I tried the chocolate cake that Ina Garten said 'makes grown men weep.' It's super easy to make and doesn't require any eggs.

Ina Garten's mocha chocolate icebox cake has 10 layers and looks impressive despite being quick and easy to make. Plus, it doesn't need eggs.

Feb 12, 2025 - 20:27

I tried the chocolate cake that Ina Garten said 'makes grown men weep.' It's super easy to make and doesn't require any eggs.

Ina Garten's mocha icebox cake — I recently made Ina Garten's mocha chocolate icebox cake.
Anneta Konstantinides/Business Insider

Ina Garten once said that her mocha chocolate icebox cake is so good it "makes grown men weep."
Garten's recipe includes cheese, coffee, Kahlua, and Tate's Bake Shop chocolate-chip cookies.
The delicious cake has 10 layers and looks super impressive, despite taking almost no time to make.

Ina Garten has been my biggest inspiration as I've gotten more comfortable in the kitchen, teaching me a variety of delicious but easy pasta, breakfast, and cocktail recipes.

With Garten's guidance, I've made everything from a soup that's better than chicken noodle to the most beautiful penne alla vodka.

So, when it was time to find a new dessert, I obviously had to turn to the Barefoot Contessa. And this 10-layer cake, which requires zero baking time or eggs, sounded like the perfect pick.

Ina Garten once said that her mocha chocolate icebox cake "makes grown men weep."

In an interview with Epicurious, the "Barefoot Contessa" star explained why the mocha chocolate icebox cake was one of her go-to recipes.

Garten said she was first inspired by a "fabulous caterer" friend who told her that his easiest recipe was a cake of whipped cream and Nabisco chocolate wafers layered together.

"I thought it was such a good concept that I was going to do it with something more interesting," she said. "So, I took Tate's chocolate-chip cookies, and I added Kahlua and cocoa powder. I made it into mocha whipped cream and then layered those and put it in the refrigerator, and, oh my God, it makes grown men weep."

"The whole thing takes five minutes to make," she added later. "And you make it the day before, so it's easy when you're entertaining."

Garten's mocha chocolate icebox cake includes cheese, coffee, and cookies.

Ingredients for Ina Garten's mocha icebox cake — The cake also includes Kahlua, cocoa powder, and semisweet chocolate.
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To whip up the cake at home, you'll need:

3 (8-ounce) packages of Tate's Bake Shop chocolate-chip cookies
12 ounces of Italian mascarpone cheese
2 cups of cold heavy cream
¼ cup of Kahlua liqueur
½ cup of sugar
2 tablespoons of unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon of instant espresso powder
1 teaspoon of pure vanilla extract
Semisweet chocolate (for the garnish)

If you can't find Tate's Bake Shop at your local supermarket, Garten recommends using another thin, crisp chocolate-chip cookie for the recipe instead.

To start, I added almost all of my ingredients into the bowl of a stand mixer.

Cocoa for Ina Garten's mocha icebox cake — Garten's recipe only has a few steps.
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Per Garten's recipe, I added heavy cream, mascarpone cheese, sugar, Kahlua, cocoa powder, espresso powder, and pure vanilla extract.

Then, it was time to get mixing.

Mixing for Ina Garten's mocha icebox cake — I started the electric mixer on low speed.
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I used the whisk attachment on my stand mixer, starting it on low speed to combine all the ingredients.

I slowly raised the speed until the mocha whipped cream formed stiff peaks on the whisk attachment.

And just like that, my filling was ready!

Five minutes hadn't even gone by, and I was already building my cake.

Laying out cookies for Ina Garten's mocha icebox cake — I started by adding a layer of chocolate-chip cookies to the bottom of the pan.
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To start, I covered the bottom of an 8-inch springform pan with a layer of chocolate-chip cookies.

Garten says it's important to cover the bottom of the pan as much as possible, noting that she'll break some cookies to help fill in the spaces.

Then, I added the first layer of filling.

Putting filling on Ina Garten's mocha icebox cake — I spread a fifth of my mocha whipped cream over the cookies for the second layer.
Anneta Konstantinides/Business Insider

Per Garten's recipe, I evenly spread a fifth of the mocha whipped cream over the cookies.

I placed another layer of cookies on top.

Cookies and filling for Ina Garten's mocha icebox cake — I broke off pieces of cookies to fill in the layer.
Anneta Konstantinides/Business Insider

I made sure the cookies were flat and touching, as Garten had instructed, and broke off more pieces to fill in the layer as much as possible.

I continued switching between the cookies and mocha whipped cream until there were five layers of each, ending with a layer of cream on top.

The entire process was super easy. Barely 10 minutes had passed, and I was almost done.

I smoothed the top of the cake with a spatula and covered it with plastic wrap.

Ina Garten's mocha icebox cake with plastic wrap — I smoothed the top of the cake with a spatula and covered it with plastic wrap.
Anneta Konstantinides/Business Insider

Then, I threw the cake in the fridge and let it sit overnight.

The next day, I carefully removed my cake from its pan and added the final decoration.

I ran a knife around the outside of the cake before removing the sides of the pan.

Then, I took my bar of semisweet chocolate and used a vegetable peeler to create a pile of chocolate shavings, which I sprinkled around the edges of my cake.

The key to getting those nice curls? Just go slow and steady with your peeler.

After decorating, I stepped back to admire the beautiful cake.

Garten's mocha chocolate icebox cake had been an absolute breeze to make, and it didn't even come out of a box!

The cake also looked great. The mocha whipped cream was a pleasant light-brown shade, and the chocolate shavings gave it a special decorative touch — plus a nice pop of color.

The cake looked even more impressive when I cut the slices.

A slice of Ina Garten's mocha icebox cake — You can see all 10 layers in every slice.
Anneta Konstantinides/Business Insider

Garten's mocha chocolate icebox cake has 10 layers, and you can clearly see each one in a nice big slice.

Chocolate chips from the Tate's cookies are also sprinkled throughout, dripping invitingly across the layers.

It was time to dig in! Garten's mocha chocolate icebox cake tasted absolutely delicious.

Ina Garten's mocha icebox cake with layers cut — I loved Garten's mocha chocolate icebox cake.
Anneta Konstantinides/Business Insider

When I first saw the recipe for Garten's cake, I thought it would taste similar to tiramisu. But the dish was surprisingly sturdy, thanks to the cookies, and had a far richer and buttery taste than I expected. I thought the cookies carried the mocha whipped cream well, and I loved the chocolate chips I got in almost every bite.

What I loved most about Garten's cake was that it tasted better the longer it sat in the fridge. It took a couple of days for my family to finish the dessert, and we loved it more each day. The consistency became akin to those frozen Pepperidge Farm cakes you can buy from the grocery store but with far more exciting flavor.

Overall, I think Garten's recipe is a fantastic dessert. Since it doesn't need baking and is eaten cold, the cake is perfect for hotter days when you can't be bothered to use your oven. But it's also decadent and buttery enough for the winter months. I definitely wouldn't say no to a slice if I saw this at a holiday party.

Whether you're making this with your kids or have kid-level baking skills, this is one of the easiest desserts you can make from scratch. I guarantee it'll impress everyone.

And who knows? Maybe it really will make some grown men cry.

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