fourth of july ice box cake

an ice box cake…does it get much better than that? all that whip cream… i love whip cream ! i mean love it. i also use to love fourth of july. it was my favorite holiday growing up, i suppose because as a family it was our most social one. it was an all day event. we hit the parade in our subdivision out in the cornfields and then drove into town to go to the town parade. one of us kids was often in it too. we would head back home, generally with heat exhaustion, take a swim in our pool, and eat good all american food.  at dusk we walked to the lake covering ourselves in bug spray, set out blankets, and watched the fireworks. when i was really young my sister’s and brother’s friends would come hang in our area. they were funny and goofy… and in high school, and i pretty much thought they were the coolest. at the end of the night we would head back home and set off our own fireworks on our neighborhood street. it seemed the whole neighborhood was outside, roaming around, and just having a good old time. as i grew into my teen years we were hitting up different parties, driving golf carts,crashing motor bikes, and other general shenanigan activities! my friends and i from my home town often reminisce about those 4th of july’s and are all in agreement that no one does it quite like crown point, indiana.

this is a super simple recipe that i use to make for this holiday. i put a spin on the concept, trying it as an ice box cake.  i generally made this cake in a regular 9×12 baking pan, i didn’t layer it, and also made an american flag on top with the blueberries and strawberries. you can make this into a trifle and add custard or pudding. you can add mascarpone to the whip cream to make it a bit more stiff. you can add almond extract too for some yummy flavor. to make it a traditional ice box cake you could use vanilla wafers, shortbread, or any cookie you please!!! the ingredients are so simple, there are so many ways to doctor it up!

i used a spring form pan, but to my dismay, when i was trying to take it out, the whole cake went flying into the air and landed on the floor. which is why i do not have a photo of the beautiful layers from the inside. 😦  possibly, one of my worst kitchen disasters. however, a blessing in disguise because i probably would have eaten it all day long. none the less…hopefully your spring form pan has a little more give-way then mine. or just use a good old baking dish in case you are prone to error, like myself.

these ingredients are so easy and the same ones i used long ago, except i used cool whip back then not homemade whip cream.

sara lee butter pound cake (i love this stuff) 1-2 packages depending on size of pan

homemade whip cream

strawberries and blueberries

cut the poundcake into thin pieces. begin to layer in the pan alternating with whip cream. you can also add in thin slices of strawberries or strawberry puree or strawberry jam. fill in the holes with broken pieces of pound cake. top the final layer with strawberries and blueberries in any design you like! let the cake refrigerate overnight! serve!