Chocolate “eclair cake” has been around a very long time. My husband’s Grandmother used to make it frequently with a homemade chocolate fudge icing on top and it was to die for! It’s also an easy thing to make, but since my husband was diagnosed with diabetes a few years ago, it has not been making an appearance in the Mo’Betta house. I would feel really bad to make one of his childhood favorites and then he couldn’t have any! In January, his Granny passed away just 4 weeks shy of her 95th birthday. To honor her memory (because she loved to cook!), and do something nice for the hubs, I decided to make her chocolate eclair cake – but do some tweaking to make it sugar free (or sugar free as possible!). Thankfully, there are many sugar free items on the market now so putting this together wasn’t all that difficult.
Low sugar Chocolate Eclair Cake
adapted from a family recipe
2 boxes of sugar free, fat free instant vanilla pudding mix (I used the small boxes, not sure of oz.)
3 cups skim milk
1 container of sugar free Cool Whip
1 box graham crackers (store-bought or homemade)
1 bag of Sugar free chocolate chips (I used Hershey’s) **This makes a hard chocolate “shell” on top. If you want a more traditional topping, you can use sugar free chocolate icing or sugar free chocolate pudding.
{If you are not worried about the sugar, you can use this homemade chocolate icing, which is how I make the traditional version. It’s delicious!}
Mix the 2 boxes of instant pudding mix with the 3 cups of milk, when it starts to thicken, fold in the container of Cool Whip. In a 9×13 dish, put a layer of graham crackers at the bottom (touching, not overlapping) and 1/2 the pudding mixture. Place another layer of graham crackers across the top of pudding mixture. Add remaining pudding mixture and final layer of graham crackers. Melt your chocolate chips according to bag directions and pour on top of graham crackers. Place in fridge to let the graham crackers soften up and get all delicious.
The chocolate hardens and I didn’t really think about this when I first decided to use sugar free chocolate chips. However, it was yummy! But next time, I will probably use sugar free chocolate icing or pudding, b/c that would be closer to how my husband remembers it. Regardless, he really enjoyed this dessert.
If you are looking for an easy low sugar, low carb treat, whether you are following a low carb diet by choice or necessity, give this a try! It uses convenience items that are probably not the healthiest, but a nice change of pace to someone living a low carb lifestyle and really wanting something sweet. I’d love to hear about any other sugar free recipes you might have!
linking this up with Ingredient Spotlight: Frozen Whipped Topping at
I love food that comes with a story, and now this dessert has two of them. I really enjoyed reading your post, and you can't imagine how happy you made me when you strung together words like chocolate-eclair-cake-low-sugar. Awesome. I printed this up and will be taking time to make it. Thank you for sharing!
m'mm! the fact that it's low sugar is just an added bonus!
Whoa! I'm amazed that you made this low sugar AND low carb! The cake looks fantastic! Your husband must have been so happy.
Great idea! Reminds me of my version of banana pudding cake. Popped over from Tasty Tuesday!
Oooo! This seems like a good thing to try, as I'm weightloss challenged. Thanks for sharing!
Yum – your cake sounds great! I love that you converted it to a low sugar recipe. Who wouldn't love that?!
Thank you for lining up!
Ohhhh…this looks so yummy! My mom makes eclairs all the time but they are so full of cream and sugar and everything not good for ya'! This looks equally sinful but better so much healthier…as far as deserts go! If you get a sec, pop on over to and link up! Oh, and I found you on Today's Creative Blog!
Whhaaaaaaaat? I'm drooling here… For real.
Such a good dessert and I like your make-over of it.
What is the nutritional value of this? I LOVE this recipe. I make it quite often and my kids just gobble it up!! What is the carbs and sugar? Thank you!!