Cream Puff Dessert

This cream puff dessert is one of the many potluck-friendly desserts made in a 13×9 pan. The big difference-maker here is the crust, which is the same pastry used for cream puffs. It’s a sophisticated detail that will earn you a lot of credit despite the fact that it’s surprisingly easy to make.

The dough used to make cream puffs is choux pastry. In French, choux means cabbage, which seems like an odd choice of words. Years ago, an unknown pastry chef decided that pans of baked cream puffs looked like Brussels sprouts. In French, those are petit choux, or little cabbages, and the name stuck.

Cream Puff Dessert Recipe Ingredients

• Butter: Butter will enrich the dough and help the pastry puff nicely.
• Flour: All-purpose flour contains the necessary gluten to trap steam in the dough, making it puff dramatically.
• Eggs: Use room temperature eggs for best results.
• Cream cheese: Softened cream cheese gives the filling its tangy richness.
• Chocolate pudding: Combine milk and chocolate pudding mix with the cream cheese for a silky filling.
• Whipped topping: Whipped topping provides a sweet layer atop the rich chocolate filling.
• Chocolate and caramel ice cream toppings: Drizzling caramel and chocolate over the whipped layer creates a beautiful appearance with minimal effort.
• Almonds: The chopped almonds make an attractive garnish and bring a pleasing textural contrast to the dessert.

Directions

Step 1: Mix the cream puff dough

In a large saucepan, bring the water and butter to a boil over medium heat. Add the flour all at once, then stir vigorously until it forms a smooth ball of dough.

Remove from the heat and let the dough stand for five minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating until each egg is fully incorporated. Continue beating until the mixture is smooth and shiny.

Step 2: Bake the crust

Spread the dough into a greased 13×9-inch baking pan. Bake the crust at 400°F for 30 to 35 minutes or until puffed and golden brown. Transfer the pan to a wire rack and let it cool completely.

Step 3: Make the filling

To make the filling, beat the cream cheese, milk and pudding mix in a large bowl until smooth. Spread this filling over the puffy base, then refrigerate for 20 minutes.

Step 4: Finish the dessert

Spread the whipped topping over the chocolate filling and refrigerate until you’re ready to serve. Before serving the dessert, drizzle with the chocolate and caramel toppings and sprinkle with the almonds.

Cream Puff Dessert Variations

• Change the pudding: You have plenty of options for a different flavor of pudding! I bet a caramel or butterscotch pudding would work well with the existing toppings, and so would banana pudding. To invert the color scheme, use a vanilla pudding mix for the filling layer and top with homemade chocolate whipped cream. In this case, consider white chocolate ice cream topping as one of your garnishes, along with either dark chocolate or caramel.
• Dial up the richness with a cheesecake filling: The combination of chocolate pudding and cream cheese results in something that’s similar to cheesecake. Lean into that flavor and pick a filling from our extensive list of no-bake cheesecake recipes.

How to Store Cream Puff Dessert

Any uneaten cream puff dessert should be covered and refrigerated immediately. You can cover the pan itself or transfer the uneaten portion to a food storage container with a tight-fitting lid.

How long will this cream puff cake recipe last?

The leftover dessert should be eaten within three or four days. That’s partly because the cream cheese filling is perishable, and partly because the crust will become soggy.

Can I freeze the cream puff dessert?

Yes, the pudding, cream cheese and whipped topping contain enough stabilizers to freeze and thaw nicely. The topping is soft, so freeze any leftovers first and then wrap them for storage. If you’re deliberately making a pan ahead of time to freeze and serve later, leave off the ice cream toppings. Cover the pan and freeze the dessert, then slide it into an oversized freezer bag and squeeze out as much air as possible.

Thaw the dessert overnight in your fridge, then decorate it with the toppings and almonds right before serving.

Cream Puff Dessert Tips

Does the water have to be boiling?

The water should be at a full rolling boil for best results. You want the butter and water to be thoroughly (if temporarily) mixed when you add the flour so the butter can coat the strands of gluten and make them nice and stretchy.

Can I make actual cream puffs from the same dough?

You certainly can. It’s exactly the same kind of dough (technically a stiff batter, though that’s a fine distinction) used to make cream puffs. To make cream puffs, scoop the dough into a large piping bag with a round or star tip and pipe out little mounds of soft dough onto a parchment-lined baking sheet. Start them the same way, in a 400° oven, then once they’re fully puffed and golden, turn the oven down to 200° and give them another 15 to 20 minutes to dry out. This helps keep the cream puffs from being doughy inside or collapsing as they cool. As for how to fill them, look at our cream puff recipes for inspiration.

Can I make this as individual servings rather than one large pan?

You can, though it’s a bit challenging because of how the crust puffs. In a muffin pan, for example, the cream puff dough will try to expand and fill the whole space. Your best bet is to smear small rounds of the dough on a parchment-lined baking sheet, then pipe a thin rim of dough around their edges. When baked, they’ll make nice little individual cases for the filling. Alternatively, bake up individual cases with puff pastry, as you would to make vol-au-vents as appetizers, and use that instead of the cream puff dough.

Could I do a savory version of this?

Oh, you bet! The dough is often used for a cheesy appetizer version of cream puffs called gougeres, so it works well in savory applications. You could use the cream puff crust to hold a batch of your favorite party dip, for example. When your guests get to the bottom, they can simply tear up the crust to get those last bits of goodness. You might also try it with the filling from one of our savory cheesecakes or a par-cooked frittata filling just at the stage where you’d normally slide your skillet into the oven.