No-Bake Chocolate Eclair Cake

Sometimes you just need a lusciously creamy, chocolate-glazed dessert in your life, but without all the fuss of baking and oven time. That’s when this no-bake chocolate eclair cake truly shines. It’s the ideal lazy summertime treat that still delivers serious nostalgic diner dessert vibes.

At its core, this dessert combines layers of chewy chocolate graham crackers with a lusciously smooth, pudding-like vanilla custard filling. It’s basically an elevated take on a classic icebox cake, but with the addition of a glossy chocolate topping that evokes the best eclairs or cream-filled doughnuts.

The beauty of this dessert lies in its ridiculous ease – there’s barely any cooking required! You just whip up an instant vanilla pudding base, then fold in luscious whipped topping to create that light-as-air custard filling. Layering it between the chocolate graham crackers in a deep baking dish is a dream.

Once your layers are stacked, you’ll make the chocolate topping by bringing together milk, cocoa powder, sugar and butter into a shiny pourable glaze. Just pour that goodness over the top layer of graham crackers and pop the whole thing in the fridge to set up into chilled icebox cake perfection.

When it’s finally time to dig in, each blissful bite combines crispy-chewy chocolate graham crackers, tongue-coating custard filling, and that decadent lacquered chocolate shell on top. It strikes that ideal balance of creamy and crunchy, rich and sweet.

While already pretty phenomenal unadorned, you could also easily dress up this no-bake chocolate eclair cake for a super impressive dessert finale. Fresh berries or a dusting of cocoa powder or powdered sugar would make for a lovely garnish. You could even try dolloping on some freshly whipped cream or chocolate mousse.

This dessert is also ideal for making well in advance thanks to its make-ahead, keep-chilled nature. That means it’s perfect for warm weather potlucks, barbecues, even weddings or showers when you need something sweet that can hold up with crowd-pleasing results.

Personally, I love that this chocolate eclair cake just gets even better the longer it sits and lets those flavors meld together. There’s something so gloriously nostalgic and old-fashioned about slicing into a chilled, ultra-rich layered dessert like this straight from the icebox.

No matter when, how or why you make it, this no-bake chocolate eclair cake is guaranteed to be an instant classic. It’s the perfect way to enjoy all those diner dessert flavors with barely any work at all. Just sit back, take a bite, and savor each luscious and creamy chilled forkful of pure nostalgic decadence!

No-Bake Chocolate Eclair Cake

Ingredients:

For the Filling:

2 (3 oz) packages instant vanilla pudding mix
3 cups milk
1 (8 oz) container frozen whipped topping, thawed

For Layering:

1 (16 oz) package chocolate graham crackers

For the Chocolate Topping:

1/4 cup milk
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 cup white sugar
2 tbsp butter
1 tsp vanilla extract

Instructions:

Make the vanilla pudding filling by mixing together the pudding mixes and 3 cups milk according to package instructions. Fold in the thawed whipped topping and mix well until fully combined and creamy.
In a 9×13 baking dish, layer 1/3 of the graham crackers in an even layer on the bottom.
Spread 1/2 of the vanilla pudding filling over the graham cracker layer. Top with another 1/3 of the graham crackers, then the remaining 1/2 of the filling, and finally top with the last 1/3 of graham crackers.
For the chocolate topping, heat the 1/4 cup milk, cocoa powder, and sugar in a saucepan over medium heat until boiling. Let bubble for 1 minute, then remove from heat and stir in the butter and vanilla until smooth and shiny.
Pour the warm chocolate topping evenly over the top graham cracker layer.
Refrigerate the assembled cake for at least 2 hours before slicing and serving, up to overnight.