The Magnolia Bakery Handbook of Icebox Desserts
by Bobbie LloydGenres: Cooking / Courses & Dishes / Desserts
Published on April 22, 2025
Pages: 256
Format: eARC Source: Netgalley
Indulge in 100 delightful no-bake desserts from the iconic New York bakery. Explore classic treats like banana pudding; icebox cakes, pies, and cheesecakes; as well as all-new icebox sweets from Magnolia Bakery’s Chief Baking Officer Bobbie Lloyd.
Magnolia Bakery, once a small corner shop in New York’s West Village, now a global phenomenon with 40+ stores around the world, shares a new collection of recipes in The Magnolia Bakery Handbook of Icebox Desserts.
An icebox dessert is a no-bake or low-bake dessert that comes together with time to set in the refrigerator, meaning these recipes are simple, classic, easy to make, and of course, completely delicious. The book features 100 recipes—each with a gorgeous photo—of icebox cakes, icebox pies, cheesecakes, icebox bars, and puddings, including variations on Magnolia Bakery’s famous and beloved banana pudding, plus recipes that cover the prep work (and require a bit of baking) for crusts, crumbs, fillings, and cookies. Advice on kitchen staples and supplies, with tips and tricks to become the ultimate baker are also included, so you’re ready to go before you start. Recipes include:
- Banana Pudding Icebox Cake
- Triple Chocolate Pudding Pie
- Cold Brew Chocolate Chip Cheesecake
- Strawberry Shortcake Bars
- Cannoli Icebox Bars
- Peach Crisp No Bake Bars
- Chocolate Wafer Cookies
- Pumpkin Spice Pudding with Cookie Butter Swirl
So make some room in the fridge, turn off the oven, and enjoy these mouthwatering flavors at home!
I do like an icebox cake. I forgot about that until I saw this book. I don’t make a lot of desserts but just the cover and title made me want to whip up a quick snack out of cookies and whipped cream.
This is a weird little book though. It starts out well. It starts with icebox cakes. These are cakes that are generally made with cookies layered with whipped cream that soften to a cake-like consistency in the refrigerator. The book shows their formula for making the cakes including diagrams for the best arrangement of cookies in a round cake pan. The photography is excellent and makes you want to try everything. Instructions are given for making your own cookies or suggestions are given for store bought cookies that work with each recipe to make this truly a quick dessert to throw together.
Once you see the first recipe, every other cake is a variation on the theme. They vary only in flavor. The cookies are different or they flavor the whipped cream. Sometimes they add a layer of filling or a topping. But once you get the general idea you can run with whatever flavor you want.
The next section is pies. It is the same formula here. Get the basic recipe down and then see all the flavor variations. I’m planning on making the Key Lime pie for a July 4th picnic next week. It’s still all good.
But then. I don’t know what happened. I think the author forgot how words work? They move into cheesecakes. Ok, no-bake cheesecakes are a thing. But these aren’t no-bakes. These are full on, bake in the oven cheesecakes. They look good but why are they in an ICEBOX BOOK? Nothing in those recipes ever go in a refrigerator during the process.
From there we move back to pudding. At least that goes in the fridge. The last section covers making all the cookies they use and some of the sauces.
I did keep the basic formulas for the cake and pies along with some flavor variations for ideas. These are full on dairy recipes with a million calories a slice but they are pretty easily veganized if you have any non-dairy cooking experience.
Because this was a Netgalley book for me, I’m claiming it as one of my 10 Books of Summer reads to work on clearing out my TBR backlog.
