Éclair Cake Recipe

Name: Éclair Cake
Prep time: 35 min
Cook time: 5 min
Total time: 220 min
Ingredients: 24 graham cracker sheets (14 ounces; 379g)1/4 cup powdered sugar (1 ounce; 28g); 1/4 cup powdered sugar (1 ounce; 28g); 1 teaspoon (15ml) vanilla extract; 2 1/2 cups (600ml) heavy whipping cream, divided; 1 recipe Pastry Cream , at room temperature, about 68°F (20°C); 1 1/2 cups chopped 56% semi-sweet chocolate (8 ounces; 226g); 1 tablespoon unsalted butter (1/2 ounce; 14g)

Side view of eclair cake — Serious Eats / Jen Causey

Why It Works

Swapping instant pudding for an airy mixture of whipped cream and vanilla bean-infused pastry cream results in a more complex-tasting filling.
Coating the top of the éclair cake with a semi-sweet chocolate ganache instead of ready-made frosting balances the dessert with a pleasant bittersweetness.

A classic éclair is a refined confection of golden choux filled with pastry cream and glazed with chocolate, but the thing most people think of when they hear "éclair cake" is decidedly less formal: An icebox cake in which graham crackers are layered with boxed pudding mix, refrigerated until softened, then topped with store-bought chocolate frosting.

That's all well and good, and we appreciate an easy dessert that can feed a crowd while requiring literally no investment of time or skill to whip together. But if you need a recipe to explain how to fill a baking dish with boxed pudding, boxed crackers, and boxed frosting, then we've got a really great recipe for boiling water to show you next! No, this is Serious Eats, so we're not gonna do that. We're gonna be just a little more ambitious—just enough to transform something extremely ho-hum into something still relatively easy but significantly more delicious.

Instead of instant pudding, we are using an airy mixture of whipped cream and vanilla-bean infused pastry cream. To sound fancy, we could use the French terms "crème pâtissière" for the pastry cream and "crème légère" for the mixture of the pastry cream with the whipped cream, but in the spirit of this shamelessly Americanized dessert, we'll stick with the English here, thank you very much, mon frère.

For those who came here expecting boxed pudding mix, don't run away just yet! We promise, pastry cream may sound like the kind of thing that requires a culinary school degree to make, but it's so simple, and so, so much better. You can do it, and now's the time.

Overhead view of eclair cake — Serious Eats / Jen Causey

As for the chocolate, we skip the ready-made frosting and opt for a simple semi-sweet ganache instead, which brings a pleasant bitterness that balances the dessert. "Ganache" is another word that may send some running to the nearest aisle of Betty Crocker (no hate, no hate), but please stay. If you can heat butter and cream and pour it over dark chocolate, you can make ganache. (In fact, if you do that, you will have, by definition, made ganache. It's easy, I promise.)

The graham crackers remain the graham crackers: We get it, the brilliant ease of this recipe is that there's no baking involved, and we're staying true to that.

Editor's Note

This recipe was developed by Melissa Gray; the headnote was written by Genevieve Yam.

February 2024

Éclair Cake Recipe

Prep 35 mins

Cook 5 mins

Chilling Time 3 hrs

Total 3 hrs 40 mins

Keep Screen Awake

24 graham cracker sheets (14 ounces; 379 g)
1/4 cup powdered sugar (1 ounce; 28 g)
1 teaspoon (15 ml) vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups (600 ml) heavy whipping cream, divided
1 recipe Pastry Cream, at room temperature, about 68°F (20°C)
1 1/2 cups chopped 56% semi-sweet chocolate (8 ounces; 226 g)
1 tablespoon unsalted butter (1/2 ounce; 14 g)

Place about 7 of the graham cracker sheets in an even layer in a 9- by 13- inch baking dish, breaking up crackers as needed to fill space; set aside.

Serious Eats / Jen Causey
In a large bowl, whisk together sugar, vanilla, and 1 1/2 cups of the heavy cream until stiff peaks form, about 5 minutes. (See notes.) Place pastry cream in a large bowl, and, using a rubber spatula, gently fold whipped cream into pastry cream until just combined. Using an offset spatula, spread half of the pastry cream mixture (about 18 ounces; 510g) in an even layer over graham crackers. Place about 8 of the graham cracker sheets in an even layer over pastry cream mixture, breaking up crackers as needed to fill space. Using the offset spatula, top with remaining half of pastry cream mixture in an even layer. Place remaining 9 graham cracker sheets in an even layer, breaking up crackers as needed to fill space. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until pudding is set, about 1 hour.

Serious Eats / Jen Causey
Place chocolate in a medium heatproof bowl; set aside. In a small saucepan set over medium-high heat, bring butter and remaining 1 cup cream to a gentle simmer, stirring constantly, until it begins to bubble around the edges, about 4 minutes. Pour over chocolate (do not stir); let stand for 10 minutes. Using a rubber spatula, gently stir together until smooth, about 1 minute. Remove cake from refrigerator. Pour chocolate mixture over top of set cake, using an offset spatula to spread ganache into an even layer. Re-cover with plastic wrap, making sure it doesn’t touch the surface of the chocolate, and refrigerate until set and graham crackers are softened, at least 2 hours or up to 12 hours.

Serious Eats / Jen Causey

Special Equipment

9- by 13- inch baking dish, rubber spatula, offset spatula, medium heatproof bowl

Notes

If whipping cream with a stand mixer: In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, combine sugar, vanilla, and 1 1/2 cups heavy cream. Whisk on low speed until sugar is fully dissolved, about 30 seconds. Increase speed to medium-high. Continue to whisk until stiff peaks form, about 1 minute 10 seconds.

The pastry cream can be stored in an airtight container, with plastic wrap or buttered parchment placed directly on the surface, and refrigerated for up to 3 days.