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 (just enough for a thin layer. I don't use the whole container or one batch of homemade whipped cream)
- 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
Hi, would this recipe work if I make it the day before? Thanks.
Yes, absolutely. It stores great!
I’ve made this recipe a few times and each time it turns out fantastic! Great job including pictures and tips. I have added a little bit of extract (or egg nog) to the cream cheese before whipping. It helps with creating smoothness before adding pudding mixture. Thanks for sharing:)
Thank you!
Made this for our girls night Christmas dinner and it was fantastic!
Thank you!
So yummy and easy to make!!! My family loved it!
Thank you! We love this one.
Can I use a disposable foil pan
Yes that would work!
Love this cake, it’s so yummy easy to make! Wondering if you’ve ever tried to make it in individual muffin or brownie pan? I want to make it for a party and thought individual ones might be nice over an entire cake that needs to be cut.
I’ve never tried it individually but I don’t see why not. It’s a pate a choux batter which is what individual eclairs are made of.
I made this recipe in a mini muffin pan for my brother’s wedding. They were perfect for a covid friendly backyard wedding. They were a huge hit.
Can I use a metal none stick pan
Yes!
I’m a life-long eclair lover. This is fantastic!! I was skeptical about the use of instant pudding mix but not anymore. I used freshly whipped cream. The homemade chocolate sauce is what really elevated this recipe. It’s the pay-off. I might be disappointed with a bakery eclair after this.
Yes all those little things make it so yummy!
Looks delicious,can’t wait to try this recipe,going to try to make for the fourth of july
Thank you!
This cake has been one of the family’s favorites ever since my mom started making it . It’s easy and it’s fast . I change the flavors of puddings around sometimes like banana cream and vanilla together . There are so many different flavors you can come up with . This is the greatest reciepe since sliced bread . It is always a hit at every function I bring it to . Thanks ……
It’s my husband’s favorite too! So happy you guys like it as well.
Just finished making this. Have not tasted it put all together but the homemade chocolate sauce and whipped cream is Ssooo good. Can’t wait to serve it for Easter dinner!
So glad you liked it!
I made this for a big group of friends and they all loved it! Just wondering though, if I’m going to make it a day ahead is it better to leave it unassembled (filling in the fridge, crust covered at room temp) and put it together right before serving, or put it all together and leave it in the fridge overnight?
I actually make it the day before often and it holds up well.
Love this recipe! Made it for work pot-lucks and the pan is always empty! It’s the easiest “fancy” dessert ever!
Thank you! We love it too!
This is one of my family’s all-time favorite desserts. I’m making one now per special request from my 20 y/o son. He hates cream cheese, so I omit it from his version, and just use the pudding, cool whip & chocolate syrup drizzle. Everyone adores the cream puff crust!
So good right!
Hello. Can I make creme patissiere for the filling instead of the pudding? Thanks for the recipe.
Yes of course!
The sides caved in after it cooled. I redid it using a cookie sheet and it worked much better. Otherwise, delicious! I added maraschino cherries and chopped walnuts.
This is the best ‘fancy’ dessert that is really quite easy! Followed directions exactly as written and it turns out perfectly. I’ve made it about 10 times now!
AWesome! I love hearing that.
I have about 1/2 cup of AP flour. Do you think I could use self rising flour for the other half?
Should be fine!
Can this cake be frozen? It is delicious, however, I have about 1/2 of it left.
Yes, you can!
Have you ever made this for a picnic? How long is it okay to let it sit out? Thanks so much.
Your recipe is beyond awesome! I’ve made it three times in the last several weeks. It was a hit with EVERONE. I do have several things to share with you about this marvelous taste of heaven. I usually like to try a recipe out on myself and my husband before I make it for guests. Since it’s just the 2 of us now, a recipe that makes a 9 x 13 pan is a little too much for us. The first thing I do is check to see if I can make half a recipe. I know that a 9 inch pie plate is half of a 9 x 13 pan. With this recipe I used a 10 inch deep dish pie plate. It was awesome! I realized that we liked the idea that each piece would have a nice piece of that wonderful puff. I will always make it like that. I also made a “tasty” discovery when I didn’t have a box of vanilla pudding. It was 11:00 pm, the puff was baking, and I needed to make it THEN. I found a box of white chocolate pudding in my pantry. Voila success! I will always use the white chocolate for this . Even my granddaughter asked for the recipe! YUM, thank you for sharing this heavenly recipe with all of us.
Absolutely amazing!
Thank you!
After I found this recipe a few years ago it has been my go to! It always get raves (even from my stoic Russian coworker who grew up on cream desserts- he kept going on lol).
My crust is done after about 17 minutes- the original must be an error? Used 3 different ovens.
I use homemade whipping cream (8 oz whipping cream, 2 T sugar, 1/2 t Vanilla), but storebought Hershey’s Simply syrup. When I lived by Trader Joe’s I used the Superior TJ moo goo (?) chocolate syrup.
Thank you!
Thanks. Yes, the crust will be done at different times for everyone. Glad you loved it!
How far ahead can i prepare this before meal
You can do it about a day ahead ahead of time.
I drizzled on carmel too. Love this dessert! Thanks for sharing it.
Ooh sounds delightful!
I’m posting this recipe on my blog tomorrow. Thanks for creating it!
http://www.simplher.com
Unless you skipped arm day and REALLY need that workout, you can use a handbeater and whip the crust together in no time. Just keep doing the eggs one at a time and incorporate fully, beating until the product is shiny and well blended. This was one of those surprise big hits – a coworker tried to be coy and not tell her birthday, then was disappointed when no cake magically appeared in the break room on her special day. So someone ran out at lunch to solve the problem. I’m thinking pantry emergency boxed cake mix on the double, or whatever was on clearance at (super center)… nope. This is what she made. Quick, easy, ingredient-friendly and delicious. And 18yrs later, I’m still making it.
What a story! I love it. I will try a handbeater next time. Thanks for the tip!
how much milk would you use for 2 small boxes of the pudding for the Éclair cake
I would still use 3 cups of milk.
If you haven’t tried this yet, then you absolutely MUST! Do yourself a favor and make it with homemade chocolate sauce and whipped cream, though! This dessert will change your life!! 😍 There have been times when I actually dream about it. I will forever be grateful to you, Christy, for sharing it with us (I’m not kidding)! 😁
Oh Jamie that makes me happy! I’m with you on the homemade ingredients. So much better.
I make this dessert and cream puffs all the time. Super easy and delicious. I use my mixer to add the eggs, one at a time. Never had a problem!
I just so happened to make this last week to bring in to work for my birthday. Using different flavors of pudding means there are SO many possibilities. I tried butterscotch out for the first time and it was hands down my favorite version I’ve ever made of this.
::drools::
I am a butterscotch lover so I’m definitely going to have to try that.