Heaven Cake

by Hidemi Walsh
(Plainfield IN)

When I was a kid, my mother used to make or buy Christmas cake (In Japan, we eat Christmas Cake on Christmas eve or Christmas day). But I started to make my Christmas cake after I left my parents house and visited my family around Christmas. This is one of the cakes I make and this is the one my father loved the most. He named it "Heaven Cake". Since then I made this cake for him until he was hospitalized. I don't make it for him any more. I make this now for my husband and we eat this cake after the meat loaf on Christmas eve!

Ingredients:
4 oz Toasteds Crackers
4 tablespoons Butter, melted
8 oz Cool Whip, thawed
2 tablespoons Sugar
1/2 cup Crushed Almonds
3 oz Chocolate Bar
5 Oreo Cookies, crushed

Directions:
1.In a Ziploc crush crackers and add melted butter. Mix well. Transfer to the 9 inch cake pan and with hand, press mixture firmly on the bottom of the pan. Let it stand.
2.Chop chocolate into uniform pieces and put them into a bowl. Heat 1 cup of hot water in a saucepan over low heat, place the chocolate bowl over the hot water. When chocolate starts to be melted, turn off the heat and stir frequently. When chocolate is almost melted, remove the chocolate bowl from the saucepan and stir until smooth and completely melted.
3.In a bowl, combine thawed cool whip, sugar, crushed almonds (leave 1 tablespoon for topping) and chocolate. Mix well. Then pour into the cake pan.
4.Sprinkle crushed Oreo Cookies and the reserved almonds on top. Chill in the freezer for 2-3 hours or until sets.

*If you like very creamy texture, chill in the refrigerator, not freezer. In that case, better to chill at least half a day.