you hopefully know, if you over-whip cream, the fat will separate and you'll end
02:07up accidentally making butter, which would be delicious mocha-flavored butter, but not
02:11what we're going for here.
02:13And the same thing will happen to the mascarpone if you over-mix it.
02:17So we want to be very careful.
02:19And when our mixture looks like this, which is basically soft peaks, we really want to
02:23pay attention, especially if you're using an electric mixer, since you might only be
02:28like 10 seconds away from over-mixing.
02:31So at this point I was getting very close, but I did want it to stiffen up a little more
02:35before I would consider it perfect, which you're just about to see.
02:39Oh, and if you can, try not to lose your grip on the mixer.
02:43But anyway, I was fine, and so were my peaks.
02:46And I'm going to grab a spoon here, so you can get a great look at what I think is the
02:49perfect texture.
02:50Okay, what we want is something that holds its shape beautifully, but it is still nice
02:54and creamy, and not too stiff and grainy and separated.
02:58And if you drag the edge of your spoon through the mixture, it should hold a very sharp line
03:02and not fill back in.
03:04And by the way, it's not an accident that I showed you that by making an X, right?
03:08We're actually going to do four layers of the mocha mousse, and that's going to help
03:12us visualize how much to transfer in.
03:14And that's it.
03:15So we have our filling set.
03:16We can just keep that in the fridge when we're not using it.
03:19And then we'll go ahead and grab our pan, and we will place in our first layer of cookies,
03:23which for me are going to be some chocolate chocolate chips.
03:26But for you, it can be literally any cookie.
03:29And the general strategy here is to put as many whole ones as you can fit in, and then
03:34simply break off some smaller pieces to fill in the gaps.
03:37And once our cookies are placed down, we will transfer in exactly one-fourth of our mocha
03:41mixture, and then we'll use a spoon to spread that out as evenly as we can.
03:46And once we get that first layer successfully completed, we will simply keep repeating that
03:50entire process until we get all the way to the top.
03:54And once we're done, we're going to have a total of five layers of cookies, with four
03:57layers of our mocha mousse sandwiched in between.
04:01And as you know, I hate time-lapse footage, so instead of doing that, I will just fill
04:05time by telling you some things I want you to know.
04:08The first of which is regarding the cookie choice.
04:10Okay, I know I told you you could use literally any cookie you want, but for best results,
04:16I think we want to use something that's crispy, and not a cookie that's already soft and moist.
04:21Since what's going to happen when we put this in the icebox to set, is that our cookies
04:25are going to soak in moisture from the whipped cream mixture, which if we give this enough
04:28time is going to transform the texture into something very cake-like.
04:33Plus besides that, by pulling moisture out of our filling, it's going to help stiffen
04:37that up, and make it much nicer and firmer.
04:41So feel free to switch up the flavor of the cookie if you want.
04:44But no matter what you decide to go with, it really is a big advantage if it's crispy
04:47when you start.
04:48Oh, and it's not a bad idea as we build these layers up, to give those cookies a little
04:53bit of a pressing down.
04:55And then the other key piece of information I want to pass along, is that you can change
04:59up how many layers you do.
05:01Alright, five layers of cookies and four layers of filling is pretty much the max, but if
05:05you did want something less cakey, with a higher proportion of the mocha mousse mixture,
05:10you can just do four layers of cookies, or even three.
05:13And while I started with a layer of cookie, and I'm going to finish with a layer of
05:17cookie, you actually don't have to.
05:19Okay, for slicing purposes, I think you should have a layer of cookie on whatever is going
05:23to be your bottom.
05:24But since this is going to firm up beautifully, the top layer can be mousse.
05:29So please feel free to switch up the layering order, and the proportions if you want.
05:33But anyway, as I've already mentioned, I am going to do five layers of cookies, with
05:37four layers of the mocha filling, and once that last layer is finished, we'll go ahead
05:42and wrap this up in plastic, and we'll give that one light last pressing down, at which
05:46point we have to transfer this into the fridge, sorry, I mean icebox, for I would say a minimum
05:52of 12 hours.
05:53But I really do think 24 is best, and I did in fact chill mine for a full day, before
05:59I pulled it out and unwrapped it, and then before we snap the ring open, I think we
06:04should go around with a thin knife, that I actually dipped in a little bit of hot water,
06:08just to make sure it's not going to stick, at which point we will unlock it, and we will
06:13carefully remove the ring, and if everything goes according to plan, that should come off
06:17fairly cleanly, and as you can see, happily this one did, and once that has been de-ringed,
06:24we can move on to a few optional steps, like taking a knife or spatula, and doing a little
06:29fine tuning, and then after that, I decided to take some plain whip cream, and use a star
06:34tip to pipe some of that over the top, which I'll admit is completely unnecessary, but
06:39does make for a little bit more of a professional look, and if you don't think you can do this,
06:44you can.
06:45Alright, if you have the skills to get toothpaste out of a tube, this really shouldn't be much
06:49of a challenge, and then for a final touch, I dusted some cocoa over the top, just to
06:54make it look a little more mocha-ish, or if you wanted, some shaved chocolate would
06:58also work beautifully here, and that's it, after transferring that onto a cake plate,
07:03and taking way too many contractually obligated pictures, I went ahead and cut in, and removed
07:08an almost perfect, absolutely gorgeous slice, and then I grabbed a fork and went in for
07:13a taste, after I had tipped it over, which I thought would make it easier to eat, since
07:18I sometimes have trouble eating on camera, and by sometimes, I mean every time, but anyway
07:23that my friends, is just an absolutely luscious dessert, and it is quite amazing what happens
07:29to the texture of those cookies, that started off all crispy and crunchy, but thanks to
07:34them sitting for 24 hours in that moussey mixture, they've taken on a texture almost
07:38identical to a beautiful moist chocolate cake, but the chocolate chips in the cookies do
07:43not get softer, so what we end up with here, is an irresistible textural combination of
07:49moist cake, our creamy mocha mousse, and then the bite of those firm chocolate chips, and
07:55when you put all those together, this really is difficult to stop eating, so to summarize,
07:59I loved everything about this, and even if you don't make this cake, at least by watching
08:05this video, you now finally understand why your grandmother used to yell at you to close
08:09the icebox, that you're letting all the cold air out, but whether this is made in an actual
08:14icebox, or a modern refrigerator, it's a very simple recipe that everybody loves, which
08:20is why I really do hope you give this a try soon, so please follow the links below for
08:25the ingredient amounts, a printable written recipe, and much more info as usual, and as
08:31always, enjoy!