Peanut Butter and Chocolate Icebox Cake

Some of you may have noticed that I often wear a monkey necklace.  It's from Dogeared's Charm Dynasty collection.  I wear it not because I was born in the year of the monkey but because my affectionate nickname for Mr. J is Monkey..and it also happens to be his zodiac sign!

Growing up, Mr. J's favorite cake was Nabisco's "Famous Chocolate Refrigerator Roll" aka the icebox cake.  This no-bake recipe is easily found on the back of the Nabisco Famous Chocolate Wafers box.  For his birthday this year, I decided to make him a monkey-shaped icebox cake in his favorite flavor combo of peanut butter and chocolate - light peanut butter whipped cream sandwiched between thin chocolate wafers and decorated with a whipped chocolate ganache.

Peanut Butter and Chocolate Icebox Cake

Ingredients

4 cups heavy whipping cream

1/2 cup creamy peanut butter

2 tbsp vanilla extract

3 tbsp white granulated sugar

1 (12 oz) package of semi-sweet chocolate morsels

2 (9 oz) packages of Nabisco Famous Chocolate Wafers (look for it in either the cookie or ice cream aisle)

Directions

Heat 1 cup of the heavy whipping cream in a small saucepan until boiling.  Remove from heat and stir in chocolate morsels until melted and smooth.  Place in the refrigerator for an hour, or until the chocolate ganache is "spoonable."

Place remaining 3 cups of the whipping cream in a mixing bowl fitted with a wire whisk.  Beat on medium-high speed until just before soft peaks form.  Mix in peanut butter, vanilla extract, and sugar.  Continue to whisk until just shy of stiff.

On a flat serving plate or cake platter, arrange chocolate wafers in a circle (I used 7 wafers), and place one additional wafer in the middle.  Spread roughly 1/2 cup of the peanut butter whipped cream in a circle.  Continue layering the wafers and whipped cream, staggering each layer, for a total of 11 layers of cookies.  End with a layer of the whipped cream.

Place chilled chocolate ganache in a mixing bowl and whisk until fluffy and slightly lighter in color.  Pipe onto the icebox cake with either a piping bag fitted with a tip or a sandwich bag with the corner snipped.

Refrigerate for 4-6 hours (preferably overnight) before serving.