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Strawberry Ladyfinger Icebox Cake




Source of Recipe


Taste of Home website


Recipe Introduction


I had some issues making this dessert. And even though I think I’ve solved them, I’m not convinced that the cake is really worth all the effort. It is good – it could hardly help be that – but it didn’t blow me away and with the work that goes into it, I think it should blow me away. Also, everyone I served it to on Father’s Day 2019 seemed to sincerely like it, but no one seemed to think it was fantastic. I’ll probably give it another try before I decide. My frustration with the directions may have colored my opinion. I’ve rewritten it, but the first ingredient in the original recipe reads: “6 cups fresh strawberries, sliced”, which I take to mean: “measure out 6 cups of strawberries and then slice them”. But that’s kind of a ridiculous direction. Strawberries come in all sizes and shapes and thus would add up to different amounts of sliced strawberries. I just eyeballed it based on the amount of mascarpone mixture and compared it to the picture on the website. I was so wrapped up in figuring the amount of strawberries that I missed the layering directions and left out the top layer of ladyfingers. It should go: ladyfingers, creamy layer, strawberries, creamy layer, strawberries, ladyfingers, creamy layer.


Recipe Link: https://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/strawberry-ladyfinger-icebox-cake/

List of Ingredients




4 cups sliced strawberries
4 teaspoons balsamic vinegar
38 crisp ladyfinger cookies (about 23 ounces)
2 cartons (8 ounces each ) mascarpone cheese, softened
2 cups heavy whipping cream
1/2 cup sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup chopped strawberries


Recipe



Mix strawberries and vinegar and let stand 30 minutes. Line the bottom of a 9-inch springform pan with parchment paper (mine is silicone with a glass bottom, so I didn’t bother with this step). Trim 1/2-inch off one end of 22 ladyfingers. Cut the first and measure the rest to the cut ones to make sure they are all the same length. Place the ladyfingers, rounded sides out, around the sides of the pan. Line the bottom of the pan with more ladyfingers, cutting to fit. (I Googled “Lining a pan with ladyfingers” and clicked “Images” and found that very helpful here).

With an electric mixer, beat the mascarpone cheese on low until fluffy. Add the cream, sugar and vanilla and beat on medium to stiff peaks (I wasn’t sure that this would work, so I did the cream separately and folded it into the mascarpone mixture. A more experienced baker at eGullet.org later told me that it should have worked fine doing it all at once). Spread 1 1/2 cups of the mascarpone mixture over the ladyfingers. Drain the strawberries and spoon half of them over the cheese mixture. Add another layer of 1 1/2 cups of the cheese mixture and the rest of the strawberries. Use the remaining ladyfingers (trimming, as needed) to cover the top strawberry layer and then spread the remaining cheese mixture of the ladyfinger.

Carefully cover with plastic wrap (I found that an upside down metal mixing bowl worked perfectly for this and didn’t mess up the cheese topping). Refrigerate at least 8 hours, or overnight. Remove the rim from the pan and top with the chopped strawberries to serve.

Serves 12.