Sometimes, a tagline is just a tagline. But when I set out on this blogging journey over a year ago, my plan was to strictly adhere to the “classic cooking with a modern twist” motto. Now, I can’t say that has been the case 100% of the time, sometimes completely original recipes are just more fun to create, you know? However, today I have a recipe twist for you on a dish that originated in the US around World War I. According to wikipedia, Its popularity took off in the 1920s and 30s, as it used many commercial shortcuts and premade ingredients. In response to the dish’s popularity, companies that manufactured ingredients for the cake, such as condensed milk and wafer cookies, began printing “back of the box” recipes. While this recipe is a little bit more than pre-made ingredients, it is still REALLY easy, and so elegant. This is definitely not your grandmas icebox cake, folks!
- 1 tbsp dried culinary lavender
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup water
- 1 pint of blueberries
- 2 cups cold heavy whipping cream
- 8 oz mascarpone
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 24 oz shortbread cookies
- In a small saucepan, combine sugar, water, and dried lavender. Bring to a boil, and immediately remove from heat. Let the lavender steep for 10 minutes before straining over 1 cup of the blueberries.
- Add the blueberries and lavender syrup to a blender and blend until smooth. Strain into a clean bowl to remove any unblended blueberry skins. Set aside.
- In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, combine the heavy cream and mascarpone, mix on low speed to combine, slowly raising the speed. Slowly stream in the blueberry lavender puree and vanilla, beat until it forms firm peaks.
- To assemble the cake, arrange shortbread cookies flat in an 8-inch springform pan, covering the bottom as much as possible. Spread a fifth of the blueberry lavender whipped cream evenly over the cookies. Place another layer of cookies on top, followed by another fifth of the cream. Continue layering cookies and cream until there are 5 layers of each, ending with a layer of cream. Smooth the top, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate overnight.
- Run a knife around the outside of the cake and remove the sides of the pan. Top with fresh blueberries, cut in wedges, and serve cold.
