Blueberry Lemon Ice Box Cake

by Sabrina Snyder

Published on

15 Comments

5 from 3 votes
12 Servings
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 0 minutes
Refrigerate 4 hours
Total Time 4 hours 10 minutes
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Blueberry Lemon Ice Box Cake is a no-bake cake with layers of lemon zest, blueberry jam and whipped cream over softened graham crackers. 
 
If you’ve tried other no-bake desserts on the site like Avalanche Cookies or Haystack Cookies, you know how easy it is to make a sweet, delicious dessert without having to wait on a long cook time. Blueberry Lemon Ice Box Cake is a perfect dessert for parties or summer BBQs.
Blueberry Lemon Icebox Cake
 
BLUEBERRY LEMON ICE BOX CAKE
Because it’s not baked, this recipe is more cake-like than it is an actual cake, but it’s one of those easy recipes that you can throw together the night before you need it and it will come out looking restaurant ready.  Making the cake is easy and you can layer it in a large bowl or in a glass dish so that people can see the beautiful levels inside. Once you’re done, loosely wrap the whole cake in plastic wrap and refrigerate for about 24 hours before serving.
 
Another great feature of this cake is that it is so customizable that you can use the same basic recipe and swap out ingredients for any occasion. See some ideas for variations below!
 
More Easy No-Bake Desserts:
 
 

Blueberry Icebox Cake

TOPPINGS AND VARIATIONS
A helpful hint for decorating your cake: let it sit for the full 24 hours in the fridge before you start decorating it or you will end up with a gooey mess.
  • Powdered sugar: use a traditional white powdered sugar or pick up a colorful version and dust the top of the cake with it. This is an easy way to dress it up without having to spend a ton of time on it.
  • Berries: you can arrange berries on the top of the cake to give it a pop of color that tastes delicious. I’d recommend using blueberries and blackberries, or slicing strawberries in half. A word of warning though, definitely add the berries right before you intend to serve it or the whipped cream will be dyed by the juice.
  • Frosting: wait until the cake is completely chilled and then ice the top with Cream Cheese Frosting, Classic Buttercream Frosting, or your favorite spread like Nutella.
  • Whipped cream: if you really want to impress yourself and your guests, save the cool whip for later and make your own homemade Whipped Cream. You can make it in an electric mixer or by hand if you want a good arm workout.
  • Nuts: sprinkle your favorite sliced or crushed nuts over the top for a crunchy topping that also looks fancy.
  • Vanilla Ice Cream: homemade vanilla ice cream is the prefect creamy side to have with your cool icebox cake.
  • Sauce: try drizzling Chocolate Ganache or melting Salted Caramel over the top to make beautiful and tasty designs.
  • Ice box cupcakes: you can make a much smaller version in a muffin tin, you will just have to have a much steadier hand. Line the bottom of each part of the muffin pan with parchment paper, leaving enough to grab onto when you pull them out. Make thin layers of cookies and whipped cream and let them sit in the fridge for 24 hours before serving.
Blueberry Lemon Icebox Cake slice on cake dish
More Blueberry Desserts:
 
HOW LONG DOES IT KEEP?
  • Serve: you should leave it in the fridge overnight to make it firm and chilled. Don’t leave it out very long or it will melt.
  • Store: leftover ice box cake will be good in the fridge for about 3 days in an airtight container.
  • Freeze: ice box cake is good for about 1 week in the freezer before it gets really gross and doesn’t thaw well.

Blueberry Lemon Icebox Cake on Stand from top down

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Dinner, then Dessert

Blueberry Lemon Ice Box Cake

Blueberry Lemon Ice Box Cake is an easy no-bake cake with fresh berries, lemon zest, blueberry jam and whipped cream over softened graham crackers. 
Yield 12 Servings
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 0 minutes
Total Time 4 hours 10 minutes
Course Dessert
Cuisine American
Author Sabrina Snyder
Blueberry Lemon Icebox Cake slice on cake dish
PrintRate

Ingredients
 

  • 2 pints fresh blueberries
  • 13 ounces blueberry jam , (I used Bonne Maman)
  • 1 lemon
  • 12 sheets graham crackers

Whipped Cream

  • 3 cups heavy whipping cream
  • 1/3 cup powdered sugar
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Instructions

