Eclair Cake
Eclair Cake is all of the great flavors of an éclair in cake form. This Chocolate éclair cake recipe has a cream puff crust, vanilla cream cheese layer, whipped cream, and a chocolate ganache. This is hands down my husband’s favorite dessert.
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 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 chocolate 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 has the flavors of a classic eclair.
INGREDIENTS
- Vanilla pudding – Instant pudding is used here.
- 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
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.
OTHER EASY DESSERT RECIPES:
- Eggnog Eclair Cake
- Chunky Monkey Eclair Cake
- Banana Split Icebox Cake
- Scotcheroos
- Magnolia Bakery’s Banana Pudding
- Monster Cookies
- No-Bake Cookies
- Carmelitas
- Banana Split Dessert
Eclair Cake
This Eclair Cake is all of the great flavors of an éclair in cake form. This Eclair Cake has a cream puff crust, vanilla cream cheese layer, whipped cream, and a chocolate drizzle.
Ingredients
- 1 cup water
- 1/2 cup butter
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 4 large eggs
- 1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
- 1 (5.1 ounce) box instant vanilla pudding
- 3 cups whole milk
- 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
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Preheat oven to 400. Lightly grease a 9"X13" glass baking pan.
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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.
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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).
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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.
Recipe Notes
Make homemade whipped cream and homemade chocolate sauce (or this hot fudge sauce) to make this out of this world!
Source: Debbie Mortensen
Your eclair cake looks good but I’m want to know for some of us who gets a little tired of chocolate,can you make it with vanilla too?because vanilla is just as good too, or other choices is coconut,for a refreshing flavor and added variety.
The pudding inside is vanilla but you could switch it up if you like
Everyone in our family loves this recipe. We have come back to it for several years for special occasions. It’s requested often. I’ve never made the one with graham crackers and probably never will , though the crust may look challenging , its not. Turns out perfect everytime.
Awesome to hear!
Everyone’s favorite indeed. Absolutely love it.
Thank you!
Can’t wait to try this recipe!
I would like to make this for Christmas desert. Can it be mad in advance on Christmas Eve? How will it stand up and should it be refrigerated?
Thanks
Sorry it’s too late but I have made this a few days ahead and it has been fine
Has anyone ever made this recipe so that it can be served single serve? Would it be possible to bake it in cupcake pans? Trying to make desserts for work where people don’t have to handle utensils.
The crust is just a paux de choix so you could make little individual cups easily.
Can Eclair cake be frozen?
I don’t see why not. It’s basically a big eclair which can be frozen.
Can the cream cheese be omitted?
Won’t the pudding hold up on its own?
It just gives the pudding layer more substance but yes you could leave it out.
I notice most recipes for Eclair Cake use graham crackers and call for refrigerating for many hours before serving. I prefer this recipe (without graham crackers), but how does this hold up in the refrigerator with the Éclair base? Wouldn’t it get very soggy? Or is this meant to be served immediately rather than made ahead of time.
It actually doesn’t get soggy and be in the fridge for a few days.
2nd. time I made this. This time I baked on 350, raised rack to 3rd. level in oven, baked 25 mins and it turned out perfect. Next time will only make halfrecipe and use 8×8 pan, for my family size. Enjoyed so much looking forward to serving it at church suppers. Might use toasted almonds on top.
Glad you liked it!
I have been making this same recipe for over 40 years. We call it moon pie because of the craters and hills. Its soo good. My family loves it.
I love that name! I may have to change it!
Amazing recipes I turn mine into two pies instead if the baking dish . Never left overs. And I always make this dessert when trying to impress.
Great idea!