About 15 or 20 years ago, who can remember, I was at one of our many family reunions and was served this. I make it once or twice a year and recently, during my confinement, got a hankering for it. I will spare you the details of how to make this while semi-immobilized post-surgery (you will need an obedient minion) but it can be done. For you, dear friends, I went online to see if there was a better way to make this and you know what? All the recipes are exactly the same. So this is what I made, as I have for the entire 21st century.
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1 cup heavy whipping cream plus some sugar and vanilla extract
1 box of graham crackers (you need about a pound of them)
2 packages of Jell-O™ French vanilla pudding
3 cups whole milk
1 16-oz. can of Betty Crocker Rich & Creamy chocolate frosting. You can make your own, make a ganache, I’ve done it, but this is an ice box cake and simplicity and convenience is everything.
Make whipped cream in a slightly larger bowl than you normally would. Have the minion put it in the fridge for you so it stiffens. Have the minion retrieve a 9″ X 13″ baking pan. Line the bottom with about 1/3 of the graham crackers, whole, don’t crush them and make a crumb crust, like you often would. Listen to the minion lie through his teeth to his boss and colleagues about why he can’t get his laptop video camera to work (it faces the kitchen, where the be-robed and bandaged shut-in is preparing to make an eclair cake).
When the minion gets off the call have him retrieve the whipped cream from the fridge. With a rubber spatula, combine the two packages of pudding powder and the milk in the bowl with the whipped cream. Mix this thoroughly. Spread half of it over the graham crackers. Top with another third of the graham crackers. Spread the remaining half of the pudding mix over the top, and layer with the rest of the graham crackers. Cover with cling wrap and put back in the fridge. Not for very long, maybe an hour.
Bemoan your fate as you scrape the Betty Crocker frosting into a microwave-proof bowl. Warn the minion that you’ll be in motion so the camera is turned off and any phone conversation is on mute as much as possible. Microwave for 10 seconds, stir, and maybe microwave again for a little bit. You just want to soften the frosting, not liquefy it. Hobble over to the fridge and retrieve the baking dish. With that same spatula spread the frosting over the top of the cake and try to make it as smooth as possible but honestly who cares, it’s just the two of you and you haven’t left the apartment, not even to go into the fucking hallway, for more than a week—
Put the pan back in the fridge for a few hours, so everything sets. I’ve noticed a lot of the recipes tell you to refrigerate overnight but that’s not really necessary, but the cake does need to hang out for a while. I would normally make this pre-lunch to be served after dinner, but since we haven’t had anyone over since February 28th, 2020, but who’s counting, this fucking pandemic—
The nice thing about the ice box eclair cake is that it freezes well, as you can imagine, so you might as well make a 9″ X 13″ version, even if it’s just the two of you. I’m eating the last square as I type this. It’s 2:48 PM on a Saturday. I have no regrets because I haven’t donned a pair of pants in 10 days, since the day I left the hospital, but via the Visiting Nurses I can see rays of hope on the horizon and will be back in fighting trim soon enough.
@MatthewCrawley, another tour de force recipe! (Wait, because it is you, I looked up the German word, Glanzleistung.) Looks quite tasty, thank you.
This looks incredible. I may, or may not, make it and eat it all at once.
@matthewcrawley Actually, I’ve got a preparation question: Is it instant pudding mix or regular (cooked) pudding mix? Am I making the pudding (assuming it’s instant) with the milk first and then folding it into the whipped cream, or am I just dumping the mix and the milk into the whipped cream and then folding it into the cream? I would think that the milk would break the whipped cream down if it’s not already suspended in the pudding mix.
My mother used to make this when I was a kid. I always liked it, haven’t thought of it in years.
Wow, this takes me back, my stepmother used to make this when I was a kid and I remember it being a delight. May have to try it again for myself!
@matthewcrawley you need to be more midwestern and just use cool whip instead of going through the work of whipping cream