My Aunt Marilyn recently sent this recipe to me and I made it while my parents were out here visiting last week. It was a hands-down hit and I’ve promised not to reveal the names of all the household members who snuck over to the counter for another snitch.
The base of the cake, baked in a springform pan is exactly, exactly like a cream puff shell: tender and light. It holds up perfectly for the silky center made of whipped cream cheese and cream and infused with orange zest. Topped with strawberries, this was a masterpiece – and a pretty easy one at that. The presentation is stunning and the taste and flavors are out of this world.
All I can say is, You Really Must Make This.
Ingredients
- 5 tablespoons butter
- 2/3 cup water
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 2/3 cup flour
- 3 eggs
- 4 ounces cream cheese, softened
- 1 teaspoon fresh orange zest
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 cup heavy whipping cream
- 2/3 cup powdered sugar
Cream Puff Base:
Cream Cheese Mixture:
Directions
- For the cream puff layer, preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Bring the butter, water and sugar to a boil in a medium saucepan. Add the flour all at once and stir quickly until the mixture pulls away from the sides of the pan. Remove the pan from the heat and stir the mixture until smooth. Let cool for 5 minutes. Add the eggs one at a time and beat until the mixture is shiny with a satiny sheen. Don’t overbeat. Lightly grease the bottom and sides of a 9-inch springform pan (or in a pinch, you could use a 9-inch circle cake pan). Using an offset spatula, spread the mixture on the bottom and one inch up the sides of the prepared pan. Bake for 25 minutes. Remove from the oven and prick pastry with a toothpick 10-12 times. Return to the oven and bake 5-10 minutes more until golden brown but not overbaked (you can insert a toothpick into the center and if it comes out with sticky dough, it still needs longer in the oven). Cool completely.
- For the cream cheese mixture, beat the cream cheese until smooth. Gradually add the powdered sugar (if you want to ensure there are no lumps, sift the powdered sugar into the cream cheese) and beat with the cream cheese until mixture is smooth and light. Add the remaining ingredients and beat until stiff peaks form. Spread onto the cooled cream puff shell.
- Top with fresh sliced strawberries (I mixed 2 cups of strawberries with 1 teaspoon sugar and let them hang out in the fridge while I was prepping the cake) or you can use a 16-ounce bag of frozen strawberries that have been thawed. Mix the thawed strawberries and juice with 1-2 teaspoons sugar and bring to a simmer in a saucepan. Cook until slightly thickened. Cool completely and use as topping for the cake.
Printed from Mel's Kitchen Cafe (www.melskitchencafe.com)
Recipe Source: from Aunt Marilyn
One of my dreams is to live next door to Paula Deen. Your Aunt Marilyn would be #2, but I’ll have to survive with making all her recipes off your blog!
goodness this looks perfect, and exactly what i was going for with a peach cream pie i attempted. so yummy
i wanna see the inside! i guess i really will have to make it myself, lest my curiosity get the best of me. it sounds delicious–aunt marilyn strikes again!
ohhhhh my word. This looks amazing! I would love to dive my face into it!!! LOL
oh how pretty! i love this!
we made your chicken corn chowder last night for company, it was outstanding!
Oh you are killing me with all the goodies!!! I’m going to have to give this a try this week without fail! Hmmn, I wonder if I still have my springform pan somewhere????
teresa – glad you liked the chicken corn chowder. Thanks for letting me know!
Julie – your comment made me laugh. I’ll pass that on to my Aunt. She’ll be flattered.
Oh yummy! I love that it has orange zest. It sounds perfect.
Wow. That looks fabulous! It’s almost like a pavlova except you have a cream puff base instead of a meringue. Be great with just about any fruit too.
I have never heard of a cake like this before. It sounds heavenly!! If I were at your house, I’d be sneaking over for lots of bites, too!
This looks so delish! I’ll have to remember this for Easter dinner dessert when strawberries are in season. Wanted you to know that I made your chicken corn chowder last night…yum yum! I have another corn chowder recipe and this one is way better. My plan was to make your chicken enchilada pasta, but it was a soup night, and this was so yummy. I didn’t have a jalapeno so I put in a dash of cayenne…just gave a little bit of a zip. Thanks!!
That’s one tantalizing “puff” of deliciousness!!! Thanks for sharing…
Ohh. Very similar to my recipe for eclair torte. Definitely keeping this one. Yum!
Jen O – thanks for letting me know you liked the corn chowder! Great sub on the cayenne for the jalapeno.
Got your site from The Sister’s Cafe awhile back and have come to love it; I love seeing what recipe you share with next. This one looks REALLY good. We’ve tried a few recipes of yours and loved them.
Hey Marie – I’m glad you found your way over here from the Sisters Cafe. Isn’t there blog awesome? Anyway, I’m glad you’ve enjoyed some recipes, thanks for letting me know!
oh YUM! I need to know if you’re saying the whipping cream, orange zest, vanilla, strawberries, and sugar are the items that you bring to a simmer? You don’t add any of those ingredients to the cream cheese mixture that gets whipped, right?
Brittney – only bring the strawberries and sugar to a simmer (if you decide to do it that way). The strawberries top the cream cheese, orange zest mixture (that does not need to be cooked). Hope that helps!
