Eclair Cake

Every Friday night a group of neighbors in my building go up to one of the penthouse apartments to have cocktails and a light dinner or heavy hors d'ouerves. My contribution to the night is dessert. I love that I can try out new recipes and not have to worry about having too much dessert in the house to tempt me. I'm pretty lucky that my neighbors and friends are good sports about my using them as guinea pigs.

Last Friday I could not decide which recipe to make. I procrastinated to the point of not having enough time to bake the cake that I really wanted to try. So I took a poll to see what everyone would want. This cake won out. I was skeptical about how good it would be since it used all pre-packaged ingredients. But, it was quick, easy, and required no baking or cooling time. I could just whip it together and stick it in the fridge at my neighbors place until we were ready for dessert.

I had to improvise a little in making this since I ran out of several of the correct ingredients, but it still turned out fabulous. I didn't have any leftovers to take home and take pictures of, so you guys will just have to wait until I make it again.

The original recipe calls for vanilla pudding and graham crackers. I used white chocolate pudding and graham cracker crumbs. I would recommend sticking with the graham crackers instead of the crumbs for this but substituting different flavor puddings seems to work well. The best part of this cake is that it is so low in points. Only 4 points per serving! Granted, these are pretty small serving sizes but the cake is very rich and filling.

Eclair Cake

Adapted from Allrecipes.com

Ingredients
2 Boxes Sugar Free-Fat Free Cheesecake Flavor Pudding
1 - 8 oz Tub Sugar Free-Fat Free Cool Whip
3 Cups Low-Fat (2%) Milk
24 Low-Fat Graham Crackers
1 - 16 oz Can Chocolate Frosting

Directions

1. In a bowl, mix the pudding, milk, and cool whip until smooth.
2. Set aside for a few minutes to firm up.
3. Line the bottom of a 13x9 casserole dish with 8 graham crackers.
4. Top with 1/2 of the pudding mixture.
5. Cover with 8 graham crackers.
6. Spread the remaining pudding mixture on top of the crackers.
7. Top with the remaining 8 graham crackers.
8. Place in the fridge for 15-20 minutes to firm up.
9. Microwave the frosting for a few seconds to make it easy to spread.
10. Spread the frosting on the top of the cake.
11. Chill in the fridge for 3-4 hours before serving. The longer it chills, the softer the graham crackers get, making it more cake-like.

Yields: 24 servings