Snickerdoodle Salted Caramel Ice Box Cake

Snickerdoodle Salted Caramel Ice Box Cake has the look and feel of a cake but no baking is required!  A fluffly, layered dessert turns snickerdoodle cookies, whipped cream and pudding into a dreamy dessert everyone will love.  This version is gluten-free but it can be made with gluten as well.

This post is sponsored as part of Boulder Locavore’s ongoing partnership with Udi’s Gluten Free, exploring gluten-free recipes, health and wellness. 

I have been thinking about the recipe I’m sharing with you today since the summer.  It came on the heels of an embarrassing realization actually but with a delicious end result.

You too may have noticed ice box cakes floating around the internet, on Pinterest in particular.  They are fluffy and cloud-like in appearance.  I never paid them much mind, recalling my Grandmother talking about ice box cakes when I was small and assuming they were merely cakes that reside in a refrigerator (which Nana called an ‘ice box’).

My realization this summer however was that ice box cakes are not cakes at all.  Rather, they are whimsical concoctions of graham crackers (traditionally), whipping cream and usually custard, all layered together like a sort of dessert lasagna.  The magic comes in as the dessert sits in the refrigerator, or ice box.

The moisture from the custard seeps into the graham crackers, softening them so when the dessert is cut into, it truly behaves like a cake.  It’s really sort of fantastic if you think about it.

Once realizing WHY ice box cakes are seemingly in vogue, I had my own idea of one I wanted to make.  Of course it was with fall flavors so I had to wait about four months until it seemed the right time to share it.  And that day, my friends, is today!

Snickerdoodle Salted Caramel Ice Box Cake.  It’s worth the wait, believe me.  I used my all-time fave-o-rite Snickerdoodle cookies from Udi’s Gluten Free.  They are about 2 ½ inches in diameter and have the most perfectly chewy texture and cinnamon-y flavor.  They taste like fall to me (but I’ll admit I don’t let seasons prohibit eating them when the mood strikes).

This ice box cake is a mixture of cream cheese, vanilla pudding, whipped topping, snickerdoodle cookies and is finished off with salted caramel chips.  To say it’s divine is a gross understatement.  The softened cream cheese is mixed together with the pudding and whipped topping to create three lofty layers surrounding two layers of cookies.  After sitting overnight in the refrigerator the dessert cuts into cake like pieces and is just plain dreamy with the billowy sweetness separated by chewy cookie bites.

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Snickerdoodle Salted Caramel Ice Box Cake

Author Toni Dash

Ingredients

• 8 ounces Cream Cheese , softened
• 2 3.4- ounce packages Vanilla Pudding Mix (instant pudding style)
• 2 ½ cups Milk
• 2 8- ounce containers Whipped Topping (thawed per package instructions)
• 3 packages Udi’s Gluten Free Snickerdoodle Cookies , or equivalent (30 2 ½-inch diameter snickerdoodle cookies)
• 1 cup Salted Caramel or Butterscotch Baking Chips

Instructions

1. In the bowl of a standing mixer cream the cream cheese until smooth. Pour in the pudding mix and 1 cup of the milk. Mix on low speed to combine and limit splashing.
2. Gradually pour in the remaining milk, beating on medium speed to fully combine the ingredients. Fold in the whipped topping.
3. In a 9-inch by 13-inch baking pan, spread 1/3 of the pudding-whipped topping mixture to cover the bottom of the pan.
   
4. Layer 15 of the cookies on top of the mixture (refer to photos).
   
5. Cover with another 1/3 of the pudding-whipped topping mixture.
   
6. Repeat step 5. Loosely cover with plastic wrap or foil and plan in the refrigerator overnight or up to 24 hours.
7. Sprinkle with the salted caramel baking chips and serve.
   

Learn more about living gluten free! Visit http://udisglutenfree.com/community