Chocolate Eclair Icebox Cake

Chocolate Eclair Icebox Cake is a layered dessert with layers of graham crackers, soft and fluffy pudding, whipped topping, and a sweet chocolate ganache on top. This eclair dessert is no bake, super easy to make, and only requires 7 ingredients!

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Keyword chocolate eclair cake, eclair icebox cake, no bake icebox cake

Prep Time 25

Chill Time 6

Total Time 6 25

Servings

Calories 333kcal

Author Jessica - Together as Family

Equipment

Ingredients

2 bars (4 oz each) semi-sweet chocolate baking bars (chopped)
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 cup heavy whipping cream
1 box (5.1 oz) instant vanilla pudding mix
3 cups whole milk (or half and half)
8 ounces Cool Whip (thawed)
1 box (14.4 oz) honey graham crackers

Instructions

Make The Chocolate Ganache

Place the chopped chocolate and butter into a mixing bowl (make sure it's heat-proof, like a glass bowl, because you will be adding hot milk to it). Set aside.
2 bars (4 oz each) semi-sweet chocolate baking bars, 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
Pour the heavy whipping cream into a small saucepan and heat, over medium-low heat, until it starts to simmer around the edges of the pan. Do not let the cream boil.
1 cup heavy whipping cream
Pour the heavy whipping cream into the bowl of chocolate and butter. Let it sit for 3 mintues. Stir the mixture with a spatula until it's completely smooth and combined.
Loosely cover the bowl of chocolate ganache with a lid or plastic wrap and let refrigerate while you make the rest of the icebox cake.

Whipped Pudding Layer

In a mixing bowl, add the dry instant pudding mix and whole milk. Stir with a whisk until it starts to thicken (about 2-3 minutes). Let it rest for 5 minutes so it can set and thicken more.
1 box (5.1 oz) instant vanilla pudding mix, 3 cups whole milk
Stir in the Cool Whip until well combined.
8 ounces Cool Whip

Assemble Eclair Icebox Cake

Line the bottom of a rectangle-shaped 9x13 baking pan with graham crackers. You may need to break some in order to get them to fit in an even layer and to cover the bottom of the pan.
1 box (14.4 oz) honey graham crackers
Spoon half of the whipped pudding mixture over top the graham crackers and spread it out evenly.
Place another layer of graham crackers over the pudding.
Spread the remaining whipped pudding mixture over top.
Add a final layer of graham crackers.
Take the chocolate ganache out of the fridge and use an electric hand mixer to whip it until it's fluffy looking and lighter in color. Spread the ganache over top of the final graham cracker layer.
^{* Drop the ganache all over the graham cracker layer and then spread it out. This is much easier than trying to spread it out from one big pile in the center.}
Cover the pan with a lid, or plastic wrap, and refrigerate for at least 6 hours before slicing and serving.
^{* The ganache does harden in the fridge so if you prefer a softer chocolate frosting then wait to add the ganache until after the chill time (wait to prepare the ganache until after the fridge time) OR you can just use a store-bought container of chocolate frosting and skip the ganache.}

Notes

Graham Crackers : You will need about 21 whole graham cracker sheets for this recipe. But you could need 1-2 more or less depending on the size and shape of the dish you're using. I used 21 graham crackers for my 9x13 rectangle-shaped pan. Buy the box of graham crackers so you have plenty. Each sleeve of crackers has about 9 whole graham cracker sheets in it.

Chill Time : It's important that this eclair icebox cake gets some chill time in the fridge before serving. I recommend anywhere from 6 hours to 18 hours (overnight). I don't recommend making it more than 24 hours in advance of serving it, as the graham crackers will soften quite a bit in the fridge. If you love the soft graham cracker layer then go ahead and refrigerate it for longer.

Slicing Tips : The chocolate ganache topping will become very firm when chilled and you may get cracks in it when you're slicing the eclair icebox cake. There are two fixes for this. 1) If you prefer a softer chocolate ganache topping you can either use a can of chocolate frosting (store bought) OR top the eclair icebox cake with the ganache topping right before serving. So make the eclair cake, refrigerate it for at least 6-8 hours, and then make the ganache right before serving. I've also had success by leaving the eclair cake out at room temperature for 10 minutes, before slicing it, to avoid the chilled ganache from cracking. Even with the cracks, this dessert is still so crazy yummy

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