Icebox Cake Reimagined: Dairy and Gluten Free!
It’s been a really crazy week for me, both personally and at work. I’ve been so distracted and am having a hard time staying focused. Anyone else right there with me? 🙂 At work, my boss has a baby and quit and then my only co-worker’s husband died suddenly leaving me all by myself. Yes, if you knew me, I did just burst into song…”all by myseeeellllffff, don’t want to be… all by myself!” 
I brought dinner to my coworker and her family yesterday and it took me awhile to come up with a dish that they would like, but I could also make some for me for lunches and my mom, who is having a surgical procedure later on this week. So the recipes I chose needed to be kid-friendly (for them) but also easily adaptable to be gluten-free/grain-free for me and mom. I wanted comfort food (something on the lines of macaroni and cheese or chicken nuggets) but appeal to both kids and adults a like. it also needed to be easy to make several pans of and reheat well. So, I came up with chicken enchiladas for dinner and icebox cake for dessert. Today, I’m going to share with you the recipe for icebox cake. Tomorrow, I’ll share my chicken enchiladas recipe.
This icebox cake recipe has been in my dad’s family for probably 50 years at least. I think it was originally on the back of a Jell-O pudding box. But of course, we’ve re imagined it over the years. This version is both dairy-free and gluten-free. If you don’t need gluten-free, you can use regular graham crackers to make this dessert. That’s what I made for my co-worker’s family. You can also make your pudding with regular milk instead of the almond milk I used if you don’t need dairy-free. It’s versatile! Use what you’d like. It’s a pretty cheap dessert to make if you don’t have food restrictions to deal with. Even with the specialty ingredients, it wasn’t that expensive to make. The most expensive thing was the box of gluten-free graham crackers, which cost me $4.50 at Thrive Market. I made both a pan of gluten-free and a regular pan. Both versions were a hit! This recipe also only took me about 20 minutes to put together. The most time consuming part was waiting for the pudding to set for about 10 minutes. 
Here’s the specific ingredients I used to make this dessert. Don’t feel like you have to use these specific brands if you don’t want to. The original recipe just used Jell-O boxed pudding mix and Honey Maid Graham Crackers!
- 1 box Chocolate Pudding Mix
- 1 box Vanilla Pudding Mix
- 4 cups almond milk (I used Califia Farms)
- 1 box Gluten Free Graham Crackers (I used Schar’s)
- 1 tub Coco-Whip Whipped Topping
- 1 jar Chocolate Frosting (I used Simple Mills)
- Handful halved walnuts or pecans
- Make both pudding mixes in separate bowls. Follow instructions on back of packages. Allow to set in frig for about 10-15 minutes.
- Stir in ½ container of whipped topping into each of the puddings. Set aside.
- Line a square cake pan or loaf pan with graham crackers. Pour vanilla pudding mixture over the top of the graham crackers.
- Lay another layer of graham crackers on top of vanilla pudding. Pour chocolate pudding mixture over the top of these graham crackers.
- Place another layer of graham crackers over the chocolate pudding. Heat frosting in the microwave for 20-30 seconds to soften. Pour melted frosting over the top of graham crackers and spread evenly.
- Arrange nuts on top of frosting. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours. Serve cold.