Chocolate Icebox Cake with Caramel Cream

A close-up of host Zoe Francois' icebox cake.

I made this chocolate icebox cake with homemade wafer cookies and caramel cream in the middle of summer for season 3 episode 6 of Zoë Bakes! It’s hilarious that it just so happens to be available for streaming today, in the middle of a Minnesota blizzard with dangerous wind chills and after 8 inches of snowfall! Nevertheless it’s a fabulous dessert that I know you’ll love in any weather.

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Frozen Passion Fruit Soufflé

Frozen Passion Fruit Souffle with fresh passion fruit, whipped cream and blackberries on top

The first book I bought when I headed off to culinary school was the Larousse Gastronomique (LG). It was to me then, what google is to current students at the CIA (Culinary Institute of America). All the French recipes and kitchen terms I needed to know in one 1,200-page volume. I carried it around like a 10-pound security blanket, so I could quickly look up the french techniques I knew nothing about. It was my culinary bible.

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4th of July Baked Alaska

4th of July Baked Alaska

It’s 90°F in the shade and I just can’t bring myself to fire up the oven today. So, the only reasonable thing to do is make a 4th of July Baked Alaska with homemade ice cream and top it with flaming meringue. If you don’t want to make your own ice cream, then just get your favorite store-bought brand and layer them up in a loaf pan. I used strawberry, coconut, and blueberry ice creams to create the red, white, and blue stripes. Okay, they’re pink, cream and purple, but the intention was right and I say close enough.

Update 1/19/23: This post lead to a dream come true for me. Dorie Greenspan is one of my favorite humans and the baker/cookbook author who has had a profound influence on my career. When she asked me to participate in her New York Times article about Baked Alaska, I gleefully accepted. Dorie had been reading about the oldest woman alive, a nun named Sister Andre, who was 117 years old at the time and had proclaimed her love of baked Alaska. Dorie flipped the colors of my baked Alaska to better represent Sister Andre’s home in France. Yesterday Dorie wrote to me again, this time to share that Sister Andre had passed away, she was 118 years old. In honor of her exquisitely long life, well lived, I made this Chocolate and Coffee Baked Alaska, using ice cream and bits and pieces from my pantry. RIP Sister Andre!

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