What is the texture of the “puff” suppose to be? Should it be crispy like a puff or bread/roll w/ light crispiness on the outside? I had the later when I made it and am thinking of trying again. Also, will this make the day ahead and be okay…not making the “puff” soggy.
One more thing…. about how long should I beat the dough mixture? I think if I knew about how long that would help me know if I’m doing it right
Anonymous – the texture of the puff should be similar to a cream puff – lightly crispy on the outside with a soft, tender center. I probably wouldn’t make this the day before at the risk of the puff becoming soggy, like you mentioned. To be honest, I didn’t time it when I beat the eggs into the dough, but it wasn’t super long – I’m guessing like three minutes or so? Good luck! Let me know if you have any other questions.
Hi Melanie,
I LOVE your site. Your creamy white bean chili is perhaps my favorite recipe. My whole family loves it!
I need to make this puff a day in advance- no time to bake on birthday party day! If I made the puff and the filling a day ahead and stored them separately, would i need to refrigerate the “puff” piece?
Thanks!
Hi Taci – glad you like the creamy white bean chili! As for the cream puff, if you make the shell a day in advance, no, you shouldn’t need to refrigerate it. Cover it loosely but completely with plastic wrap and store it at room temperature.
OH MY GOODNESS!!!!!!!!!I was referred to this blog and can I just say YUUUUUUUUMMY!!
This was so yummy. I made it two days in a row. Do you think I could use the filling as a frosting?
Erin – hmmm, I’ve never though of using the filling as a frosting, but I bet it would work. You may need to lighten it up a bit with a bit of cream/powdered sugar. Let me know if you try it!
Oh, my, gosh! Just made this cake for Sunday desert. It tasted like heaven in my mouth. I wondered how it would save for the next day, but there was no need to worry about it. We fought over the last piece!
Chris – this makes the perfect Sunday dessert, in my opinion! So glad you liked it!
I made this yesterday and my husband and kids each had 2 pieces. My one-year old just kept shoveling it in with a huge smile on her face.
I doubled the filling and then used half of it to top banana bars–yum!
Amanda – the image of your little child shoveling this cake in their mouth is too cute. So glad you liked this and as a topping for banana bars?? Delish! Wish I would have thought of that!
[...] The orange and strawberry go so well together. Love it! The recipe originated from Melanie over at My Kitchen Cafe. She calls it a cream puff cake. I thought it was more like a pie so I am calling it cream puff [...]
I am making this as I type. It smells delicious baking. I love your site. Some of my favorite recipes are: honey lime enchiladas, broccoli cheese soup and I just made your yummy pasta salad with ceasar dressing about an hour ago. – Thanks!
Emily – I hope the cream puff cake turned out great! I’m glad that you have been enjoying recipes from here – all the ones you just listed are my personal favorites, too!
Looks delicious! Unfortunately, no matter how long I beat the cream cheese mixture, I simply couldn’t get stiff peaks (or any peaks for that matter) to form.
Lisa – I’m sorry you had trouble with the stiff peaks! I’m not sure why that would have happened. Sometimes if the cream isn’t adequately chilled (too warm) it won’t whip up very well…that’s one of the only things I can think of.
I did some research and discovered that it was because I was trying to adapt the recipe so it was vegan–and no vegan substitute or lactose-free substitute will whip properly! At least it was a learning experience!
I want to make this for Father’s Day! How many does it serve? How far in advance can I assemble it?
Natalie – this easily serves 8 and you could stretch it to 10 probably. I would only assemble a few hours in advance so the crust doesn’t get soggy. If you are pressed for time, you could make the crust the night before and store it covered, as well as the filling (store in the fridge) and assemble an hour or so before serving. Hope that helps!
This was really, really good and very easy to make! I was worried it might be a little heavy with the cream cheese and cream, but it was light and not too sweet. It complimented the fruit beautifully. I think I’ll try peaches with this when they come into season with a little almond extract for the orange zest. Yum! I forgot to get an orange at the store, so I had to substitute lemon zest, which was delicious. I also had some blueberries in the fridge that I threw in with the strawberries, it looked very patriotic. Thanks so much for this recipe, it was fabulous!
Renay – thanks for adding your variations. I’m thrilled the outcome was delicious!
I have a 4 1/2 inch springform…do you think it would work to halve this recipe??
Stephanie – I’ve never tried halving the recipe but it sounds like it should work ok in your pan. Just keep an eye on measurements and how full the pan is getting.
I made this on the 4th of July and it did not turn out well, at all. I’m not sure what happened. It came out of the oven perfectly… all puffed up and golden brown. But as it cooled it fell and when we ate it… it was rubbery and flat as a pancake. LOL
[...] Source: MyKitchenCafe [...]
Wowzer! This cake looks fabulous! It’s much less time consuming than piping cream into tons of individual cream puffs too.
Hi Mel! I am thinking of making this for the weekend. We are a household of chocolate lovers, so I’m considering omitting the orange zest and topping the cake with chocolate sauce upon serving. Do you see any reason this wouldn’t work? Thanks!
Hi Abby – I’ve never tried making this a chocolate version with the sauce but I bet it would be yummy – kind of like a deconstructed chocolate eclair!