Who doesn’t love a no-bake dessert in the heat of summer? This crowd-pleaser, from “The Complete Summer Cookbook: Beat the Heat with 500 Recipes that Make the Most of Summer’s Bounty” (America’s Test Kitchen, $33), is an updated version of the retro cake, which is typically made by layering a mixture of instant vanilla pudding and Cool Whip between graham crackers.
Here, a quick stovetop pudding, fresh whipped cream and microwave glaze elevates the summer favorite. The refrigerator makes the magic happen. Don’t have chocolate chips? Use six ounces of finely chopped semisweet chocolate instead.
Chocolate Eclair Cake
Serves 15
INGREDIENTS
1¼ cups sugar
6 tablespoons cornstarch
1 teaspoon table salt
5 cups whole milk
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into 4 pieces
5 teaspoons vanilla extract
1¼ teaspoons unflavored gelatin
2 tablespoons water
2¾ cups heavy cream, chilled, divided
23 graham crackers
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
5 tablespoons light corn syrup
DIRECTIONS
Combine sugar, cornstarch and salt in large saucepan. Whisk milk into sugar mixture until smooth and bring to boil over medium-high heat, scraping bottom of pan with rubber spatula. Immediately reduce heat to medium-low and cook, continuing to scrape bottom, until thickened and large bubbles appear on surface, 4 to 6 minutes. Off heat, whisk in butter and vanilla. Transfer pudding to large bowl and place parchment directly on surface of pudding. Refrigerate until cool, about 2 hours.
Sprinkle gelatin over water in bowl and let sit until gelatin softens, about 5 minutes. Microwave until mixture is bubbling around edges and gelatin dissolves, about 30 seconds.
Using stand mixer fitted with whisk attachment, whip 2 cups cream on medium-low speed until foamy, about 1 minute. Increase speed to high and whip until soft peaks form, 1 to 3 minutes. Add gelatin mixture and whip until stiff peaks form, about 1 minute.
Whisk one-third of whipped cream into chilled pudding until smooth. Fold remaining whipped cream into chilled pudding until only a few white streaks remain. Cover bottom of 13- by 9-inch baking dish with a layer of graham crackers, breaking crackers as necessary to line bottom of pan. Top with half of pudding–whipped cream mixture (about 5½ cups) and another layer of graham crackers. Repeat with remaining pudding–whipped cream mixture and remaining graham crackers.
Combine chocolate chips, corn syrup and remaining ¾ cup cream in bowl and microwave on 50 percent power, stirring occasionally, until smooth, 1 to 2 minutes. Let glaze cool completely, about 10 minutes. Spread glaze evenly over graham crackers and refrigerate cake for at least 6 hours or up to 2 days before serving.
— “The Complete Summer Cookbook: Beat the Heat with 500 Recipes that Make the Most of Summer’s Bounty” (America’s Test Kitchen, $33)
