Eclair Cake
Eclair Cake is all of the great flavors of an éclair in cake form. This easy recipe has a cream puff crust, vanilla cream cheese layer, whipped cream, and a chocolate ganache. Unlike some recipes that use a box of graham crackers, this delicious eclair cake is made with a real eclair crust. This is hands down my husband’s favorite dessert.
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CHOCOLATE ECLAIR CAKE
This measly corner piece was all that was left after us, our friends, and the missionaries (who made a surprise stop) devoured it.
This was a Father’s Day request from my husband John who loves eclairs. My sister-in-law Kristy made this for us when she came out to visit and we quickly fell in love with it.
It is very light which makes it easy to eat a TON of it! You can make it simple with Cool Whip (whipped topping) and Hershey’s syrup (it’s still great this way) or go the extra step and make homemade whipped cream and homemade chocolate sauce to make it unbelievable! This hot fudge sauce is great too on it.
There are two versions of this. A lot of people make a no-bake eclair cake with layers of graham crackers, whipped cream, and vanilla instant pudding. This is the grown up version of that.
This is one of our favorite desserts and we make it for special occasions, birthdays,…a family reunion. It tastes like a classic eclair.
INGREDIENTS
- Instant vanilla pudding mix – Instant pudding mix is used here for our pastry cream. You can use French vanilla pudding as an option.
- Choux pastry (pâte à choux) – which includes flour, unsalted butter, water, and eggs.
- Cream cheese
- Milk
- Whipped cream – made with heavy cream and powdered sugar. Of course you could use a tub of Cool Whip but it’s not the same.
You’ll get an arm workout here. Once you’ve incorporated all of the eggs it will be the texture of cake batter. There’s not sugar here. This is a classic eclair crust.
Pâte à Choux
paux de choux or eclair crust.
HOW TO MAKE ECLAIR CAKE
INSTRUCTIONS
- Preheat oven to 400. Lightly grease a 9″X13″ glass baking pan.
- For the Eclair Crust: In a small saucepan, melt butter in water over medium heat and bring to a boil. Remove from heat. Stir in flour. Mix in one egg at a time, mixing completely before adding another egg. Spread mixture into pan, covering the bottom and sides evenly. Mixture will be very wet. *If the sides of your pan are too greased you won’t be able to get the mixture to stay up the sides so make sure to just lightly grease. No big deal but I like the crust to go up the sides a bit.
- Bake for 30-40 minutes or until golden brown (Mine only took 25 minutes.) You may want to check it occasionally-you don’t want to overcook the crust, it will ruin the cake! Remove from oven and let cool (don’t touch or push bubbles down).
- For the Filling: Whip cream cheese in a large mixing bowl. In separate mixing bowl make vanilla pudding by beating the pudding mix and the milk for 3 minutes with an electric mixer and put in the fridge until set. Make sure pudding is thick before mixing in with cream cheese. Slowly mix pudding and cream cheese, mixing until there are no lumps. Let cool in refrigerator. When the crust is completely cooled, pour filling in, spreading to cover bottom crust. Top with layer of cool whip however thick you want it. Chill until ready to serve. Serve with a drizzle of chocolate syrup. *If you want to make this even better use homemade whipped cream. Store leftovers in the fridge.
OTHER EASY DESSERT RECIPES:
- Eggnog Eclair Cake
- Chunky Monkey Eclair Cake No-Bake Dessert
- Banana Split Icebox Cake
- Scotcheroos
- Magnolia Bakery’s Banana Pudding
- Lunch Lady Brownies
- Monster Cookies
- Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Frosting
- No-Bake Cookies
- Carmelitas
- Banana Split Dessert
Eclair Cake
Ingredients
Crust:
- 1 cup water
- 1/2 cup butter
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 4 large eggs
Filling:
- 1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
- 1 (5.1 ounce) box instant vanilla pudding
- 3 cups whole milk
Topping:
- 1 (8 oz) container cool whip or one batch homemade whipped cream, (just enough for a thin layer. I don't use the whole container)
- chocolate syrup or homemade chocolate sauce, (see notes)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400. Lightly grease a 9"X13" glass baking pan.
- For the Eclair Crust: In a medium saucepan, melt butter in water over medium heat and bring to a boil. Remove from heat. Stir in flour. Mix in one egg at a time, mixing completely before adding another egg. Spread mixture into pan, covering the bottom and sides evenly. Mixture will be very wet. *If the sides of your pan are too greased you won't be able to get the mixture to stay up the sides so make sure to just lightly grease. No big deal but I like the crust to go up the sides a bit.
- Bake for 30-40 minutes or until golden brown (Mine only took 25 minutes.) You may want to check it occasionally-you don't want to overcook the crust, it will ruin the cake! Remove from oven and let cool (don't touch or push bubbles down).
- For the Filling: Whip cream cheese in a medium bowl. In separate mixing bowl make vanilla pudding by beating the pudding mix and the milk for 3 minutes with an electric mixer and put in the fridge until set. Make sure pudding is thick before mixing in with cream cheese. Slowly mix pudding and cream cheese, mixing until there are no lumps. Let cool in fridge. When the crust is completely cooled, pour filling in, spreading to cover bottom crust. Top with layer of cool whip however thick you want it. Serve with a drizzle of chocolate syrup. *If you want to make this even better use homemade whipped cream.
Notes
