Moon Pie Cake
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You will be over the moon about this Moon Pie cake! It’s a refreshing refrigerator summer cake recipe with multiple layers, starting with soft Moon Pies, then creamy vanilla pudding, sweet caramel syrup, fresh banana slices, and whipped topping.
There aren’t many snacks as synonymous with the South as a Moon Pie. If you have no idea what a Moon Pie is, you’re in for a treat! Chattanooga Bakery has made these little treats since 1917. They include a marshmallow filling sandwiched between two graham cracker cookies with a flavored coating. The five main flavors are banana, strawberry, chocolate, vanilla, and salted caramel. Plus, during , you can get orange and coconut flavors too.
With the center, they’re similar to a (here’s my homemade whoopie pie recipe with instead of ). Traditionally, they were accompanied by an RC Cola and this was called “the working man’s lunch” because they were cheap, filling, and gave hardworking men the energy to get back to it. Moon Pies make many things awesome including childhood. So I thought hey, let’s make a Moon Pie cake recipe! I totally made this recipe up as I went along but it turned out awesome!
Which flavor to choose…
Now, I am using banana-flavored Moon Pies because they are my favorite (closely followed by vanilla and chocolate). Any flavor you want works perfectly well in this cake, so go with whatever cranks yer tractor. This is a no-bake cake with multiple layers. We start with the Moon Pie pieces, add the pudding, and then refrigerate. Then we add caramel syrup, banana slices, whipping cream, and more caramel because why not?
This Moon Pie cake recipe is so easy to make and a great refrigerator cake for your next gathering. It’s a surprisingly light-tasting dessert that isn’t as kill-you-sweet as you think it is, but oh my goodness is it good! The flavors complement each other perfectly and you keep going back for just one. more. bite.
If you like this, try my caramel banana pie recipe, Homemade Banana Pudding, Banana Pecan Bread, or Banana Crumb Cake next.
Recipe Ingredients
- Moon Pies
- Bananas
- Caramel syrup
- Cook & Serve Vanilla Pudding (here’s my homemade pudding recipe if you prefer)
- Whipped topping
- Cherries (optional garnish)
Helpful Kitchen Tool
How to Make Moon Pie Cake
To start with, unwrap six or seven Moon Pies (A box contains six but it takes about 7 to fill the bottom of my 9×13 dish) and cut them into four strips each like this.
Arrange all of those strips, cut side up, in a baking dish.
Cook your pudding according to the package directions.
Pour it over the Moon Pies.
Aww, look at ’em. All comfy cozy, relaxing in a pudding bath.
Life is good for y’all, isn’t it?
Now cover this with foil and refrigerate it until it is cold.
I just made it in the evening and let it sit in the fridge overnight.
And the next day…
Take your caramel and do a generous zigzag over the Moon Pies.
Slice bananas on top of the caramel.
Now take another Moon Pie and cut it into smaller bite-sized pieces.
Then cover the cake with the entire tub of whipped topping.
Voila!
Zig some more caramel zags on top and sprinkle with the little Moon Pie pieces.
Okay, so I didn’t sprinkle. I placed. Do what your gut tells ya here. Either one still gives you a Moon Pie cake in the end and this puppy is FABULOUS!
Now grab your spatula…
Look at all of those layers!
And dig in. Enjoy!
Storage
Store leftovers covered in plastic wrap or in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days. Because of the whipped topping, I don’t recommend freezing.
Recipe Notes
- You can use any flavor of Moon Pie, just make sure you get the regular size. If you aren’t familiar with them, they have minis, double-deckers, and I think even triple-deckers. You could use the double and triple-deckers if you like and it will take fewer to make this, but if you go with minis it is gonna take a whole lotta Moon Pies!
- Adapt this recipe to suit you and your favorite flavor as well. For example, if you use chocolate Moon Pies with that delicious marshmallow fluff and chocolate coating, use chocolate sauce instead.
