chocolate crepe cake
I recently realized that the only time I make pastry crème is for Jocelin’s birthday. As many of you know, my sister Jocelin typically demands unusual or obscure European birthday treats, such as last year’s Swedish Princess Cake, which was a big hit for the dirty thirty.
This year, I presented Jocelin and Eddie, who share a dual birthday celebration, with several ideas and they chose a Crepe Cake.
Crepe Cake, or Gateau de Crepes, is a traditionally a towering pile of crepes separated by thin layers of pastry cream. Since Jocelin loves fruit and crème and Eddie is a chocoholic, I created the below recipe that combines Francois Payard’s fluffy chocolate crepes with a refreshing orange pastry crème and then smothers the whole cake in ganache.
For those of you that have never made a crepe, it’s easy. They do take a bit of time (3 minutes per crepe) and require you to stay focused on the task at hand, but are well worth the effort.
The crepe recipe below will yield nearly double the amount of crepes you’ll need for the cake, but I recommend making the full batch and filling leftover crepes with fruit and Nutella for breakfast or dessert.
Chocolate Crepe Cake with Orange Crème
Makes one, 8 inch cake
Chocolate Crepes
Ingredients:
2 cups, plus 2 tbsps all-purpose flour
1/3 cup cocoa
1/2 cup sugar
pinch of salt
8 large eggs
2 cups, plus 1 tbsp whole milk
grated zest of two oranges
10 tbsps browned butter (recipe below)
1 cup heavy cream
Directions:
Combine the flour, cocoa powder, sugar and salt in a large mixing bowl. Set aside.
In another large bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk and orange zest. Gradually whisk the egg mixture into the dry ingredients. Then whisk in the browned butter, then the cream, until incorporated. Strain the batter to remove any lumps and whisk it until thoroughly combined. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least two hours, or up to overnight.
chilled chocolate crepe batter
Remove the chilled batter and whisk briefly. Place a small crepe pan or non-stick skillet (approximately 8 inches in diameter) over medium-high heat and spray with vegetable oil. Once hot, pour ¼ cup of batter into the pan, and quickly swirl to coat the bottom of the pan in a thin, even layer (if you’ve never made a crepe before, check out this video). After two minutes, use a spatula to lift up the crepe and flip. Cook the opposite side for one more minute. Remove from pan and cool. The edges of the crepe will be crispy and the center should be moist. Repeat the process until the batter is gone. Pile the crepes one on top of another on a plate. When the batter is gone, cover the pile of crepes with plastic wrap and refrigerate until ready to assemble the cake.
To Make the Browned Butter: Place the desired amount of butter in a small saucepan over medium-high heat and let come to a boil. Cook, stirring occasionally to keep distribute the heat evenly, until the butter starts to turn light brown. Remove from heat immediately and set aside. Cool for 5 minutes and use immediately.
butter on the verge of browning
Orange Pastry Crème
Ingredients:
2 cups whole milk
1 tbsp orange juice
1 tsp orange zest
½ cup sugar
5 tbsps cornstarch
4 large egg yolks
1 tbsp unsalted butter
1 cup heavy cream
Directions:
Combine the milk, orange juice and orange zest in a medium saucepan and place over medium heat. Remove from heat as soon as small bubbles start to form around the edges of the pan.
Meanwhile, combine the sugar and cornstarch in a medium bowl, and whisk in the egg yolks. The mixture will seem very dry. Continue to whisk until the mixture becomes moist and the yolks turn pale yellow (1-2 minutes).
Slowly add a quarter of the hot milk into the yolk mixture, whisking constantly to keep the yolks from curdling. Then pour the remainder of the milk into the mixture and whisk until thoroughly combined. When the milk is well incorporated, return the mixture to the saucepan and place over medium-high heat, whisking constantly to prevent lumps from forming. Whisk and cook until the mixture becomes very thick and bubbles start popping from the center of the pan for at least 20 seconds. The mixture needs to come to a boil in order to activate the cornstarch.
Remove from heat and whisk in the butter until it melts and the mixture is smooth. Pour the pastry cream into a glass bowl and cover with plastic wrap to prevent a skin from forming. Let it cool to room temperature, then refrigerate until ready to use.
Just before assembling the cake, whisk the pastry crème for one minute. In a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, whisk the heavy cream until soft peaks form. Gently fold in one quarter of the whipped cream just until combined. Then fold in the remaining whipped cream until well combined and there are no more white streaks.
Chocolate Ganache
Ingredients:
10 ounces semisweet chocolate, finely chopped
1 1/4 cups heavy cream
1 tablespoon light corn syrup
Pinch of salt
Directions:
Place chocolate in a large, heat-proof bowl and set aside.
Bring cream, corn syrup, and salt to a boil in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Remove from heat and pour hot cream over chocolate. Let stand for 3-4 minutes. Whisk, beginning in the center of the bowl and moving toward the perimeter of the bowl, until the cream and chocolate are completely combined and the mixture is smooth. Set aside and let cool completely.
Assembling the Cake
Remove the chilled crepes and pastry crème from the refrigerator.
Place one crepe on a plate and top with approximately ¼ cup and 1 tsp of pastry crème. Use an offset spatula to spread crème into a thin even layer, leaving a one inch border on the crepe. Repeat until pastry crème is gone, ending with a crepe on top.
Carefully pour spoonfuls of the chocolate ganache over the top of the cake, letting it drip down the sides and into the layers of the cake. Decorate as desired.
Chocolate crepe cake
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