When you make this cream puff cake dessert recipe, it’s like being a French pastry chef, making your own French cream puff cake that you can slice to any size you want! If you ask me, that’s one of the best parts because one big piece is better than 2 (maybe 3) small pieces. Haha.
Another amazing thing about this easy dessert recipe is that it is made with pudding mix! Yes, you read that right, this crazy good dessert is really a cream puff pudding dessert.
There’s no need to make things over complicated, which is why we love using pudding in recipes. But shh, if you want your friends to be in awe, don’t disclose your secret to making this simple recipe.
Recipe Ingredient Notes
To make our cream puff cake dessert, you need the following ingredients:
- Water
- Butter
- All-purpose flour
- Eggs
- Softened cream cheese
- Cold milk
- Chocolate pudding mix
- Frozen whipped topping
- Caramel ice cream topping
- Chocolate ice cream topping
Equipment Needed
For this recipe, you only need a few simple kitchen tools. We recommend using the following equipment:
How to Make Cream Puff Cake Dessert
- Preheat oven to 400℉.
- In a large saucepan over medium heat, bring the water and butter to a boil. Add all of the flour and stir until a smooth ball forms.
- Remove saucepan from the heat; let stand for 5 minutes. Add the eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after adding each one. Continue beating until mixture is smooth and shiny.
- Spread dough into a greased 13×9-inch baking dish.
- Bake in preheated oven for 30-35 minutes or until puffed and golden brown. Let cool completely. To make the filling, add the cream cheese, milk and pudding mix to a large bowl and beat until smooth.
- Spread filling over cooled puff and place in the fridge for 20 minutes.
- Remove from fridge and spread thawed whipped topping on top; refrigerate again until serving.
- Right before you serve this dessert, drizzle with the chocolate and caramel toppings.
Storage Instructions
Fridge: Cover the dessert with plastic wrap or place in an airtight container. Store it in the fridge for up to 3 days.
Frequently Asked Questions
They are essentially the same thing, with “profiterole” being the more formal French term.
It is a round shell of light pastry filled with whipped cream or a cream filling – this recipe is the pan-version of a cream puff, which is easier to make and can feed a crowd!
Traditionally, pastry cream is often the filling for cream puffs. It is a thick custard made with egg yolks, milk, sugar, cornstarch, and may include butter.
The icing should be one that hardens, such as fondant or ganache. This allows the eclair to be handled easier.
For our recipe, we just use simple pudding to make things easy! What’s not to love about that?! Don’t worry, it tastes just as amazing.
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Cream Puff Cake Dessert
Ingredients
- 1 cup water
- ½ cup butter
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 4 large eggs, room temperature
Filling
- 1 package cream cheese, (8 ounces), softened
- 3 ½ cup cold milk
- 2 packages instant chocolate pudding mix, (3.9 ounces each)
Topping
- 1 carton frozen whipped topping, (8 ounces), thawed
- ¼ cup chocolate ice cream topping
- ¼ cup caramel ice cream topping
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400℉.
- In a large saucepan over medium heat, bring the water and butter to a boil. Add all of the flour and stir until a smooth ball forms.
- Remove saucepan from the heat; let stand for 5 minutes. Add the eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after adding each one. Continue beating until mixture is smooth and shiny.
- Spread dough into a greased 13×9-inch baking dish.
- Bake in preheated oven for 30-35 minutes or until puffed and golden brown. Let cool completely. To make the filling, add the cream cheese, milk and pudding mix to a large bowl and beat until smooth.
- Spread filling over cooled puff and place in the fridge for 20 minutes.
- Remove from fridge and spread thawed whipped topping on top; refrigerate again until serving.
- Right before you serve this dessert, drizzle with the chocolate and caramel toppings.
Notes
Nutrition
Did You Make This Recipe?We’d love to hear your thoughts! Leave a review or a question in the comment section below the post.
This looks amazing! If I were to half the recipe, what size of pan would you recommend? An 8×8 square? And how much would the cooking time change?
An 8×8 inch pan would work great if cutting recipe in half. You’ll need to watch it closely while baking. Bake until puffed and golden brown. Where it is a smaller pan it might be a few minutes less.