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No-Bake Zebra Cake Recipe: Easy and Delicious Icebox Dessert

No-Bake Zebra Cake

Thin chocolate wafers and sweetened vanilla whipped cream become a beautiful, cake-like icebox dessert after several hours in the refrigerator. Slice the chilled log diagonally to reveal its signature zebra stripes.
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Prep Time 25 minutes
Total Time 4 minutes
Servings: 8 servings
Ingredients Method Notes

Ingredients
  

Cake
  • 1 package, about 9 oz/255 g Thin chocolate wafer cookies, such as Nabisco Famous Chocolate Wafers
Sweetened Whipped Cream
  • 2 cups/480 ml Cold heavy whipping cream
  • 1/4 cup/30 g Confectioners’ sugar
  • 1 teaspoon Pure vanilla extract
Optional Garnish
  • As desired Chocolate curls or grated chocolate
  • As desired Unsweetened cocoa powder
  • As desired Fresh berries

Method
 

Step-by-Step
  1. Chill the mixing bowl and beaters if possible. Beat the cold heavy cream, confectioners’ sugar, and vanilla extract until firm peaks form, taking care not to overbeat the cream.
  2. Spread a small amount of whipped cream on one chocolate wafer. Add another wafer and repeat the cream-and-wafer layers until you have used most or all of the package and formed a long stack or log.
  3. Carefully place the stack on its side on a serving plate. Cover the top and sides with the remaining whipped cream, smoothing it gently without pressing hard on the cookies.
  4. Cover the cake loosely and refrigerate for at least 4 hours. For the softest, most cake-like texture, chill it overnight.
  5. Slice the cake diagonally with a sharp knife. Add chocolate curls, grated chocolate, cocoa powder, or fresh berries immediately before serving, if desired.

Notes

Use very cold cream and stop whipping as soon as firm peaks form. Overwhipped cream may become grainy and difficult to spread. The cookies need several hours to absorb moisture from the cream, so cutting the cake too soon will leave the wafers crunchy and make slicing more difficult.