This cherry chocolate freezer roll log cake is made with Nabisco’s famous chocolate wafer cookies and whip cream as the main ingredients. It ranks among our favorite desserts with things like this Heath Bar Cake which also feature cool whip and chocolate.
It’s a cake by many names; We’ve heard it called log cake, zebra cake, icebox cake, among others. We’ve always known it as freezer roll or freezer log, but in the end, the name doesn’t matter. What matters is the taste, and on that front this cake delivers.
This recipe has been a holiday favorite in our family for years. It often gets made as a Christmas dessert, but it’s so good that we find ourselves at other times of the year making it as well. Especially since it’s a no-bake dessert and relatively easy to make if you have a little bit of patience.
Cherry Chocolate Freezer Log Roll Assembly
- Start with Nabisco Famous Chocolate Wafer Cookies or another favorite chocolate wafer cookie
- Use whip cream (or another filling) as a binding agent to layer the cookies together into a log/roll. This can be a little tricky. We’ve found that a winning strategy is layering together smaller stacks and freezing those first and then eventually layering all those stacks together into the final roll and freezing.
- Add another layer of whip cream or filling over the whole cake
- Give the cake some time in the freezer
- Get it out of the freezer 20-30 minutes before cutting, and cut the cake diagonally to reveal some awesome layers, serve and enjoy!
Does it matter if you don’t use Nabisco’s Famous Chocolate Wafers?
Well…maybe. We really love these cookies so we definitely recommend trying them but at the end of the day, it’s your cake so you can certainly substitute another cookie for your cake if it’s one you enjoy. Or feel free to make your own cookies.
Making the topping/filling
The filling we use is just whipped cream or cool whip mixed with cherry preserves. We really enjoy the cherry chocolate cake flavor combo, but I would think you could forego the cherry part or try your own variation if another flavor is more appealing to you. This chocolate wafer icebox cake is made without the cherry flavor. If you are willing to go an extra step and love real whipped cream, sub out the cool whip for 2 cups of whipping cream–whip it with a teaspoon of vanilla and then gently stir in cherry preserves.
The Nabisco wafer cookies are reported to be vegan, so we have also made this with vegan coconut whipped cream when serving dairy-free or vegan friends and family.
But whether you use homemade whip cream, store-bought whip cream, vegan coco-whip, or something like cool whip, we’d recommend sticking with something lighter in color so you that the end result is black and white or at least has that contrast pop. Always prioritize taste of course, but this cake is very visually pleasing when executed correctly. Hey, there’s nothing wrong with enjoying your work of art before woofing in down. 🙂
How Long to Freeze?
The magic freezer time needed is however long it takes to prevent a gooey mess, and really we like it better when the cookies have had a couple days to soak up the flavor of the cherry mixture, but we tend to just keep it simple by prepping this several days before so that we don’t have to worry about making a dessert at the last minute. Or feel free to just pop it in the refrigerator until serving later the same day! Seriously, it’s chocolate, cherry preserves, and cool whip/whipped cream. It’s hard to go wrong there!
Cherry Chocolate Freezer Roll
Ingredients
- 1 package chocolate wafer cookies (36 cookies)
- 12 ounces cherry preserves
- 16 ounces cool whip
Instructions
- Mix cherry preserves into cool whip.
- Spread about 2 teaspoons to a tablespoon of cherry cool whip mixture onto the top of a wafer cookie, place another cookie on top and repeat (you should have a cookie-cool whip-cookie-cool whip-cookie stack). Make 12 stacks like this and freeze for 30-60 minutes. If you have broken cookies, save for topping or "glue" them together with mixture.
- Spread about 2 teaspoons to one tablespoon of cool whip mixture on top of six stacks and place another stack on top (you should now have 6 stacks). Freeze for 30 minutes.
- Spread some of the cool whip mixture in a strip on serving platter (this will keep the roll from rolling). Connect the stacks together with more cool whip mixture on their side on the platter on the strip of cool whip mixture. Spread the outside with remaining mixture and top with extra crushed wafer cookie. Freeze if you are saving to serve in a couple of days or refrigerate if using within 8-12 hours. If making days ahead, roll in foil to prevent freezer burn/drying out.
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