  • Using an ice cold bowl or stand mixer bowl and whisk attachment add the heavy whipping cream, powdered sugar and vanilla to the bowl, whisking or beating with the whisk attachment on medium-high for about 2 minutesor until stiff peaks form).
  • Mix the blueberry jam, most of the bluberries (reserve one handful for the top of the cake), the lemon juice and most of the zest (save just a sprinkle for the top of the cake) together.
  • In a 9" springform pan layer whipped cream then a single layer of graham crackers.
  • Top with the blueberry mixture, then layer with more whipped cream, then another layer of graham crackers and continue, ending with whipped cream, then blueberry jam.
  • Cover the pan with plastic wrap gently and refrigerate for 4 hours.
  • Garnish with remaining fresh blueberries and the remaining lemon zest. (You can also garnish before freezing if you are going to keep this frozen for a while).
  • If not serving right away freeze until you are serving.

Nutrition

Calories: 296kcal | Carbohydrates: 51g | Protein: 3g | Fat: 10g | Saturated Fat: 5g | Cholesterol: 27mg | Sodium: 115mg | Potassium: 156mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 36g | Vitamin A: 298IU | Vitamin C: 10mg | Calcium: 55mg | Iron: 1mg

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Blueberry Lemon Icebox Cake collage

About the Author: Sabrina Snyder

Sabrina is a professionally trained Private Chef of over 10 years with ServSafe Manager certification in food safety. She creates all the recipes here on Dinner, then Dessert, fueled in no small part by her love for bacon.

Sabrina Snyder is a professionally trained personal and private chef of over 10 years who is the creator and developer of all the recipes on Dinner, then Dessert.

She is also the author of the cookbook Dinner, then Dessert – Satisfying Meals Using Only 3, 5 or 7 Ingredients, published by Harper Collins.

She started Dinner, then Dessert as a business in her office as a lunch service for her coworkers who admired her lunches before going to culinary school and becoming a full time personal chef and private chef.

As a personal chef Sabrina would cook for families one day a week and cook their entire week of dinners. All grocery shopping, cooking and cleaning was done along with instructions on reheating. As a private chef she cooked for private parties and cooked in family homes in the evenings for families on a nightly basis after working as a personal chef during the day.

Sabrina has been certified as a ServSafe Manager since 2007 and was a longstanding member of the USPCA Personal Chef Association including being on the board of the Washington DC Chapter of Chefs in the US Personal Chef Association when they won Chapter of the year.

As a member of the community of food website creators Sabrina Snyder has spoken at many conferences regarding her experiences as a food writer including the Indulge Food Conference, Everything Food Conference, Haven Food Conference and IACP Annual Food Professionals Conference.

Sabrina lives with her family in sunny California.

See more posts by Sabrina

Dinner, then Dessert, Inc. owns the copyright on all images and text and does not allow for its original recipes and pictures to be reproduced anywhere other than at this site unless authorization is given. If you enjoyed the recipe and would like to publish it on your own site, please re-write it in your own words, and link back to my site and recipe page. Read my disclosure and copyright policy. This post may contain affiliate links.

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Comments

  2. Hi Sabrina, This looks so-o good, and I do want to try it soon. A bit confused as to the serving bowl, or pan. The picture of the finished product in the bowl is lovely, but how do you serve? If you put it in a spring form pan, is it firm enough to cut? And one more question! What size glass pan would be appropriate for the amount of ingredients: 9″X 9″, or even a 9″X 11″ ? I would like to do as you suggest and use glass so the layers will be visible. Thank you so much.

    Reply

  3. I love that this blueberry lemon icebox cake will impress everyone without taking a whole afternoon to make. This will make the perfect summer treat!

    Reply

  4. Such a gorgeous and delicious dessert! This is certainly perfect to have frozen at all times! Thanks for sharing.

    Reply

  7. I’m a little confused that the first layer is the whipped cream – does the graham cracker soak it up so it is just a soft graham cracker layer on bottom?

    Reply

  8. You need to look at this published recipe. No mention of jam in the ingredient list. Ingredient list states sugar but the directions use powdered sugar. No mention of where to use the lemon.

    Reply

    1. Yikes! Thank you so much. It was missing most of the steps and many of the ingredients. I fixed it all. I appreciate you catching it so quickly, before anyone tried to make it.

      Reply