I had a lovely ladies lunch of pulled pork pizza with my dear friend Lyndsay yesterday. It was a gorgeously sunny day and afterwards we wandered over to a newly opened ice cream place for swirls of soft serve with cornflakes, matcha, red beans, and sweetened condensed milk for dessert. It was a really, really nice day for Vancouver, but it didn’t last. While we were heading home we saw some crazy haze over the city. It didn’t look right and we both thought it was a little intense.
It was a crazy chemical fire! In case it turned out to be the coming of the apocalypse and the city was destined to be attacked by chemical mutants, I decided to go out with what I imagine my ideal last meal in civilization would be: taco Tuesday Wednesday.
I’m not talking about homemade carne asada or al pastor street tacos either. Nope, Mike and I had straight up old school crunchy Old El Paso tacos with ground meat, shredded cheese, iceberg lettuce and tomatoes. They tasted like childhood: warm, friendly, and safe. And for dessert, these matcha ice box mini cakes I made the day before.
They’re a super straight-forward dessert. Chocolate wafers, deliciously dark and crisp, paired with un-sweetened matcha whipped cream. It’s a classic ice-box cake with a twist. If you’ve had ice-box cake, you know the dreamy texture of softened wafers, the way your fork slides through the layers with just the hint of resistance. Maybe you’ve even had chocolate and matcha together. They pair surprisingly well: matcha with its natural bittersweetness is a lovely foil to dark chocolate. Cookies and cream, what could be better?
Oh, and for the record, I don’t know if my last meal would be tacos. It might have to be pizza. Or noodles. Or something with potatoes…
Mini Matcha Chocolate No-Bake Ice Box Cake Recipe
makes 3 mini cakes, scale as needed
- 1/2 cup cold whipping cream*
- 1-2 teaspoons matcha powder, or to taste
- 12 chocolate wafers*
With a hand mixer, beat the cream until soft peaks form. Add in the matcha and whip until mixed. On a plate, lay down 3 wafers. Top each wafer with about 2 teaspoons of matcha whipped cream. Add a wafer on top and press down slightly. Repeat until each mini cake has 4 layers. If desired, ice the mini cake all the way around. Place in the fridge overnight – this is when the magic happens. The wafers rehydrate and become cake-like. The next day, enjoy!
Note: You can sweeten your whipping cream with a bit of sugar if desired. I kept it simple and on the unsweetened side and didn’t add any extra sugar. If you’d like your cream a little sweeter, add the sugar in when you whip, starting with a teaspoon and going from there.
Note: The wafers are classic chocolate Nabisco wafers.
I have a secret sweet spot for those old el paso tacos too. Sometimes they’re totally want you want. A couple of tacos plus this? Perfect way to see out the end of the world in my book.
These little cakes look super yummy! Love how easy they are to make!
Matcha and chocolate is one of my favorite combinations ever and I love how easy this recipe comes together!
this. this looks so good. I’ve actually never had icebox cake, but your description above seriously made me start drooling, which is not attractive, especially at work. Love this Stephanie!
Genius! What kind/brand of wafers are you using for this creation?
they’re nabisco!
THIS LOOKS SO PERFECT TO ME. i love icebox cakes because they are COLD. hehe! i love cold stuff… um, like the ice cream we ate yesterday … i loved that friend date, it was very special for me… i felt normal and free, enjoying time and gossiping with my favourite fellow vancouver blogger… and eating whatever felt right (that pizza could possibly be my last meal!?? that’s a tough one…). k i’m totally getting the matcha red bean ice cream on my next go at the soft serve joint…xoxo
These pics! Spring is definitely in the air <3
I googled ‘chemical fire’ and the news about Vancouver came up. DAMN!! I hope you guys are ok!
I never had an El Paso taco, but I’m pretty sure that my last meal would be pizza. But I’m Italian so I’m sort of biased.
Anyway anything with matcha is absolutely spectacular in my book <3
I have guilty pleasure too, in mac and cheese form a box and packet soup. Funny how a lot of last day on earth meals come from your childhood tastebuds. Perfect shaped mini cakes Stephanie! I wish you could send me one!