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Smooth + rich Cream Puff Cake is a take on the popular cream puff dessert. Drizzle it in chocolate for a perfect bite!
If you love desserts like Cream Puffs and Eclairs, then you’ll love this cake version. Cream Puff Cake is like one giant cream puff in cake form!
Cream Puff DESSERT
This Cream Puff Cake is an ALL-TIME favorite dessert!!
I have my mom make it for my birthday each year, because it’s my favorite, and I’ll tell you why I LOVE it so much. It’s because it’s like a GIANT Cream Puff, and I LOVE Cream Puffs!!
If you like them too, then I promise you will love this Cream Puff Cake Recipe. It’s the perfect combination of crust, cream, and pudding, and I think I could eat it all day long.
How to Make Cream Puff Cake
This Cream Puff dessert is easier to make than you’d think. The crust is the hardest part and that’s not very hard either – it just takes getting used to.
PREP. Prepare a 9×13 ceramic or glass baking dish by spraying it with cooking spray. Set aside. Preheat the oven to 400°F.
CRUST. Boil the margarine and water in a medium saucepan. Add flour and mix well. Remove from heat and add eggs – ONE AT A TIME (this is important). Mix well and spread the dough into a greased 9×13 dish.
Bake the crust at 400° for 30 minutes. The crust will puff up the sides, which is what you want. Let cool.
FILLING. In a large bowl, mix pudding, milk, and cream cheese. beat until lumps disappear. Pour the pudding mixture into the cream puff crust. Top with Whipped Cream and refrigerate for at least 1 hour before serving.
Before serving, drizzle with chocolate syrup. We love to drizzle it with our homemade Chocolate Fudge Sauce. You can also top it with a chocolate ganache or sprinkle mini chocolate chips on top.
RECIPE Tips
Pudding. Use INSTANT vanilla pudding or white chocolate, or it won’t set. Only use the pudding powder. Do not make it into pudding.
Room temperature ingredients. The butter, cream cheese, and eggs all need to be at room temperature so that they mix together smoothly.
Pastry. Cool the pastry crust completely before adding the filling or the cream will melt and not set. A hot shell will also get soggy more quickly.
Toppings. Add berries to the top of the slices of cake. Use the homemade Chocolate Fudge Sauce to create a pretty design on the top of the cake.
Homemade Whipped Cream
Make your own Whipped Cream using 2 cups heavy whipping cream, 4 tablespoons powdered sugar, and 2 teaspoons vanilla.
- Chill your metal mixing bowl then add heavy cream, powdered sugar, and vanilla to the bowl.
- Use an electric mixer and whip on low speed then increase to medium-high. Mix until soft peaks form.
Use Cool Whip instead of Whipped Cream. Cool Whip is an easy substitute for whipped cream. Make whatever is best for you and be sure to still have some homemade Chocolate Fudge Sauce on hand to drizzle over it – you won’t regret it!
Storing Info
Make ahead of time. Up until you add the Whipped Cream, this can be covered and placed in the fridge up to 24 hours in advance. If you don’t want to mess up the whipped cream with Saran Wrap, just leave that off until right before serving.
STORE. Covered and stored in the fridge, this Cream Puff Cake can last up to 5 days. Keep it refrigerated when not being eaten because the dairy products need to stay cool.
For more Cake recipes:
More Collections: New Years Eve Desserts,
Cream Puff Cake Recipe
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup butter, or margarine
- 1 cup water
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 4 eggs
- 1 box instant vanilla or white chocolate pudding (large box)
- 3 cups milk
- 8 oz cream cheese softened
- 8 oz whipped cream
- chocolate syrup
Instructions
- Prepare a 9×13 ceramic or glass baking dish by spraying it with cooking spray. Set aside. Preheat the oven to 400°F.
- Boil the margarine and water in a medium saucepan. Add flour and mix well. Remove from heat and add eggs – ONE AT A TIME (this is important).
- Mix well and spread the dough into a greased 9×13 dish.
- Bake the crust at 400° for 30 minutes. The crust will puff up the sides, which is what you want. Let cool.
- In a large bowl, mix pudding, milk, and cream cheese. beat until lumps disappear. Pour the pudding mixture into the cream puff crust. Top with Whipped Cream and refrigerate for at least 1 hour before serving.
- Before serving, drizzle with chocolate syrup. We love to drizzle it with our homemade Chocolate Fudge Sauce. You can also top it with a chocolate ganache or sprinkle mini chocolate chips on top.
Video
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
We cook gf and yes I make this dessert gf …
That’s great to hear! So glad this recipe works!!
Can you use a cooked pudding instead?
I haven’t ever tried using a cooked pudding…. I’d recommend using the instant like this recipe calls for, but if you only had cooked, you could certainly give it a try.
My mom used to make this when I was growing up and we loved it! I am considering making this in the form of mini tarts for a family wedding. Have you ever tried freezing it? I’d be curious as to how it held up. Wit never lasted long enough to freeze at our house! 😉
I haven’t tried freezing this cake, but I’m not sure how well the final cake would freeze. The crust may be prepared and possibly would freeze ok, then defrost and add the filling/topping before serving. However, it can last for up to 5 days in the fridge, but if not being eaten right away, it definitely needs to stay in the refrigerator because of the dairy products used. Best of luck with the wedding prep. Hope these will work out well for the wedding!
I make this every August when our State Fair begins (although I’ve made it other times too!). For a different flavor, I used banana cream filling and it tastes great too!
Oh I bet the banana cream is delicious too! So glad you enjoy the recipe!
Can you make this cream puff cake in a round pan? If so, what size pan ?
I have never tried doing it in a round pan before, but typically a 9X13 cake can be converted to 2 round 9 inch cake pans. Note that the crust will spread up onto the sides, which is supposed to happen. So you’ll want to make sure the round pans are at least 2 in. deep too. If you give it a try, you’ll have to let us know how it turns out!
I recently made this cake for a family gathering. It was delicious. Very light and refreshing. A slight problem is the
pudding spilling out into the cake pan after a few row of pieces are cut. Nothing to do about this and it sure doesn’t
change how good it is.
Yes, that pudding can do that when cutting the cake. I’m so glad you enjoyed it!!
Can u just make the crust the nite befoore
Yes you can bake the crust the night before. I would bake it and have it cool completely and then cover it so it does not dry out overnight. Hope this helps!
WOW! You’ve got great receipts
Thank you so much!!
I was looking for a summery deSsert fir family dinner night and found this recipe. It was a huge hit !!! AbSolutely love the crust!!!! It will forever stay in my recipe file and be made many more times !!!
Yay!! You made my day! Thank you for sharing that!
Do I need a mixer? You didn’t say what kind of large bowl. Can I beat by hand or will that take to long?
I use a hand mixer, but you can definitely mix by hand, if you don’t have one. Just any large bowl will do.
Saw this on Facebook today. Wondering if it can be made with gluten free flour and almond milk?
I personally haven’t tried, but I am sure it could 🙂