If you love desserts like Cream Puffs and Eclairs, then you’ll love today’s Cream Puff Cake recipe. It is like one giant cream puff in cake form, and it’s been a personal favorite since I was a child.
This Cream Puff Cake is a dreamy layered dessert with a light choux pastry crust, creamy pudding filling, and fluffy whipped topping. Inspired by classic cream puffs, this easy dessert is a crowd-favorite and one we regularly get recipe requests for. We especially love it in the warm months when cold desserts are especially appreciated.
If you love easy layered desserts like this, be sure to try our Chocolate Lasagna and Pistachio Shortbread Dessert.
Why we think you’ll love it:
- Just like a cream puff. If you love the flavors of a cream puff, you’ll LOVE this easy dessert! It tastes like a giant cream puff in cake form!
- An easy way to feed a crowd. It makes a 9×13 without all of the work. It is perfect for holidays and gatherings. Plus, it can be made ahead and chilled!
- Stunning. With beautiful layers and a chocolate drizzle, it’s an eye catching treat!
Cream Puff Cake Ingredients
- Unsalted butter (½ cup): Adds richness and flavor to the pastry crust.
- Water (1 cup): Helps create the pâte à choux style dough.
- All-purpose flour (1 cup): Forms the structure of the crust.
- Eggs (4): Gives the crust its light, airy texture.
- Cream cheese (8 ounces, softened): Adds tangy richness to the filling.
- Instant pudding mix (2 boxes, 3.4-ounce each): Creates the creamy filling.
- Milk (3 cups) – blends with the pudding to make it smooth and thick.
- Whipped topping or whipped cream (8 ounces or 2 cups): Adds a light, fluffy topping. See our homemade whipped cream recipe.
- Chocolate syrup or white chocolate curls: Adds sweetness and decoration.
How to Make Cream Puff Cake
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.
Kristyn’s Recipe Tips
- Use INSTANT vanilla pudding or white chocolate, or it won’t set. Only use the pudding powder. Do not make it into pudding.
- The butter, cream cheese, and eggs all need to be at room temperature so that they mix together smoothly. Beat the cream cheese until completely smooth to avoid lumps.
- The dough rising up the sides is normal.
- 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.
- 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.
- Chill at least one hour before slicing. Drizzle chocolate right before serving for the best presentation.
Cream Puff Cake Recipe
Video
Ingredients
- ½ cup unsalted butter
- 1 cup water
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 4 eggs
- 1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, softened
- 2 (3.4-ounce) boxes instant vanilla or white chocolate pudding
- 3 cups milk
- 1 (8-ounce) tub whipped topping, or 2 cups whipped cream
- chocolate syrup or white chocolate curls
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400°F.
- Combine butter and water in a large pot and bring to a boil over high heat.
- Reduce the heat to low, add flour and stir until mixture forms a ball. Remove from the heat.
- Cool dough slightly, then beat in eggs one at a time, mixing between each addition. After adding the last egg, the dough will come together and will be smooth. Spread into a greased 9×13-inch baking ish.
- Bake for 30 minutes, then cool completely. (NOTE: The dough should rise up the sides of the dish during baking).
- In a large bowl, beat the cream cheese until smooth.
- In a separate bowl, whisk pudding mix and milk together until smooth. Add whipped cream cheese and beat until combined and smooth. Pour into the crust.
- Spread whipped cream on top of pudding and refrigerate for at least one hour before serving.
- Serve drizzled with chocolate syrup or topped with white chocolate curls.
Notes
- Use INSTANT vanilla pudding or white chocolate, or it won’t set. Only use the pudding powder. Do not make it into pudding.
- The butter, cream cheese, and eggs all need to be at room temperature so that they mix together smoothly. Beat the cream cheese until completely smooth to avoid lumps.
- The dough rising up the sides is normal.
- 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.
- 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.
- Chill at least one hour before slicing. Drizzle chocolate right before serving for the best presentation.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Recipe FAQ
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.
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.
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This recipe was first shared July, 2011.
Do you prefer butter or margarine for the pastry? I’ve never baked with margarine before.
I always prefer butter, but you can use margarine if that’s what you have/prefer.
Do I have to use cream cheese? It doesn’t sound like it belongs in a cream puff.
This cake looked so yummy I had to try it even though we’re a family of two. I followed the directions precisely, using my glass baking dish as the recipe specified. I wish I could share photos here to show how the puff pastry crust baked up with huge sides extending beyond the baking dish but remaining upright even after the curst had cooled. The bottom seemed to puff up sufficiently too, when it was baked. It slimmed down, though, once the filling had gone on top of it and the cake had cooled in the frig. Nonetheless, despite the fact The Hub had bought a ready-made whipped cream in a can rather than the whipping cream I’d asked for, once we put the whipped cream on our individual servings of the cake and drizzled some chocolate syrup on top, we both loved the taste of this cake. So glad I tried this recipe! (Now maybe I need to take at least half in to work tomorrow!) Thanks for the recipe! I know this will be a hit with my family at the holiday gatherings!
The first time I made it and then aluminum cake pan at 400°. It did not puff up, but it didn’t come out good anyway.
I wanted it to look like yours in the picture. So today, I decided to make it in a glass pan and at 425°. It came out perfect.
So maybe this tip will help someone else .
I would like to edit my statement:
It should have said, I made it in an aluminum cake pan at 400°. It did not puff up, but it did come out good anyway.
I wanted it to look like yours in the picture. So today, I decided to make it in a glass pan and at 425°. I figured since oven temps differ it shouldn’t hurt.
It came out perfect.
So maybe this tip will help someone else .
Thanks for sharing!!
It is delicious but the crust did not raise on the sides. It raised all over and had large puffs everywhere. I had to push them down in order to add the filling. It was also very hard to spread in the pan. It kept moving around. I’m not sure what I did wrong.
this exact same thing happened to me!! glad to know i’m not the only one lol
I made this for our family dessert for Easter. I was concerned about how it turned out but when it was eaten, everyone raved about it! When I tried it, I was super impressed! I will definitely be making it again! Thank you for sharing!!
What size is the box of pudding.how many ounces?
It will be about 5.1 oz. The larger size box is what you’ll want for this recipe.
Can I make this with pudding homemade pudding?
I would like to know this answer also. And how much to put on the crust. Thank you
My did not puff on the side ? What did I do wrong
Yes mine either. It puffed all over. It was like a crater. I had to let it cool and then push down all the puffs in the middle in order to put the filling in it.
Thank you for the recipe! How do you think it would turn out halved and using an 8×8 pan?
You could totally try it! I imagine it would turn out just fine!