Have you ever made a crepe cake? I had ACTUALLY never even made crepes until I made a crepe cake, thanks to Smitten Kitchens Deb Perlman. Her Chocolate Hazelnut Crepe Cake lured me into it, as did the tasting of a Lady M mille-crepe cake our friends practically had to sell their first born to have shipped to their home and shared with us. It was intimidating, but Deb breaks down the process so beautifully that it made it seem easy-er. As an extra aside, Deb and Smitten Kitchen are well known in this household. My little girls know her and her food without actually knowing her and I think that is SO cool. It’s one of the things I love about food and cooking and how it connects us. Deb lives in a tiny New York City apartment and is Jewish. We lived in Kaysville, UT on just under 1/2 acre and are what’s commonly called Mormon, or members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. But, food connects us! And we “know” each other and a little more about each other because of these recipes and the sharing of them! That’s why I want to share with you!
Anyway, back to crepes! Since making that first crepe cake, I have tinkered with several variations, and this one, I believe it my favorite yet. The crepes and fillings are super customizable! Make a plain crepe and fill with lemon curd and whipped cream! Make a chocolate crepe and fill with chocolate pudding and orange flavored cream! Get creative and have fun with whatever you heart desires. As long as it’s not too wet, you could layer thinly sliced fresh fruit in too, like strawberries which would be beautiful and delicious! So, make some crepes for breakfast to get your feet wet, and then dive on in to the multi layer loveliness.
Chocolate Hazelnut & Raspberry Brown Butter Crepe Cake
Ingredients:
Crepes
6 tablespoons butter
2 ½ (550 ml) c whole milk (if you don’t use whole milk, please for the love of all that’s good, use anything else, but not skim)
6 large eggs
1 ½ c (190 g) all purpose flour (you could also use half finely ground whole white wheat here)
1/8 tsp salt
½ c granulated sugar
1 T cocoa powder
1 T melted butter or neutral oil for brushing pan
Stabilized Raspberry Whipped Cream
¾ cup freeze dried raspberries (or other berry of your choice—strawberries, blueberries or really any other freeze dried fruit would work great here)
1/3 c sugar
2 ½ cups cold heavy whipping cream
Whipped Chocolate Hazelnut Ganache
7 ounces Dark (approx 70%) chocolate, chopped (or I guess you could desecrate the cake and use not so dark, but I might judge you for it)
1 c cold heavy whipping cream
1/3 c ground hazelnuts (see how to in the instructions)
1 T hazelnut liquor (I used Frangelico)
Candied hazelnuts
2/3 cup (130 grams) granulated sugar
2 T water
pinch of flaky or fine sea salt
1/3 cup toasted and skinned hazelnuts
Make Crepe Batter: Melt the butter in a small saucepan, on medium to medium low heat. You want to stir and watch, since the difference between brown butter and burned butter happens within a matter of a minute or so. Swirl it around. It will melt, foam up and then settle down and slowly start to turn golden brown and smell a little nutty. Once it hits that point, pull it off the heat and transfer to a small bowl to cool a little.
In a blender or by hand with a whisk or immersion blender combine milk, eggs, flour, salt, granulated sugar, cocoa powder, and butter, till smooth. Cover and refrigerate at least one hour or up to 2 days.
Make Hazelnut Ganache
If you’re already toasting and skinning hazelnuts for your candied hazelnut garnish, increase the amount to 1 cup, and finely grind half in the food processor for your ganache. To do this, preheat the oven to 350 degrees, spread the hazelnuts out on a baking sheet and toast for 10 minutes, giving them a stir or 2 during the process. Watch carefully so that they don’t burn. Once they’ve been removed from the oven and cooled a little, grab a clean dish cloth and roll them around inside for a minute to remove some of the loose skins. Not all will come off and that’s fine! Heat your cream on the stove top or microwave until just under boiling and pour over your chopped chocolate. Allow to sit for about a minute and then whisk till smooth. Whisk in the hazelnut liquor or other flavoring of choice and stir in the ground hazelnuts. Cool in the fridge until ready to use. When you’re ready to assemble the cake, whip the ganache until light and fluffy. If its too stiff and not spreadable, add a tablespoon or 2 of heavy cream while you whip it till you get the right consistency. It should spread and not clump or it will tear the crepes as you try to assemble the cake and you will cry in frustration, so get it right before you start assembly. I may or may not be speaking from personal experience.
Make Stabilized Raspberry Whipped Cream:
Stabilizing your cream means that it wont separate and weep like typical whipped cream does after refrigeration. The freeze dried fruit helps to bind the cream! Chemistry is cool. Anyway, to make the stuff, put your freeze dried fruit and sugar in the bowl of a food processor and grind to a powder. Add the cream and give a stir to make sure all of the powder is moistened and then process until thick and Greek yogurt-like, less than 2 minutes. Be careful not to over-process to the butter stage! You can use it right away or refrigerate and use for up to 1 week.
Make Candied Hazelnuts if using:
Spread out of piece of parchment paper prior to getting started. In a small, heavy saucepan, cook sugar and water together over high heat until the sugar melts and begins to turn a pale-caramel color, about 3-5 minutes. Add the toasted hazelnuts and a pinch of salt and swirl them around in the caramel for minute. It will continue to darken a little while you do this. Remove it from the heat and with tongs or a fork, lift them out onto the parchment and allow them to cool. If your caramel sugars, as mine sometimes does, it’s ok! They will look like frosted hazelnuts instead of shiny hazelnuts and they’re just a garnish, so don’t worry! If you look closely at my photos, that’s what happened with this batch! Once cool you can smash some, chop some or leave them whole for decoration.
Prepare Crepes:
Using a 9 inch skillet or crepe pan, preheat over medium to medium high heat. Coat lightly with oil or butter and start making your crepes by pouring ¼ cup of the batter into the pan and swirling it around until it evenly coats the bottom. Allow it to cook, the bottom browning and the top setting, about 2 minutes. Carefully slide a spatula aound the entire edge to loosen and then gently flip to cook the other side for just a few seconds. The first one or two will always be a disaster! I promise that you are not alone in this. Just eat it, smile, and move on. Transfer your cooked crepes to a baking sheet or cooling rack lined with paper towels to cool until ready to use.
Assembly:
On a cake plate or your choice, lay down your first crepe. Spread with approx ¼ cup of the ganache mixture, and spread to a thin even layer. The evenness of these layers will be the success or failure of your crepe cake. Be anal and fastidious and it will be perfect! Layer on the next crepe and do the same thing with the raspberry cream. Continue this process till your crepes are gone! Heap a generous amount of Raspberry Cream or ganache or whatever your heart desires on the top and make swirlies to make it pretty. Decorate with candied Hazlenuts and fresh berries, or again, whatever your heart desires and compliments your fillings. Slice that puppy up and wait for the oohs and ah’s and for your mouth to do a super happy dance. It looks hard, but it’s not! Just a lot of different steps and some patience. You got this! Happy Crepe Caking!