Check out these other delicious refrigerator cake recipes:
Ingredients
- 8 Moon pies pick your favorite
- 16 oz whipped topping one tub
- 5 oz vanilla pudding cook and serve
- 5 bananas
- 12 oz caramel syrup 1 bottle
Instructions
- Cut 7 Moon Pies into four strips. Place the strips, cut side up, in the bottom of a 9x13 baking dish or cake pan.8 Moon pies
- Prepare pudding according to package directions and pour it over the Moon Pies while still warm. Cover dish with foil and refrigerate until cold.5 oz vanilla pudding
- Top the Moon Pies with a generous drizzling of caramel sauce. Slice bananas on top, spread whipped topping over these, and then finish with another generous drizzling of caramel.16 oz whipped topping, 12 oz caramel syrup, 5 bananas
- Chop up the remaining Moon Pie into bite-sized pieces and scatter pieces on top. Cover again and refrigerate until ready to serve (can serve immediately but gets better after an hour in the fridge).
Nutrition
“Be happy. It’s one way of being wise.”
~Sidonie Gabrielle Colette
Can you use something in the place of bananas? I am allergic to them. Thanks
You sure could, try chocolate, or strawberry.
We are in Mobile, AL, the birthplace of Mardi Gras! Since the Moon Pie is a staple at Mardi Gras for all the parades and events, we have plenty on hand. The local Mardi Gras supply store carries all the flavors for throws at the parades, and I just purchased a case of the newest flavor here, “Salted Caramel”. Looking forward to trying this recipe, with the caramel topping, maybe minus the bananas.
Thank you for all the great recipes. Happy Mardi Gras!
How fun!!! I am going to have to look for the new flavor!
We used to visit Branson, Missouri, and attended the Mel Tillis Show. He would always mentions Moon Pies during his shows. I assumed they were made in Tennessee since he talked about them so much….If anyone cannot find them, I imagine they could use the phone or internet and order them from the Moon Pie Bakery or a retail store there. I must try your recipe for Moon Pie Cake. I loved your biscuit tutorial, also. The secret is in the brand of flour which is made of “soft wheat” for more delicate baking… In my part of Arkansas, ladies used Mother’s Best flour when I was a teen, I could make the best cakes and pie crusts with plain flour using that brand. When my husband’s grandparents moved to Little Rock with her daughter and her daughter shopped, she could not make those great biscuits anymore…Everyone thought it was because she wasn’t cooking on a wood cookstove!..We all heard “food just tastes better cooked on a wood stove.” .I believe the problem was using a different brand of flour.. I made the cheese drop biscuits from the recipe on the back of White Lilly flour and fooled a guest who thought I had made them using an expensive mix with the name of a famous sea food restaurant. I greased a dark cookie sheet to make them crusty on the bottom. Thanks Christie, for introducing White Lilly flour to me. I’d never considered buying White Lilly flour before I found your site. I thought it was a offbrand product! I’m still working on my regular cut biscuits; they are not as high as I would like.
Oh banana moon pies! After exceptionally hard days I reward myself for behaving with a banana moon pie.
~giggles~ THAT is the perfect reward!!
Hi Christy: I am up in New Hampshire on the seacoast. We are getting ready to get 2 more feet in snow again on Monday. We have about 36 inch right now!!! I have been spending much time on internet with you these past couple of weeks. Which brings me to a couple of questions.
1. what is Spry and 2. can you send me some banana Moon Pies. We yankees do not have moon pies!!!!! You make me want to move to the south.
Thanks so much for doing Southern Plate I love the southern style of cooking!!!
Love Jeff’s t-shirt! WAR EAGLE!!!
I have always loved Moon Pies but I believe the vanilla is my favorite the next is chocolate. Growing up in Tennessee, I ate as many as my Mom would let me. Later I married and moved to Ohio and not a Moon Pie could I find. And then one day at a dollar store they had packs of mini moon pies so I felt better buying them because by eating a smaller one I would be eating fewer calories. But in the end, I found myself eating two or three so I guess I might as well had a large one! I keep the mini’s around and for my little granddaughters, who love them. Thanks for the memories of my childhood and home state.