If you love homemade cream puffs, this Cream Puff Cake is for you! A made-from-scratch soft choux pastry crust filled with sweet vanilla cream and a layer of whipped topping–drizzle with chocolate sauce for a decadent dessert for any occasion. This is a different version of our No-Bake Eclair Cake.
Cream Puff Cake
Cream puffs are such a decadent dessert that may seem intimidating to make at home. This Cream Puff Cake has all the deliciousness of a cream puff, but is very easy to whip up any time the a cream puff craving hits!
If you’re looking for more unique and tasty dessert recipes, you’ll love these: Pistachio Lush Dessert | Caramel Apple Dump Cake | Tie Dye Pinwheel Cake | Raspberry Olive Oil Cake | Easy Millionaire Pie
The Ingredients
Here’s what you’ll need to make Cream Puff Cake (the exact measurements and full recipe instructions are below in the easy to print recipe card):
- Water
- Butter – be sure to use regular salted butter.
- All-purpose flour
- Eggs – use large eggs.
- Cream cheese – regular full-fat cream cheese is best for this recipe.
- Milk – we used whole milk, but other types of dairy milk will work as well.
- Instant vanilla pudding mix – use dry mix, not pre-made vanilla pudding.
- Whipped topping – use any whipped topping, such as Cool Whip.
- Chocolate syrup – this ingredient will be added right before you serve the dessert.
How to Make Cream Puff Cake
Preheat oven to 400F degrees. Prepare a 13×9-inch baking pan by lightly spraying with a non-stick cooking spray.
Add the butter and water to a medium saucepan and cook over medium heat. Once the mixture begins to boil, remove the pan from the heat and stir in the flour until the mixture forms a soft ball (use a wooden spoon for the best results).
The dough will be very soft.
Transfer the dough to a large mixing bowl. Prepare an electric mixer and have it ready to quickly beat in the eggs in the next step. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing thoroughly with an electric mixer in between additions (move quickly to begin mixing the moment you add the egg so it doesn’t cook on the hot dough).
After all of the eggs have been mixing into the dough, continue to beat the dough on medium speed for 1-2 minutes until the mixture is smooth.
Prepare Baking Dish
Transfer the dough to the prepared baking pan and spread out evenly over the bottom.
Tip: the dough is sticky, so it may help to use a spatula sprayed with a little non-stick cooking spray.
Bake for 20- 23 minutes until puffed up the sides of the pan and golden brown. Remove from the oven and cool completely to room temperature (the sides may fall a little during the cooling).
In a large mixing bowl, use an electric mixer to beat the softened cream cheese until smooth, Slowly add 1 cup of the milk a little at a time, beating well in between each addition until the mixture is smooth (adding just a small amount of milk at a time helps prevent lumps of cream cheese).
Add remaining milk and the pudding mix and beat on medium speed for 2-3 minutes until smooth and thickened.
Spread the pudding mixture over the cooled crust.
Next, top with the cake with the whipped topping. Cover with plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour (or overnight).
Drizzle with chocolate syrup before serving.
Slice the cake into 12 squares and serve chilled.
Variations
Pudding – you may want to try different flavors of pudding in the filling. Cheesecake flavored pudding is a delicious option.
Extra vanilla – if you want to bump up the vanilla flavor, add a teaspoon of vanilla extract to the cream filling.
Toppings – for a fun twist on this dessert, try adding different toppings, such as fresh berries, caramel sauce, or chocolate shavings.
Homemade whipped cream – if you like to use homemade whipped cream instead of ready made whipped topping, that will be delicious on this Cream Puff Cake.
How to Store the Leftovers
Keep the leftover Cream Puff Cake covered well with plastic wrap. Store the cake in the refrigerator for up to five days.
More Recipes You Will Love
Easy Cream Puff Cake
Ingredients
- 1 cup water
- ½ cup butter
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 4 large eggs
- 8 ounces cream cheese softened
- 4 cups milk divided
- 3 packages (3.4 ounce each) instant vanilla pudding mix
- 8 ounces whipped topping thawed
- Chocolate syrup for topping
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400F degrees. Prepare a 13x9-inch baking pan by lightly spraying with a non-stick cooking spray.
- Add the butter and water to a medium saucepan and cook over medium heat. Once the mixture begins to boil, remove the pan from the heat and stir in the flour until the mixture forms a soft ball (use a wooden spoon for the best results).
- Transfer the dough to a large mixing bowl. Prepare an electric mixer and have it ready to quickly beat in the eggs in the next step. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing thoroughly with an electric mixer in between additions (move quickly to begin mixing the moment you add the egg so it doesn’t cook on the hot dough). After all of the eggs have been mixing into the dough, continue to beat the dough on medium speed for 1-2 minutes until the mixture is smooth. Transfer the dough to the prepared baking pan and spread out evenly over the bottom. Tip: the dough is sticky, so it may help to use a spatula sprayed with a little non-stick cooking spray.
- Bake for 20-23 minutes until puffed up the sides of the pan and golden brown. Remove from the oven and cool completely to room temperature (the sides may fall a little during the cooling).
- In a large mixing bowl, use an electric mixer to beat the softened cream cheese until smooth, Slowly add 1 cup of the milk a little at a time, beating well in between each addition until the mixture is smooth (adding just a small amount of milk at a time helps prevent lumps of cream cheese).
- Add remaining milk and the pudding mix and beat on medium speed for 2-3 minutes until smooth and thickened.
- Spread the pudding mixture over the cooled crust, then top with the whipped topping.
- Cover with plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour (or overnight).
- Drizzle with chocolate syrup before serving.
Last Step:
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