Simple Refrigerated No Bake Cake

How to make a no bake cake that everyone will love! This eclair cake with pudding and graham crackers (or without) is simple enough for kids to make. Yes, it’s essentially a pudding cake and if you’ve never made one of these OH MY are you in for a real treat.

I mean, what busy Mom doesn’t love a tasty treat that’s EASY but nobody will know you didn’t bake it? If you’re anything like me, this no bake eclair cake is going to “take the cake” for you too. 😉 (affiliate links present)

Origin of Eclair Cake

The éclair cake is an American dessert that likely originated as a convenient and simplified way to enjoy the flavors of the French dessert without the need for pastry dough. It became popular in the mid-20th century when no-bake desserts were particularly trendy due to their ease and convenience.

How to Make Eclair Cake without Graham Crackers

We have used a two different things to help it stay together. You will need some sort of sweet binder. If you don’t want to use grahams that is okay. Really any sort of plain cookie will work, Nilla Wafer eclair cake is a wonderful tweak to this one too. Works the same way, just swap out 1 1/4 cups of crushed cookies.

Jello Pudding Graham Cracker Dessert

If you do love these sweet crackers used to make s’mores, they work great to make this as well too. The pudding softens them so it becomes a sort of crust-like and melts in your mouth. Just one of our favorite quick easy dessert recipes here on The Typical Mom site, let us show you just how simple this is.

No Bake Eclair Cake with Chocolate Ganache

You could use ganache or melt chocolate chips like we did here. Either one is an amazing choice, but one takes longer to make and you can’t always find it in the stores. You could call it kinda’ like one of those vanilla pudding type of long donuts, it kinda’ tastes like that. You’ll need the following ingredients to get started:

Refrigerated cake no-bake cake ingredients

1. Vanilla instant pudding mix
2. Graham crackers – honey is better than cinnamon, or without them use Nilla wafers
3. Whipped topping like Cool Whip in a tub – thawed, not frozen
4. Milk
5. Chocolate chips – could use white chocolate or dark chocolate, your choice
6. Butter
7. Powdered sugar
8. 13×9″ pan

The bottom 3 items will be used to make the chocolate topping you see here. Get out a large bowl and your long casserole dish so you can start layering.

Easy No Bake Cake Recipe

You’ll want to let your whipped topping sit on the countertop for a bit so it is no longer frozen. Do NOT microwave to get it softer, it doesn’t take very long. Once that is ready you can get started.

You’ll start with the Graham Cracker Crust, or made with vanilla cookies on the very bottom layer and go from there. It is a bit like making a lasagna. For the final step of cooling you want to allow it to stay in the fridge overnight.

• That is right, ideally it will get REALLY cold AND allow the crackers to soften nicely.
• This will create a tender graham cracker pie crust type of consistency you’ll love.

How to Make Refrigerated No Bake Cake

1. Place 1 layer of graham crackers in the bottom of a 9×13 casserole dish.
2. Whisk together pudding mix and milk until it’s a thick whipped cream style mix, about 3 minutes. Gently fold in defrosted whipped topping until completely mixed in.
3. Spoon half of the pudding mixture over the graham crackers and spread into an even layer.
4. Cover the pudding with a layer of graham crackers and top with remaining pudding in another layer. Top with additional graham crackers to for the final layer.
5. Place chocolate chips in a medium bowl, heat milk inside a bowl in a microwave until warm, about 30 seconds.
6. Pour milk over chocolate chips and allow to rest until the chocolate has melted. Stir until well incorporated.
7. Using a mixer, beat in the melted butter. When well mixed, add the powdered sugar and whip until completely incorporated. Continue to mix for an additional 2 to 3 minutes or until the frosting is smooth and fluffy.

Spread the topping over the final layer of graham crackers. Cover the dessert and refrigerate overnight before serving to allow the crackers to soften.

How can I bake my cake without an oven?

If you do not include eggs in your recipe like this no bake cake recipe here you don’t need to bake it at all. Here are a few questions you might have before you get going on this one:

Easy no-bake cake recipes with few ingredients

• You can make our chocolate mug cake recipe which doesn’t need you to turn on the oven either. Peanut butter butterscotch haystacks are great too.
• And you can bake cheesecake in your Instant Pot now if you don’t want to heat up your house.

If you have a sweet tooth and having a dinner party but don’t have a lot of time, this easy no bake cake is the ticket! Serve with ice cream on the side and since there’s no baking required it’s a great summertime treat. Enjoy this ever so moist vanilla and chocolate cake that is so simple even your teens can make it! If you make it with another type of pudding that turns out amazing let us know.