Super Easy Strawberry Icebox cake

This strawberry icebox cake is the best no bake dessert to make during the hot summer months. Filled with juicy strawberries, thin, wafer-like chocolate chip cookies, and lots of sweet whipped cream, this refreshing cake takes only 15 minutes to assemble. It’s so easy, even your kids can make it with minimal help. Grab just 5 ingredients to make your families new favorite summer dessert!

With the summer heat blazing outside there is no need to turn on your oven to make dessert. Instead, let the freezer do the work and make this surprisingly easy strawberry icebox cake! Like my Chocolate Icebox Cake, I like to make this no bake cake in a round shape instead of rectangular.

I like that it’s easier to get out of the pan when using a spring form pan, plus it looks really pretty from the sides with the strawberries and cookies peaking out a bit. It’s also super easy to cut, just like a regular cake!

Making this icebox cake into a strawberry version is simply perfect because there are tons of fresh, juicy, and ripe strawberries in season. You’ll need a whole pound of sliced fresh strawberries for the cake, but if you want to garnish the top just add some more!

To switch this up just a little bit from every other recipe out there, I used thin chocolate chip cookies as the cookie base instead of graham crackers because chocolate chip cookies +strawberries +whipped cream is a YES for me. As a professional baker, I like to switch up a classic once in a while, to shake things up a bit.

On rotation when I have an excess of strawberries I’ll also make these strawberry filled cupcakes, or regular strawberry cupcakes. Top them with strawberry cream cheese frosting for another winning dessert.

Ingredients

You only need 5 simple ingredients for this recipe:

• Fresh Strawberries – I havent tested this with frozen strawberries but I would imagine fresh to be much better.
• Thin Chocolate Chip Cookies– I used Chip’s Ahoy Thins and found they worked well.
• Heavy Whipping Cream– not half n half, it won’t work.
• Powdered sugar
• Vanilla Extract

A note on cookies

You need a thin cookie in an icebox cake because it will make it easier to cut into. If you use a regular cookie or a thick, dense cookie, you wont be able to cut into it as easily and it can be hard to bite down into once it is frozen.

Thats why I use and like the Chips Ahoy thins, because they are thin enough to cut and bite into.

You can also use graham crackers if you want but it will be harder to place in the spring form pan because of their shape and will have to be broken up.

Time and Ease

This recipe should take you 15 minutes to assemble and then it needs a minimum of 4 hours in the freezer. Make sure you make this with enough time ahead of you! You can make it a couple days in advance and take it out when you need it!

This is a really easy and kid friendly recipe. The only thing that needs supervision is whipping the cream in the mixer.

Make the recipe

Wash 1 lb of fresh strawberries and dry them well. Slice them thinly and set them aside.

In the bowl of a hand mixer or stand mixer with the whip attachment, add in the heavy whipping cream, powdered sugar, and vanilla extract. Start on low, then move up to medium-high speed and mix until stiff peaks form. You’ll know its ready when you can stand the beater upside down and the cream doesn’t droop.

This can happen quickly depending on the speed and strength of your mixer so keep and eye out. For me its 1-2 minutes.

Spread a small amount of whipped cream on the bottom of a springform pan then layer 14 cookies on top. Push the cookies to touch the sides of the pan so that you have enough room.

Spread another layer of whipped cream on top of the cookies. Add a layer of strawberries on top of the cream. Repeat alternating layers of whipped cream with the cookies and strawberries. Finish with a layer of whipped cream on top.

Freezer

Put the cake in the freezer and let it do it’s magic! You can cover it with plastic wrap if you’d like. Reminder that you need at least 4 hours of chilling time for the cake to set. I have made this a week in advance and it was still really good.

Serving and garnishing

Take the cake out of the freezer 5-10 minutes before you want to serve it. Use a knife or an offset spatula around the edges of the pan to loosen it up. The cold makes the sides stick, so dont try to unlock the pan before you loosen the edges.

Garnish with more fresh strawberries and chopped cookies!

This cake will feed about 10-12 people (maybe even 15) depending on how big you cut the slices. It’s seriously so easy though, you might as well make two just in case!

What happens if the cream curdles

You can fix it! If you accidentally over whip the cream and it’s curdled theres an easy way to fix it. All you have to do it take 1-2 tsps of cold heavy cream (non whipped) and pour it into the curdled cream. Using a whisk, hand mix it slowly for a minute and the cream will come back to life.

The trick is that you have to whisk it by hand and not use the mixer. It totally works!

Tips if you’re lazy

1. Make your kids make this. My 8 year old made this with me and she really did all the work.
2. Use cool whip instead of whipped cream. I prefer to make my own whipped cream but you can use 2 tubs of cool whip if you dont want to.
3. Make in an aluminum round pan if you don’t want to deal with clean up.

I love when you share my recipes!!