Caramel Apple Icebox Cake Is The Easy No-Bake Fall Dessert You Need To Make

Fall is arguably the best season of the year (and frankly, if you argue against that fact, you're wrong). The blazing heat of summer is behind you, but the oppressive cold of the winter has yet to come. This means it's the perfect time of year for icebox cake. It won't melt in the blazing heat of summer and can still be enjoyed as the weather turns cooler. 

To take the fall vibes even further, bring your flavors to the orchard with our no-bake caramel apple icebox cake recipe. It includes fresh apples simmered on the stovetop with butter, brown sugar, cinnamon, and mixed spices, a smooth and tangy cream cheese filling, crispy digestive biscuits, and an indulgent drizzle of caramel sauce. All you have to do is layer the cream cheese mixture, apples, caramel, and biscuits in a loaf pan, let it set in the fridge for at least eight hours, and then turn out the cake and drizzle it with more caramel. 

The combination of warm spices and apples screams fall, and when you infuse that with a cold, creamy, vanilla mixture, you have all the hallmark deliciousness of apple pie à la mode. But the kicker is that you get it without having to labor over a homemade pie crust and a hot oven for over an hour. This Thanksgiving, consider a caramel apple icebox cake for a perfect, make-ahead dessert.

Icebox cake doesn't get enough credit overall. What makes icebox cake unique is that it is endlessly customizable when it comes to flavors and the level of effort you put in. For this caramel apple icebox cake, you could go the extra mile to bake cookies from scratch. The recipe calls for digestive biscuits, but crispy gingerbread or spice cookies would also work beautifully here. You could also make the whipped cream from scratch or even add caramel-flavor to take it up another level. The recipe calls for cooking apples like Granny Smith, but you could choose whatever kind you like best. Our personal favorite: a mixture of something tart like Granny Smith and sweeter, like Fuji. You could even infuse another flavor into the apple mixture, like a bit of orange peel for hint of citrus. 

This also works in the opposite way as well. If you want to take it extremely easy on yourself, you could also use store-bought ingredients for everything. A box of graham crackers would work great in this cake. A container of Cool Whip or store-bought whipped cream could easily be mixed with some cream cheese and vanilla. If you don't even want to touch the stove, consider ready-made apple pie filling, or even raw, chopped apples tossed in some cinnamon for an extra fresh, crunchy bite. 

This icebox cake can also easily be made gluten-free and dairy-free. Basically, your icebox cake can be whatever you need it to be — and isn't that a beautiful thing? There are so many fall dessert recipes that could make your day sweeter, from cakes to crumbles to pies. But none are quite as stress-free, no-fuss, and full of endless possibilities as an icebox cake.