Close your eyes and imagine eating a slice of Pink Lemonade Icebox Cake. Lightly lemon cookies, soft between layers of luscious whipped cream, crispy edges, the taste of butter that lingers on your tongue. Make the recipe this morning, enjoy it this afternoon.
Hiiiii from 4:55 a.m. gate B20 at Midway Airport. Firing my assistant for booking this. Oh wait, I did this to myself. But ya know what will get me through it? Drooling over this Pink Lemonade Icebox Cake in celebration of a belated 5th Blog Birthday to The Every Kitchen.
Some of you may have seen when I canvassed the social media crowds for 5th birthday cake flavor ideas. I think I skipped birthday number four, but for my 3rd Blog Birthday, we partied with Rainbow Sprinkle Vanilla Icebox Cake. And my all-time fave dessert is Magnolia Bakery’s Chocolate Wafer Icebox Cake. Then there was the time I made that Gingersnap Icebox Cake with Cranberry Mascarpone Whipped Cream. And not that this birthday is about me, per say, but IT’S ABOUT ME. And icebox cake is mah thing.
There were a ton of social media votes for lemon blueberry, there was a vote for butterscotch (which, admittedly, is a way underdone flavor on this blog), one for carrot cake, a handful for chocolate chip cookie icebox cake. And a vote for cheesecake, which is not an icebox cake at all.
But seeing as it is my beautiful sister’s birthday month and that her favorite cake flavor is pink lemonade, I sided with the single vote for Pink Lemonade Icebox Cake.
The Every Kitchen is not really into history (but the history of pink lemonade is interesting if you have time to go down that Google Black Hole), so you’ll have to take my word for it when I say that pink is not a flavor. Pink lemonade is just lemonade colored pink. But the way I see it, I could use fake coloring (would not be caught dead) or I could use strawberries or raspberries or cherries or pomegranates or hibiscus or rhubarb. And so I went the fruit route with homemade strawberry whipped cream. Easy Peasy. And way more delicious than “pink.”
It’s kind of a joke that I’m even going to try find words that do these pictures justice. These pictures are beautiful enough to stand on their own. Should I simply drop the recipe below and sign off?
Then I’ll just let you scroll until your mouth waters. I’ll let you imagine the lightly lemon cookies, soft between layers of whipped cream, crispy edges, the taste of butter that lingers on your tongue.
I’ll let you imagine the just-sweet-enough strawberry whipped cream, how it feels in your cheeks, smooth and rich and luxurious.
I’ll let you imagine the weight of the knife as you slice cleanly through all the layers. The side of your fork readying your first bite. Imagine closing your eyes, the calm you feel, the happiness that overtakes you as you eat Pink Lemonade Icebox Cake layer by layer, whipped cream, wafer, whipped cream, wafer.
Yes, this cake only looks too pretty to eat. I promise, you can eat it! And eat it you will.
[Ohhmyygahhh I’m finally publishing this. I’ve started and stopped a katrillion times. The draft count on this is 10. TEN! Cheers.] <3
Pink Lemonade Icebox Cake with Strawberry Whipped Cream
Close your eyes and imagine eating a slice of Pink Lemonade Icebox Cake. Lightly lemon cookies, soft between layers of luscious whipped cream, crispy edges, the taste of butter that lingers on your tongue. Make the recipe this morning, enjoy it this afternoon.
Ingredients
- 10 large strawberries + more for decoration
- 2 cups heavy whipping cream cold
- 1/2 cup powdered sugar
- 1 9-ounce package Dewey's Bakery Meyer Lemon Moravian Style Cookie Things see notes for alternatives
- Thinly sliced lemon for decoration
- Pink flowers for decoration
Instructions
Make the Strawberry Whipped Cream
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Hull strawberries and cut in half. Place strawberries in a food processor and puree. You will need about 3/4 cup strawberry puree. Set aside until ready to use.
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In a mixing bowl, whisk heavy whipping cream on high speed until medium peaks form.
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Add 3/4 cup strawberry puree and powdered sugar. Whip on high again until medium to stiff peaks form. You want the whipped cream to hold it's shape, but to still appear soft and fluffy.
Assemble the cake
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Spread a small amount of whipped cream on the bottom of a cake stand or serving platter so that first layer of cookies will stick. Arrange 7 cookies in a circle — one in the middle and six surrounding it. They should be gently touching. Spoon 1/2 cup whipped cream on top of cookie layer and spread evenly using a rubber spatula or the back of a spoon. Make another cookie layer with 7 more cookies and top again with 1/2 cup whipped cream. Continue to alternate cookies and whipped cream. You should have just enough for 8 cookie layers. Top with a final layer of whipped cream.
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Refrigerate for 4 hours to let cookies soften. Decorate with small flowers and flower buds and thin slices of lemon.
Recipe Notes
You can use any thin lemon wafer cookie. I used Dewey’s, but I know for certain it would work well with Trader Joe’s Meyer Lemon Cookie Thins or even Lemon Creme Oreo Thins.
Need some ingredients?
This looks absolutely beautiful and will be a great project to do with my 5 year-old granddaughter! One question: is it necessary to stabilize the whipped cream with a little gelatin? I did this recently and my cream did hold better, no change to the flavor.
Side note: as a child my grandmother made a super-easy Pink Lemonade Pie that has always been a favorite with everyone in my family, this takes it to a new level! Thanks for all of your beautiful, tasty ideas– I love seeing your new recipes in my in-box!
Hi Susan! So nice to hear from you!! It’s really easy and I bet your granddaughter would have fun helping with assembly. 🙂
I don’t think stabilizing the whipped cream would hurt, so by all means! I do think that using powdered sugar over granulated gives a more stable cream too. I had mine out for about 20 minutes during assembly. Then for about 60 minutes while decorating and taking pictures. Then another probably 2 hours when I took it to a friend’s birthday and it didn’t start to fall over or anything.
And Pink Lemonade Pie?? I MUST have the recipe!!