Let Them Eat Cake

I work with a small non-profit.  All of us involved with the organization have full-time jobs in addition to our responsibilities there, so that means that we meet during the off-hours, in the evenings.  It's become a tradition that we hold these meetings over dinner at my place.  I prepare a homemade meal for everyone and we blow through our agenda as fast as possible, even if that means four hours.  Or longer.  It's been known to happen.  That after a full day at the office is brutal.  Last night, I was pleased that we were able to keep the meeting to just over a tidy two hours.  And because I love this group so much, I went to the trouble of making the cutest cake in the whole wide world for dessert.  An icebox cake is the way to go if you're looking for simple.  Try it with different cookies and flavors.  It's the most forgiving cake you'll ever make and it requires no oven time!

An Icebox Cake: Ginger Cookies / Pumpkin Spice / Praline Pecans

Ingredients
8 oz. mascarpone (cold, not room temp)
1/2 cup confectioners' sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups cold heavy cream
48 2-inch, round, thin ginger cookies
1 teaspoon of pumpkin spice
small handful of chopped praline pecans

Directions
With an electric hand mixer on low speed, mix the mascarpone, sugar, and vanilla about a minute.  Add the cream and mix on high speed until stiff peaks form.  On whatever plate you'd like to present your cake, lay your cookies in a 2x4 array, sides slightly overlapping.  (The cookie layout will determine the shape and size of your cake.  Make a circle, rectangle, star, whatever.  Just make it a complete layer of cookie all the way across.)  Cover cookies completely with the cream mixture and spread evenly across cookie layer.  Repeat layers of cookies and cream mixture ending with a layer of the cream mixture on top.  (I used 6 layers of each.)  Cover carefully with plastic wrap and let sit overnight in the fridge, minimum of 8 hours.  Before serving, dust with pumpkin spice and sprinkle with chopped pecans on top.  

Serving
This might be obvious, but serve this straight out of the fridge.  If you let it sit out for a while before serving, it will still be edible, but as pudding instead of cake.