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
Hey, was wondering if the moon pies got “soft” by leaving them overnight with the pudding on top? Thanks ma’am.
Yup. They kinda become a cohesive layer that you can actually cut.
I had to stop right there and say I always have a Diet Coke with my Krispy Kreme doughnuts. OK now I’ll finish reading the recipe.
LOL!!!!
Hi Christy, my dear friend Jeff Mills shared your wonderful recipe and story on my FB timeline. He calls me the Queen of the MoonPies. We both work in tourism and take MoonPies all over the country talking to folks about visiting Chattanooga. There is now a MoonPie General Store in downtown Chattanooga at 4th & Broad Street. They have all the flavors, all the time along with plenty of RC Cola’s too! We love Chattanooga Bakery and can’t wait to celebrate their 100th birthday in 2017!!! Shelda
Oh my word! This is the BEST thing I have seen in a long time. My daughter (who is 11) & I could be Moon Pie spokespersons. We bought Moon Pies at the grocery store yesterday. We got to the car & she put our other bags in the backseat of the car. She got in with the box of Moon Pies & said, “You want one for the ride home?” Well, yeah! She knows me too well. She will be beside herself when I tell her about this. We have said we could very well live off of Moon Pies & frozen yogurt! 🙂 Thanks so much for sharing. YAYYY!
When our sons got married, before each wedding I asked the bride if it was OK to do a goodie bag for all the out-of-town guests. I put in some practical items such as small bottles of water and juice, small sewing kits for an emergency, etc. and I included info about places to visit in Knoxville (where the weddings were held). But I also decided to put in food items made in Tennessee, and, since I grew up in the Moon Pies and RC Cola era, I included a couple of kinds of Moon Pies. They were a BIG hit. Some folks had never had ’em, so they were happily surprised. But the happiest folks were those who had grown up with ’em. For them, those Moon Pies were an instant ticket back to their childhoods! 🙂
Oh my goodness, Christie! Just skip dinner and go for the dessert! lol. Moon Pie and an RC reminds me of the breakfast my nephew used to eat: a candy bar and a coke! In the photo part of your recipe, you show the sliced bananas, but you don’t mention adding them before you slather on the whipped topping.
eep! let me go fix that, thanks for letting me know!
I’m a California native … we had Scooter Pies (the same as a Moon Pie) when I was a kid, My hubby is from Kentucky, so I know l about Moon Pies! We now have Moon Pies in CA, but not always easy to find and we don’t have the varieties that you can get in the south. We were in Chattanooga a few months ago and actually drove by the bakery by accident … it was closed 🙁 My suitcase has transported many boxes of Moon Pies over the years 🙂
I will make your cake for my Moon Pie lovin’ in-laws! We all love Jeff Foxworthy … thank you for sharing!
Well now next time I’m out your way I know what to look for,thanks! You sound like the ideal daughter in law!