Recipe: Eclair Cake

Hope you all had a nice weekend! We just finished up a busy weekend here at the tearoom. To treat ourselves for our hard work, Zachary (my 18 yr old brother)  and I baked an Eclair Cake this afternoon. We served it tonight to the family and our grandparents and it was a big hit! So I thought I'd share the recipe with you! Enjoy!! 

Chocolate Eclair Cake

Crust:
1 cup water
1/2 cup butter
1 cup flour
4 large eggs

Pudding Mixture: 
1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
1 large box (5.1 ounces) vanilla instant pudding
3 cups milk

1/2 Heavy Whipping Cream (Whip to top cake or you can use Cool Whip)

Preheat oven to 400. Lightly grease a 9″X13″ glass baking pan. (Be sure to only grease lightly so that dough will stick to the side of the pan)  

Eclair Crust: In a medium saucepan, melt butter in water and bring to a boil. Remove from heat. Stir in flour. Mix in one egg at a time, mixing completely before adding another egg. Spread mixture into pan, covering the bottom and sides evenly.  Bake for 25-30 minutes. Careful to check the crust - you don't want to overcook the crust, it should be golden. Remove from oven and let cool. (it's okay if it's bubbly)

While Crust is baking prepare Filling: Whip cream cheese in a medium bowl. In separate bowl make vanilla pudding. Make sure pudding is thick before mixing in with cream cheese. Slowly add pudding to cream cheese, mixing until there are no lumps. Let cool in fridge. 

When the crust is completely cooled (to speed it up you can refrigerate as well) pour filling in. Top with the whipped Whipping Cream. I found if I put in it the freezer for about 10 minutes it was easier to spread on to of the pudding mixture. Refrigerator for 2 hours, then top with the Chocolate Sauce and keep refrigerated until ready to serve. 

Chocolate Sauce:

2 1-ounce squares unsweetened chocolate, melted

2 tsp light corn syrup 

2 tsp vanilla extract

3 T butter softened

1 1/2 powder sugar

3 T milk 

Combine the ingredients and beat until smooth. 

Keep refrigerated until ready to serve. I noticed when I served it, that it was best to cut the whole cake before serving any pieces. That way, the pudding doesn't slide out when you cut the rest of the cake. 

Bon Appetite!