Easy No-Bake Pareve Key Lime Icebox Cake

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Is there anything better than the taste of lime in the summertime?  If you've read many of my posts here, you'll know I'm obsessed with lime flavoured anything, especially after a few years here in Israel with NO LIMES (waah!). Now that they're readily available and seasonal, I make sure to take advantage, gorging on amazing fresh Israeli limes before they're gone for the rest of the year.

(We do freeze some juice as cubes to use in sauces, salads, etc.)

I know what you're thinking, though.  It's NOT summertime.  By now, mid-October, we're well into fall.  But here where we live, temperatures are still in the 30s (celsius, I guess mid to high 80s F?) and we haven't really had our first good rain.  So it's still summer in my mind, though to be honest, I often forget what season it is.

In any case, the air conditioning is still running -- and that's what really counts.
And when it's hot outside, there seriously is nothing like lime.  And also, nothing like a quick, easy no-bake dessert.

Oogat Biskvitim, which literally means Biscuit Cake (in the British sense of cookie, rather than the American meaning of a savoury roll), is super-popular here, almost as much so as the ubiquitous Kadurei Shokolad, literally chocolate balls

In searching for recipes to tweak to get what I wanted, I found out that outside of Israel, it's most commonly known as

Icebox Cake -- a no-bake cake you assemble in layers and allow to rest in the "icebox" until the cookie layers soften up a little and it all comes together without the need for heating up the house.  It's a staple of the southern American kitchen, as you could imagine.  But I don't love the word icebox cake, so I'm going to call it Cookie Cake.

Cookie Cake can be made dairy or pareve, depending on what you fill it with.  The most common filling is probably some variation of cheese and instant vanilla pudding, another Israeli "baking" staple.  But I wanted something that was pareve, to serve on Shabbos at night, and also tangy with the sweet and sour goodness of limes.

So I "invented" this simple pareve creamy lime filling (it's actually vegan, as long as your starting ingredients don't contain eggs) and made my very own Cookie Cake for Shabbos.  Here's how:

EASY PAREVE, VEGAN NO-BAKE KEY LIME COOKIE CAKE

Note:  I make no health claims for this cake!  Just the claim that you’ll end up with something yummy…

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INGREDIENTS:

  • 1 1/2 packages (about 375g) Osem Petit Beurre cookies (elsewhere, these are called Maria or Tea Biscuits)*
  • 1 package (250 ml) pareve whipping cream (I used Tnuva)
  • 1 package (80g) instant vanilla pudding (I used Shufersol store brand)
  • Juice and zest of 2 limes (about 1/2 c. juice)
  • 1 c. your favourite pareve milk for baking, for dipping biscuits/cookies, preferably not too sweet

* Lotus Biscuits (aka Biscoff aka caramelized biscuits) would make a nice alternative for the tea biscuits, with a unique flavour all their own.

    (you can substitute local equivalents for Israeli brands)

    PREPARATION:

    1. Set lime zest aside for topping.
    2. Whip cream and set about 1/3 aside for topping.
    3. To the 2/3 remaining cream, add lime juice and vanilla pudding mix.  Whip well until combined.
    4. Dip biscuit in pareve milk and then quickly set in rectangular pan, as shown below.
    5. Arrange dipped biscuits to form a single layer at the bottom of pan.
    6. Top with 1/2 of lime-cream mixture.  TIP:  If you’re not sure you’ll have enough cream to spread around, add 1 little dollop on top of each cookie, then spread once every cookie is topped.
    7. Dip biscuits and arrange on top of lime-cream mixture to form a second layer.
    8. Spread another layer of lime-cream mixture over biscuits.
    9. Top with a final layer of dipped biscuits (that’s 3 layers, if you’re counting!)
    10. Finally, top with set-aside (lime-free) whipped cream.
    11. Sprinkle with zest of lime (or, if you’re lazy, just zest another lime on top of the icebox cake.
    12. Set in fridge to soften at least 3-4 hours before serving.

    Enjoy!

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    Here’s a video for you to see how easy it is.  Note that I didn’t dip the biscuits and it came out a little bit dry, as you can see in the pics.  So don’t skip that step!

      Tzivia / צִיבְיָה

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