How to Make No-Bake Icebox Cakes With Just 3 Ingredients

Don’t want to turn on your oven to make dessert? No problem. These icebox cake recipes are ridiculously easy, super quick to put together and require absolutely no cooking! Keep reading to find three different icebox cake recipes, with only three ingredients required for each. Yup, only three.

Read on for three delicious, easy icebox cake recipes.

First, let’s discuss the term “icebox cake.” It is a very old-fashioned term, where icebox technically means refrigerator. Nowadays the equivalent term would be “no-bake cake,” where the dessert sets and firms up in the fridge without needing an oven at all.

What’s an icebox cake, exactly?

These desserts are semi-homemade. A combination of store-bought items, like cookies and whipped topping, combine so they dry ingredients absorb the moisture from the wet ingredients. Together, they form a dessert that is served like pieces of sliced cake.

Before we get started, I’d like to mention that these recipes can be doubled so these cakes stack higher. I typically use either an 8″ square pan or a 9″ springform pan so I can pop out the cake and show off the beautiful layers. You can very well make and stack these cakes on a regular plate, though I find it easier to refrigerate when guarded in a pan.

Read on to get three icebox cake recipes (each using only three ingredients!)

Mocha icebox cake

Makes one 9″ round cake; 8 servings

Ingredients:

• 1 box of Famous Chocolate Wafers
• 1 teaspoon espresso powder (instant coffee granules may be substituted)
• 1 container (8 ounces) whipped topping, defrosted

Directions:

Add espresso powder to the tub of whipped topping. Give it a stir, then let it sit for 10 minutes or so in the fridge, so the coffee granules can moisten and dissolve. Stir it once more until completely smooth and free of bumps.

Place a layer of chocolate wafers in the bottom of a 9″ springform pan.

Alternate spreading whipped topping and chocolate wafers. You’ll have 4 layers of each, the top being whipped topping.

Refrigerate overnight (at least 12 hours) before cutting and serving.

Strawberry shake icebox cake

Makes one 8″ square cake; 9 servings.

Ingredients:

• 1 box graham crackers
• 1 tablespoon, plus ½ teaspoon Strawberry Nesquik powder
• 1 container (8 ounces) whipped topping

Directions:

Add Strawberry Nesquik powder to the tub of whipped topping. Stir it until it’s completely smooth and free of bumps.

Place a layer of graham crackers in the bottom of an 8″ square pan.

Alternate spreading whipped topping and adding more graham crackers; you’ll have 3 layers of each.

Refrigerate overnight (at least 12 hours) before cutting and serving.

Banana pudding icebox cake

Ingredients:

• 1 box vanilla wafer cookies
• 3 cups banana pudding
• ½ container (4 ounces) whipped topping, thawed

Directions:

Place a layer of vanilla wafer cookies in the bottom of a 9″ springform pan.

Spread half of the pudding evenly over the cookies. Add a thin layer of whipped topping.

Place another layer of vanilla wafer cookies. I like to place this layer mound-side down, not for any reason in particular except that the slices look more interesting after the cake has been cut.

Spread the remainder of the pudding over the cookies and top with whipped topping. Refrigerate overnight (at least 12 hours) before cutting and serving.