Moka Dupont: A French Icebox Cake Recipe (2024)

I plan to make this, as I've already approached parts of it on other occasions. Regarding the use of a raw egg - yes, I recommend not doing this, especially if one has older folks or kids in the house (especially vulnerable to salmonella, if I recall right). But more to the point, this buttercream has no butter, but it could. Better yet, why not use heavy cream in place of the egg. Just make a ganache - 2 parts chocolate to one part cream. Make more than you need, and store the rest.

Aquafaba (the liquid drained from a can of chickpeas) is a good substitute for the raw egg.

The Sri Lankan variation is called Chocolate Biscuit Pudding. It's made with Marie biscuits (another very plain cookie that can be found widely, sometimes called Maria biscuits), with the biscuits very briefly dipped in warm milk, and layered with either buttercream or ganache - ganache is much nicer! A few drops of rum or fruit liqueur in the ganache (we used arrack in Sri Lanka) makes it even better.

No butter? The first ingredient is one stick of butter.

I was at a party in the 80's - a potluck of sorts. A beautiful dessert was brought by a beautiful guest, like Grace Kelly beautiful. I asked at what bakery did she find this cream and shaved chocolate confection? She made it! In her sweet voice she said she bought a couple packages of Chips Ahoy cookies, and dipped them in sherry: dunk and place, dunk and place (sip) until you have the round shape and height you want. Layer with homemade whipped cream, shave chocolate on top. 1st X, it worked!

I have done this cake with or without eggs, a very similar recipe.I always eat raw eggs (also for many other recipes) as they come from a local swiss farm. I am 70 and never was ill! As for all food, you must know from where it comes....very difficult in supermarkets and in the United States. Come and eat eggs in Switzerland.Bon appétit!

My resourceful Italian mom used to make a similar cake with Stella Doro biscuits and a homemade Italian custard - cooked slowly until thickened, with either a lemon peel or vanilla pod. Lined the flat cookies up on a platter side by side, poured a little rum(!) or other liqueur over them, then topped with the cooled and thickened custard. Sprinkle with slivered toasted almonds. It too, ate like a cake: Italian rum cake without a ton of work. YUMMO!

I'm not about to make this cake, even with the ganache alternative, but I just want to say how much I love Dorie's writing. This article is personal, reflective, and poignant -- despite being about cake. A pleasure!

I agree with the others below concerning the possibility of Salmonella being on ANY egg because the chicken's reproductive, digestive, and urinary tracts, are all one and the same, its cloaca. You could wash the egg before use, and that would eliminate a considerable chance of infection; but, better yet, boil the egg for 30 seconds, and proceed with your recipe!

Kedem tea biscuits are a good substitute with a gram or two less sugar than social teas

It's a classic cake here in Denmark, where we call it kiksekage (biscuit cake). Orange peel is a nice supplement.We typically use vanilla biscuits. But it is hard to find them squared here too.Nowadays we tend to use pasteurized eggs: 20 years ago a young boy and his dad both sadly died from salmonella in a kiksekage made with raw egg yolks.https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-d&q=opskrift+kiksekage

My partner is lactose intolerant and vegan butter alternatives is disgusting so I'll do a tofu chocolate cream (blend equal amounts of melted dark chocolate with silken tofu and a little sugar, dead easy). And I love the idea of doing this with a very plain biscuit, so I'll make it with Milk Arrowroots, which I feel like would be our Australian equivalent of the Social Tea. https://www.arnotts.com/products/plain-biscuits/simple-pleasures/milk-arrowroot

Ha! Gateau Marie. My mother was making this for us at least 45 years ago. Buttercream had no egg but did have double cream in it. Marie biscuits (plain crunchy slim biscuits or cookies I suppose, I’m European) were dipped in very strong black coffee (not necessarily espresso, but definitely not instant) with a bit of sugar and a generous splash of brandy, or maybe Cointreau. Loved it then, still make it.

Dorie, This is a treat we also made as a family. I did not know the origins, thanks. One variation is dipping cookies in milk rather than espresso. We also used chocolate pudding rather than buttercream and covered the stack completely (no cookies showing). I also remember incorporating sliced bananas into the middle layer. Try Ulker Tea Biscuits (Turkish). They are thin but not too thin that they break after dipping, and rectangular. I sometimes find them on Amazon.

Forgot to mention that in Mexican grocery stores you can find Maria cookies which are very similar to Petit Beurre cookies. They are round, but can be used to make individual 'pastries' on which you can vary the frosting!

Although you mention that the egg should preferably be organic, since it will not be cooked, you could mention that in the USA, raw eggs have are considered to be unsafe, hence the SAFE HANDLING INSTRUCTIONS on raw shell-on egg packages. Salmonella, a known pathogen, is highly associated with raw eggs. In France, where this recipe hails from, eggs are not required to be refrigerated, as they are in the USA, because steps have been taken to mitigate the risk of salmonella contamination.

My mom made a very similar dessert. She used confectioners sugar for the icing and soft lady fingers instead of cookies. Absolutely delicious!

I hate when people write before they make a recipe, but I have to share that I make something almost the same for Passover - just dunk matzos in sweet Passover wine and do the rest as Dorie does! it really works and you can even make a "seven layer cake" that way.

I can't find anyplace that still carries Nabisco Social Tea Biscuits. Are they still being made??

I have always made this as the Girl Scout cake. A layer of graham crackers, a thin layer of apple sauce, repeated until the cake is as high as you like. Frosted with butter creme and refrigerated. You end with a multi-layer torte. Can be varied by using strained apricot preserves or alternating the wet filling with butter creme. No one ever knows how you made it.

Made as directed. It was not great although it is easy to make.

This was 'the cake' for birthday parties growing up in Flanders (Belgium) in the early sixties. We, however, did not soak the bottom layer of cookies so as to be able to serve a Petit Beurre stack without falling apart. Each square was topped with a chocolate praline or truffle. Brings back great memories!

An Italian nonna hack whips heavy cream with instant vanilla pudding for an approximation of pastry cream. Layer in between the cookies, frost To your own taste. Allow to soften. Happy hack.

We knew this as Kaltes Hund, (cold dog). My German/Jewish mom made this growing up in the Middle East. This is the first time I’ve seen this recipe in print!!!!

This cake is very similar to German Kekskuchen aka Kalter Hund (cold dog), a must at every children's birthday party when I was a child. Instead of butter, we used coconut oil, and the cookies were plain Leibniz-Kekse. Those butter cookies are flat and square (and nowadays available at US supermarkets). We did not soak them, though, but I think that is a nice touch.

Bahlsen Leibniz butter biscuits/cookies would do the trick, too.

This reminds me of the zebra cake I used to make for my son's birthday: chocolate wafer cookies and slightly sweetened whipped cream. Make it any size and shape you like (I once did an undersea volcanic vent!) and the kids will be delighted with the zebra stripes under the whipped cream. It's also not too sweet and quite delicious.

Add a little brandy or other liqueur to the espresso to make it a little more indulgent!

As for the raw egg, it’s about the same as the raw egg in homemade mayonnaise, n'est-ce pas? 10 Kedem biscuits per layer (3 layers) perfectly fit a 35cm x 10cm tart pan.

I make biscuit cakes all the time. there is no need for the egg!!!