Chocolate Cookie Icebox Cake

One of my favorite parts about summer is casual family gatherings. I love the spontaneity of getting together with a family or two, having some casual eats and kicking back. Last week we did just that before we left for our annual summer trip to Cooperstown. My neighbors and I picked a back yard to meet in, loaded up the coolers with some drinks, and all contributed a few eats to the buffet. Since the gathering was mostly kids I decided to make an old summer favorite, a chocolate cookie icebox cake.

To make the cake I riffed on a classic icebox dessert cake but made it my own. To start with, our grocery store was out of regular wafer cookies so I used chocolate sandwich cookies instead. Then, since I knew I had to carry it, I molded our cake into a loaf pan instead of going free form. Finally, the flavor the whipped cream I added a touch of vanilla extract because I like it. Our topping of choice was classic chocolate sprinkles. As my daughter wisely pointed out, sprinkles make it look so good.

This easy summer cake was a snap to make in advance and so much fun for the kids to eat. When we reached dessert hour I simply removed it from the loaf pan, sliced it up and serve it on paper plates. The kids love the frozen whipped cream layered with cookies and even the adults adored the cool treat. It was such an easy, fun dessert for an impromptu party. For your next gathering be sure to make this treat and serve it up with fun summer dishes like homemade kabobs, and a side featuring lovely summer zucchini. I hope to be able to squeeze it in a few more times before the season is over!

(Disclosure: This post was sponsored by Kraft. The opinions, recipes, and photographs, are entirely my own. Thanks for supporting the sponsors that make The Naptime Chef possible.)