Wanna wow your guy or your co-workers? Need to take a dessert to a potluck or a work function? This is the one you want to make. It’s simple and there are so many fabulous pie fillings out there you can make it in many different flavors. I chose blueberry because it’s a favorite of my main squeeze, but you should pick a pie filling that your family loves. If I had picked a flavor like cherry or strawberry, I would have drizzled chocolate sauce on top but I chose not to do that here because I don’t care for the chocolate/blueberry combo. To each their own!
To make this cake, you’ll make a recipe for cream puffs, spread it in a pan and bake it. I made homemade vanilla bean pastry cream, but you could substitute a package of vanilla pudding (prepared and chilled) mixed with a tub of whipped topping. I encourage you to try the pastry cream though, it is so good and adds that extra something special to the cake. It will be tasty if you choose not to go the homemade route though, don’t fret. The pastry cream gets spread over the cream puff base, topped with a can of pie filling and a container of whipped topping is spread over it all. Tuck it away in the fridge for a few hours to completely chill and combine flavors and then serve to your happy, adoring crowd.
A word of warning, leftovers-if you have any, tend to not be very good after a couple of days. The cream puff base gets a little soggy and not as tasty. Try to plan making this dish when it will be devoured all in one sitting, or as close to it as you can get. Oh, and write out the recipe on a few recipe cards as well. You WILL be asked for this recipe 🙂
Blueberry Cream Puff Recipe
- Recipe for Cream Puff Dough (recipe follows)
- Recipe for Pastry Cream (recipe follows)
- 1 can Blueberry Pie Filling (or filling flavor of choice)
- 1 (16 oz) tub whipped topping
For the Cream Puff Dough:
- 1 stick unsalted butter
- 1 cup water
- 1 cup flour
- 4 eggs
- 2 cups milk
- 1/2 cup sugar, divided
- 1 vanilla bean, split and seeds scraped out
- 6 egg yolks (save the whites-make angel food cake!)
- 4 Tablespoons flour
- 4 Tablespoons butter
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- pinch of salt
Place milk, 1/4 cup of sugar, vanilla bean pod and scrapings into a saucepan over medium heat. Stir occasionally to prevent scorching. In a bowl, beat together the remaining sugar and egg yolks. When they are light and lemon yellow colored, add in the flour and stir well. Bring the milk mixture just to a boil and remove from heat. Dribble the hot milk into the egg yolk mixture, stirring constantly, until about 1/2 of the milk has been incorporated. Add all of the egg/milk mixture back into the remaining milk in the saucepan and return to medium heat. Stir constantly until the mixture becomes very thick and starts to boil. Remove from heat and add in the pinch of salt, butter and vanilla extract. Pour into a bowl, press plastic wrap onto the surface to prevent a skin from forming and chill until completely cool.
When all of the bits and pieces are completely cool, you can put it all together! Take the cooled Cream Puff cake and set it on the counter.
Spread the cooled pastry cream over the cake. See the little black specks? Those are all of those lovely little vanilla bean seeds in there. Yummy!
Spread the pie filling over the top. I like to leave a little room at the edges so you can see all of the layers, but you don’t have to. Spread to the edge if that’s what floats your boat.
Then, lastly, spread the container of whipped topping over it all. It’s the icing on the cake!
Cover it with plastic wrap and let the cake chill for at least 2 hours, but up to 6 would be fine too. Share with friends and family and watch their faces light up with glee. This cake is so fast and easy to make, less than 30 minutes actual work is involved, but the finished product is so nice and tastes so good. You are going to love it!!!
