It’s been a while. Residency was kicking my butt and I ate too well for my birthday week and decided to go on a diet. Two weeks later, residency is still kicking my butt and the diet was a disaster. What happens when a food blogger decides to go on a diet? They lose content. Lesson learned. I won’t do it again. I promise.
Several weeks ago my good friend, H, brought two slices of crêpe cake from Lady M Confections. If you don’t know already, Lady M is a chain of cake boutiques that specialize in crêpe cakes. I never tried a crêpe cake before and was pleasantly surprised by the delicate layers and the light taste. But when H told me how much she paid, I was shocked at the price tag. $8 for a slice of cake?? As delicious it was, I could not justify that kind of cost and said I would never pay that that much for a slice of cake, ever.
Fast forward two weeks and as my birthday approached closer, I couldn’t help but think of that ridiculously expensive crêpe cake. Do I just bite the bullet and buy it or should I try it on my own? I’ve never attempted at making crêpes at home but it was my birthday, and I decided I would make one if I wanted to.
I know some people think making your own birthday cake is sad or depressing and until this year, I’ve been blessed with significant others that would buy me the cake of my desire. But you know what, making your own cake is better because you get exactly what you want and how you want it. Plus, if you make a mistake or mess up, you don’t feel guilty or pressured about ruining someone’s special day.
I had some fresh picked peaches when I went peach picking in August, so I decided to incorporate it into the cake. If I could redo this cake, I would make the crêpes thinner. As a novice, I was worried about it tearing and made them on the thicker side. In hindsight, it wasn’t necessary. So go thin if you decide to make it.
In the end, it was worth the effort and I suggest eating it immediately after caramelizing the sugar. Because when you take a bite of the crisp bits of sugar with the light cake, you will be in heaven. Plus when you refrigerate it, the sugar melts and you get an odd syrup that may or may not pool all over your refrigerator shelf. (Yes, this happened. No, I was not fun cleaning it up.)
Peaches and Cream Crêpe Cake
For the Crêpes
Ingredients:
6 tbsp. butter
3 c. milk
6 large eggs
1 ½ c. all-purpose flour
7 tbsp. sugar
pinch kosher salt
Instructions
- Prepare the batter a day before you want to serve the cake.
- In a small saucepan, melt and brown the butter.
- In a separate saucepan, heat the milk and cool for 10 minutes. (Do not boil milk.)
- In a food processor, pulse eggs, flour, sugar and salt until fully combined.
- Add milk and butter and pulse until fully combined.
- Refrigerate batter for 8-24 hours.
- On the day of, bring the batter to room temperature.
- Heat a 6” nonstick pan and spray the pan with nonstick spray and wipe off.
- Spread 3 tbsp. of batter and swirl to cover the pan.
- Cook until the bottom begins to brown and flip the crêpe cook the other side until it sets.
- Repeat until all of the batter is used.
For the Pastry Cream
Ingredients:
2 c. milk
¼ c. sugar
2 egg yolks
1 egg
¼ c. cornstarch
¼ c. sugar
2 tbsp. unsalted butter
1 tsp. vanilla extract
Instructions:
- Prepare the pastry cream a day before you want to serve the cake.
- In a medium saucepan, bring milk and ¼ c. sugar to a boil.
- In another medium bowl, mix egg yolks, egg, cornstarch and ¼ c. sugar until a paste forms.
- Using a ladle, drizzle a ladleful of milk while continuously whisking the egg mixture. Continue to drizzle in hot milk a little at a time until you mix in ¾ of the milk.
- Take the egg milk mixture and pour it into the saucepan with the remaining milk.
- Cook the mixture while stirring constantly over medium heat until mixture is thickened and pudding like.
- Remove saucepan from heat and mix in butter and vanilla extract. Set aside.
To Assemble
Ingredients:
1 ½ c. heavy cream
3 tbsp. powdered sugar
2 tbsp. Kirsch
3 large very ripe peaches, cut into small bits
granulated or powdered sugar for garnish (optional)
sliced peaches for garnish (optional)
Instructions:
- Whip the heavy cream and powdered sugar until stiff peaks form.
- Fold in prepared pastry cream, Kirsch and peaches.
- Lay two crêpes on a cake plate. Using an offset spatula, spread a thin layer of peach pastry cream. Cover with a crêpe and repeat until all the crêpes are used. Save the best looking crêpe for the top.
- Chill for at least 2 hours to set.
- When ready to serve, you can:
- Dust the top with powdered sugar.
- Sprinkle the top with granulated sugar and caramelize with a blowtorch.
- Garnish the top with sliced peaches, sprinkle the top with granulated sugar and caramelize with a blowtorch.
Crepe Cake recipe adapted from NY Times.
thebusyspatula.com 