Mocha Chocolate Icebox Cake – no bake, easy, rich, coffee and chocolate flavored dessert recipe.
Years ago I found out guests were arriving unexpectedly and I had to come up with a recipe for quick and tasty dessert. They’ve already tried my Fruit Tiramisu so I had to invent something else.
I wanted to stick with “lasagna” or tiramisu type, layered, no bake cream cake or pie. I thought of using similar filling, but omit the fruit and change a kind of biscuits that I was using. It dawned on me that everybody in that group likes coffee, so I added some cappuccino mix to the filling and created Cappuccino Icebox Cake. It was a huge success, both with my guests and my blog readers.
Today I’m sharing a similar idea. Instead of cappuccino, I used instant coffee (espresso powder) and some cocoa for chocolate-mocha taste. I also added a little bit of rum, but that is totally optional – you can omit it if you don’t want to use alcohol.
Instead of lighter yogurt, I used a half of Greek yogurt and a half of Mascarpone cheese (can be substituted with cream cheese) for richer cake. Of course, in need to create lighter dessert, omit Mascarpone and use yogurt instead. Also, you can choose to make your own whipped cream or use the store-bought one.
Rather then using lady fingers or graham crackers, this recipe contains chocolate biscuits. More precisely, I used some breakfast chocolate biscuits containing whole wheat, but any kind of chocolate biscuits, chocolate chip cookies, chocolate graham crackers or chocolate wafers will do.
This recipe is not very sweet. Dark brown Muscovado sugar is here more to deepen the taste than to sweeten it. I didn’t want to increase the sugar content, so I added a few drops of liquid stevia.
After assembling Mocha Chocolate Icebox Cake, keep it in refrigerator for at least 3 hours before serving. It should be OK refrigerated for up to 3 days.

- 2 Tbsp cocoa
- 2 tsp instant coffee
- 1 cup Greek yogurt
- 6 Tbsp dark brown sugar (Muscovado), or to taste
- 1/2 Tbsp rum or coffee liqueur (optional)
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 cups whipping cream (or 4 1/2 cups whipped cream)
- 1 cup Mascarpone cheese (or cream cheese)
- a few drops of liquid stevia (optional)
- 300 g (10.6 oz) chocolate biscuits
- 1/4 cup warm milk
- 1 tsp coffee granules
- 1 Tbsp rum or coffee liqueur (optional)
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In a medium bowl, combine cocoa, instant coffee, Greek yogurt, sugar, rum and vanilla. The purpose of this is to let the granules dissolve.
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In a large bowl, whip cream to soft peaks. Add Mascarpone cheese and yogurt mixture. Mix on low speed until incorporated. Adjust sweetness to taste by adding more sugar or a few drops of stevia.
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In a plate, blend 1 tsp coffee granules and 1/4 cup warm milk. Soak each chocolate biscuit in this mixture for a few seconds before putting into a serving dish.
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Spoon 1/3 of the filling over the biscuits. Repeat with two more layers of biscuits and filling. Cover and chill for at least 3 hours.
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Before serving, lightly dust with cocoa powder and decorate with chocolate curls (optional).
Nothing beats homemade icebox cakes! Looks absolutely perfect!
Thank you, Natalie! 🙂
What are chocolate biscuits? Substitutes?
Looks great!