Cream Puff Cake

This Cream Puff Cake is rich, sweet, and so easy to make. A simple cream puff crust is covered with a delicious cream cheese and pudding mixture and then chilled to sweet, delicious perfection.

If you love cream puffs, you’re going to love this cake. It has all the flavors we love in the classic pastry treat, but in a sheet cake form that’s so easy to make and so satisfying to eat! We’ve been making this recipe for a while, but we just never got around to posting it.

Now we’re here to share this incredibly delicious, ridiculously easy dessert with all of you so you can enjoy the tasty flavors of this dish as much as we do.

Cream Puff Cake

Cream puff cake takes everything we love so much about cream puffs and stuffs it all into a 9 x 13 baking dish. We love making this dessert, and we’ve been doing so for a long time. We got the inspiration from another dessert we came up with – chocolate eclair cake.

Just like our chocolate eclair cake, this cream puff cake uses simple ingredients to recreate the flavors of a cream puff quickly, easily, and oh, so deliciously. It’s the perfect dessert to serve any time of year but we particularly love making it during the summer months and then again for Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Every bite is pure heaven. The cream puff crust is golden brown and crispy and pairs perfectly well with the creamy smoothness of the cream cheese pudding mixture. Topped with a layer of Cool Whip and drizzled with chocolate syrup, it’s a dessert that checks all the boxes.

This is one of the best desserts I’ve ever eaten.  Not only does it taste like a big cream puff, It’s just delicious. It wouldn’t be any trouble to eat half the pan in one sitting!  It’s really easy to make, and turns out a pretty dessert that you could serve anytime.  I promise, everyone will love this, so make sure to keep it handy.

Ingredients

It only takes a few ingredients to make this delicious cream puff cake. Precious few ingredients. You’ll need four ingredients for the crust – and one of them is water – and only three ingredients for the filling. It’s one of the simplest ingredient lists you’ll find anywhere. Here’s what you’ll need for the recipe.

For the Cream Puff Crust

• Water
• Butter – melted
• Flour
• Eggs

For the Filling

• Cream cheese – softened
• Instant vanilla pudding
• Whole milk or half and half
• Coffeemate, Italian Sweet Cream Creamer

For the Topping

• Cool Whip
• Chocolate syrup

That’s all there is to it! As you can see, the ingredient list is quite sparse. It only takes basic ingredients that you probably already have in your kitchen to make this recipe, so it’s a breeze to get everything together.

Making Cream Puff Cake

Get ready for a real in and out experience in the kitchen because if you think the recipe list looks easy, just wait until you actually make this recipe. It’s insanely simple. Nothing about this recipe is hard. At all.

You’ll find the complete recipe with amounts and times in the recipe card at the end of the post, but take a look at this quick overview and get a load of how easy it is to make this cream puff cake.

For the Crust

• Melt butter in water in a saucepan and bring it to a boil.
• Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the flour.
• Add eggs, one at a tim, mixing well before adding the next.
• When all eggs have been added, blend well a final time.
• Spread dough into a greased 9×13 bakind dish and bake until golden brown.

For the Filling

• Whisk pudding heavy cream or light cream if you prefer.
• When the pudding is thick, slowly add it to a mixing bowl with the cream cheese. Mix until smooth and creamy.
• Completely chill in the refrigerator.

Putting it Together

• Pour chilled filling over cooled crust.
• Top with a layer of Cool Whip and drizzle with chocolate syrup.
• Enjoy!

See? It’s super simple. The only actual cooking you’ll do is baking the crust in the oven, and even that is absolutely easy.

Tips

As always, we’re including some tips here to help you make this cream puff cake the tastiest it can possibly be. Although this recipe is exceedingly simple, there are some things to remember that ensure you’ll get the best outcome possible.

Fully Soften Your Cream Cheese

It’s important to fully soften your cream cheese so that it incorporates with the vanilla pudding well. If you don’t soften your cream cheese, you’ll end up with a lumpy mixture full of chunks of cream cheese.

Don’t Overcook the Crust

To make sure your crust is absolutely delicious, be sure that you don’t overcook it. As soon as it develops a golden color, remove it from the oven. Overcooking the crust will make it dry.

Don’t Fiddle with the Crust

Your freshly baked crust will puff up in places. That’s okay. Resist the urge to smash it down into a uniform layer. It will naturally settle while retaining its light texture and flakiness. If you smash it, the texture won’t be right.

Let the Crust Cool Completely Before Assembling

It’s important that you let the crust cool completely before adding the cream cheese mixture. Just like frosting a warm cake, putting the pudding on the warm crust will make it “melt”, resulting in a watery texture. Just be patient, and you’ll be rewarded!

Variations

One of the great things about this cream puff cake is how easy it is to switch things up. Because the primary filling ingredient is pudding, you can make this cake into any flavor you like.

There are tons of pudding flavors in the baking aisle, and any of them will work well with this recipe. Get creative and have fun! Make a chocolate cream puff cake. Try strawberry. Are you a fan of lemon? Well, they have lemon pudding mix, too! The only limit is your creativity.

Serving Cream Puff Cake

We love this delicious cake as-is, but feel free to top it with a dollop of whipped cream or fresh berries in addition to a drizzle of chocolate syrup. All of those flavors work so well together and really accentuate the flavor of the cake.

This cream puff cake is so easy to make, it’s perfect for a weeknight dessert. It’s also a great idea for a last-minute dish to bring to a potluck or other party. We’ve even brought it to holiday gatherings. It’s so quick, easy, and delicious that it’s the perfect choice for both you and whatever party you might be going to.

Storing Cream Puff Cake

This cake is best enjoyed on the day you make it, but it will keep well in the refrigerator in an air-tight container for up to four days. For longer storage, you can freeze this cake for up to a month. To freeze, simply cover your container tightly with aluminum foil.

To serve, either defrost the entire cake at once in the refrigerator or cut individual pieces while frozen and then allow them to defrost in the refrigerator.

FAQ

With a recipe this simple, you’ll probably want to dive right into making it, but before you do, take a look at this FAQ. It covers all the pertinent points that you need to remember before making this delicious dessert, so it’s important to read it.

Why is my cream cheese mix lumpy?
You didn’t soften your cream cheese fully. If your cream cheese isn’t fully softened, it won’t incorporate properly, leading to lumps.

My crust is so flat. What happened?
The crust will flatten naturally as it cools, and it isn’t meant to be a thick crust. However, if it’s extra thin and dense, you probably smashed it down while it was hot to make it uniform.

Why is my cake so watery?
You probably didn’t let your crust cool completely before topping it with the pudding cream cheese mixture. If the crust is warm, it will cause the filling to become watery.

How long will this cream puff cake last?
This cake will keep well in the refrigerator for three days if you store it in an air-tight container. You can also freeze it for up to a month.

Try This Cream Puff Cake for Yourself

This delicious cream puff cake is super easy to make and so, so good. It’s the perfect recipe for a weeknight dessert or a last-minute dish for any potluck or get-together. With a recipe this delicious and easy, there’s no reason not to give it a try. Whip up this simple, fast recipe, and we know you’ll love it as much as we do.

PIN IT!!

OTHER DESSERT RECIPES YOU WILL LOVE:

Chocolate Turtle Poke Cake

Blueberry Muffin Cheesecake Pie

Old Fashioned Hummingbird Cake

Strawberry Cheesecake Poke Cake

Caramel Pecan Thumbprint Cookies