Cream Puff Cake
Cream Puff Cake is a delicious "fancy" dessert that's actually super easy to make!
Servings: 12
Ingredients
For the Crust
- 1/2 cup Butter salted
- 1 cup Water
- 1 cup Flour all purpose
- 4 large Eggs
For Fillings
- 2 3.4 oz packages Instant Vanilla Pudding
- 3 cups Milk 2% or whole
- 8 oz Cream Cheese
- 1/2 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
- 8 oz Extra Creamy Cool Whip, thawed 3 cups sweetened whipped cream (from 1.5 cups heavy cream) can also be used
- Chocolate Sauce or Syrup Ghirardelli brand is best
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees fahrenheit.
- In a medium saucepan, heat the butter and water together until butter is completely melted and mixture boils. Add all of the flour and mix with a wooden spoon for 30-60 seconds until mixture forms a ball. Remove from heat.
- Transfer dough into a mixing bowl and beat with an electric mixer on low for about a minute until it's not too hot to touch anymore. Then beat in the eggs, adding one egg at a time and beating on low until it's fully incorporated.
- Spread dough onto the bottom and up the sides of an ungreased 9x13 glass pan. It doesn't need to be smooth. Bake for 25-30 minutes until crust is nicely golden brown.
- Allow the crust to cool for 15-20 minutes.
- Place the cream cheese, milk, and vanilla in a blender and process until smooth. Add the instant vanilla pudding mix and pulse four or five times until incorporated. The mixture will begin to set up quickly.
- Pour the pudding mixture into the crust and smooth the top. Spoon Cool Whip or whipped cream over the pudding and smooth it out. Drizzle chocolate sauce over the top if desired OR drizzle sauce on individual pieces as you serve.
- Cover cake with plastic wrap and chill until ready to serve. If you'd like to serve right away, put it in the freezer for about 15 minutes to help everything set up.
Notes
To make the cake serve more people, you can make the crust as written but bake it in a jelly roll pan (half sheet pan) for 20-22 minutes. Instead of using two small (3.4 oz) boxes of instant pudding and three cups of milk, use two large (5.1 oz) boxes of instant pudding and four and a half cups of milk, keeping all the other ingredients the same.
Using a blender is the fastest way to make the pudding layer, but if you don't want to use one you can use this method: Soften the cream cheese. Whisk the vanilla pudding, vanilla extract, and milk together in a large bowl. In another bowl, beat the cream cheese until it's light and fluffy. When the pudding starts to thicken, fold in the whipped cream cheese, stirring until completely incorporated.