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Tropical Icebox Cake has mango and pineapple buried in the custard and mousse style filling between the graham cracker layers. It’s simple and simply delicious.

I don’t know about you, but I’m becoming addicted to icebox cakes. They’re easy to whip up, there’s tons of flavor combinations and add ins, and they’re pretty budget friendly to make, too. What’s not to love, right?

Icebox cakes are perfect desserts for potlucks and the best make ahead desserts for outdoor parties, too. You really do have to make them ahead of time. They have to chill in the fridge to allow the cookies or crackers to get all infiltrated with the delicious filling. Basically, they have soften or the icebox cake is just not fun to try to slice up and serve.

It’s not secret that the icebox cake is a knock off of like a charlotte or a triffle. Charlotte are made with lady fingers, just like a tiramisu. Triffle usually has some sort of sponge cake in the middle of layers of fruit and cream. The icebox cake is sort of like that only the layers of lady fingers and sponge cake are replace with graham crackers or other crackers and/or cookies.

This tropical icebox cake is made with honey graham crackers. There’s a small selection of flavors in graham crackers these days. I didn’t have these growing up. We just had graham crackers, no flavors but graham. Graham being a type of flour that originated in the states in the 1880s. But kids today have graham, honey, cinnamon, and even chocolate. I haven’t seen any other flavors, have you?

I really need to work on my layers with this. There’s an uneven amount of the pudding versus the whipped cream mixture. I thought I fixed that this time, but apparently not. And that’s okay. Just means I have to keep making more to practice!

I’ve made quite a few icebox cakes for my blog. But I think my favorite, and the hubs’ fave, is probably the banana split icebox cake recipe. All the layers and flavors made for a delicious dessert. Just like this one! All the layers and flavors make this a delicious icebox cake. The hubs wasn’t such a fan, but he doesn’t like mango as much as I do. He probably would stick with just the pineapple layers.

Now, I am not a custard maker. So, this is a pudding icebox cake. I make the pudding thicker than pie filling and definitely thicker than pudding. Typically, one package of pudding is 2 cups of milk. I have the 2 packages and use 3 cups of milk. This gives it that custard color and sort of hides the mango slices. They’re there. You just can’t see them.

I am also not a whipped cream maker so this is an icebox cake with Cool Whip. If you’re a whipped cream maker, then by means use that instead. I have not had the best of luck with whipped cream. It never remains stable and usually deflates or something like that. So, I always grab the frozen stuff for inside the cake or pie and the canned stuff to spray on top of the pie or cake.

Hey, I grew up with convenience foods! Granted we didn’t always eat them. I don’t think I had Rice a Roni until I was a teenager. But as an adult with a busy commute and long days, I’m not opposed to grabbing some of these few conveniences. Chicken broth is one. Macaroni and cheese in a box is another. There’s not a ton, but there’s a few I use that make my life easier and Cool Whip is one of them.

I totally forgot the garnish or toppings. Initially, I was going to sprinkle the top with the coconut chips. Not toasted coconut or anything like that. The coconut chips. If you haven’t tried them you really should. If you like coconut that is.

If you don’t really like coconut because of the texture then you should give them a go. The hubs claims he doesn’t like coconut, but he liked the chips when I gave him a taste for my pineapple barbecue chops with colada slaw. The chips are in the slaw, which is really good.

I also planned on topping it with some chopped macadamia nuts. However, I only have the Maui onion ones. That’s really not ideal for a dessert. I hoped I had some of the Kona ones, which are crack to me, but alas, I must have eaten them all. Which isn’t surprising. They’re macadamia nuts that have a Kona coffee glaze surrounding them. SO good.

So, if you make this you might want to pick up some coconut chips and macadamia nuts for delicious garnish. Or even a guava or papaya jelly to melt and drizzle over top. That would be good, too!

Tropical Icebox Cake

Name: Tropical Icebox Cake
Cook time: 5 min
Total time: 4 h 5 min
Yield: 8
Cuisine: American
Ingredients: 7 ounces instant vanilla pudding; 2 1/2 cups milk; 14.4 ounces honey graham crackers; 20 ounces crushed pineapple, drained; 2 cups thinly sliced mango; 8 ounces whipped topping; 1/2 cup toasted coconut; 1/2 cup macadamia nuts

Yield: 8

Cook Time: 5 minutes

Additional Time: 4 hours

Total Time: 4 hours 5 minutes

Tropical Icebox Cake has mango and pineapple buried in the custard and mousse style filling between the graham cracker layers. It's simple and simply delicious. #SummerDessertWeek

Ingredients

7 ounces instant vanilla pudding
2 1/2 cups milk
14.4 ounces honey graham crackers
20 ounces crushed pineapple, drained
2 cups thinly sliced mango
8 ounces whipped topping
1/2 cup toasted coconut
1/2 cup macadamia nuts

Instructions

Combine the pudding mix with the milk. Stir with a whisk until the pudding mix is dissolved and the pudding begins to set.
Cover with plastic wrap making sure to place the wrap on top of the pudding to keep a skin from forming.
Refrigerate at least 2 hours.
Line a loaf pan with one layer of graham crackers.
Spread the 2/3 of the vanilla pudding on top of the graham crackers.
Place the mango slices on top of the pudding.
Top with another layer of graham crackers.
Combine 2/3 of the whipped topping with the rest of the pudding and fold until combined and spread on top of the graham crackers.
Spread the drained crushed pineapple on top of the graham crackers.
Top with a final layer of graham crackers.
Spread with remaining whipping topping.
Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 4 hours or overnight.
Garnish with toasted coconut and macadamia nuts before serving.

Nutrition Information

Yield 8 Serving Size 1
Amount Per Serving Calories 532Total Fat 23gSaturated Fat 11gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 11gCholesterol 6mgSodium 333mgCarbohydrates 77gFiber 4gSugar 42gProtein 8g

Yeah I'm so sure about that...

Welcome to the 4th Annual #SummerDessertWeek event hosted by Angie from Big Bear’s Wife. We’re celebrating all things summer with a week-long event that is absolutely filled with some of the best summer dessert recipes! Follow the hashtag #SummerDessertWeek on social media to find recipes and make sure to check out the bottom of this post for even more summer desserts!