Ok, maybe it was just about twenty layers of crepe in this cake, but it was definitely made with an infinite volume of love. This cake was prepared for my hub on the day of his birthday. I spent a crazy amount of time making this just for him. I’m declaring this over here just so he knows haha…
Anyway, as already stated, making this cake took a huge amount of time and dedication. First it takes patience to flip and turn 20 crepes and to make sure none of them gets burnt. Then you need sufficient skills to be able to whip the cream to the right level of fluffiness and thickness. Last but not least, the cake needs to be assembled one-by-one with the cream spread in between. And then of course, the decorations – they need to be carefully curated so as not to overwhelm the rest of the cake.
Nevertheless, knowing all of these efforts are inevitable, I still insisted on making him this cake because it’s only once in a year that I get a chance to make one for him. I hope he liked it and enjoyed it too. 😉
Ingredients: (Crepes)
- Cake flour: 3/4 cup + 2 tbsp
- Plain flour: 3/4 cup + 2 tbsp
- Caster sugar: 1/4 cup
- Salt: 2 tsp
- Large egg: 4
- Large egg yolk: 5
- Unsalted butter: 8 tbsp (1 stick), melted
- Milk: 2 cups
- Cognac (optional): 3 tbsp
- Vanilla essence: 1 tsp
Method: (Crepes)
- Mix cake flour, plain flour, caster sugar and salt in a large bowl.
- In a mixing bowl, whisk together eggs and egg yolks.
- Whisk in flour mixture, followed by butter, milk, cognac and vanilla essence. Whisk till smooth.
- Sieve if necessary. Chill for 1 hr.
- Heat skillet. Pour 1/2 cup batter into skillet. Tip pan to spread and form quickly into a circle.
- Cook about 1.5 min till browned. Flip to the other side to cook for another 1min.
- Transfer onto plate with parchment paper.
- Repeat 20 times for 20 crepes. Separate the crepes with a piece of parchment paper in between them.
Ingredients: (Cream & Assembly)
- Icing sugar: 1.25 cups
- Mascarpone cheese: 4 cups
- Vanilla essence: 1 tsp
- Marsala wine (or rum): 1/2 cup (optional)
- Cocoa powder: 2 tbsp
- Finger biscuit: 18 pieces, halved
Method: (Cream & Assembly)
- In a mixer, combine icing sugar, mascarpone cheese, vanilla essence and marsala wine using a paddle on medium speed.
- Place 1 crepe at the bottom of a ring pan. Spread 1/4 cup cream evenly on crepe, moving from center outwards to the edge, making sure to cover the edges of the cake. Repeat for the remaining 19 crepes.
- Spread cream evenly on the uppermost crepe layer. Use it to smooth the sides of the cake too.
- Sprinkle cocoa powder on top of cream.
- Decorate with finger biscuits at the edge of the cake.
- Chill cake for 2 hours before serving.
Disclaimer:
- Somehow I feel that the result of this cake is a tad too heavy, i.e. the cream isn’t light enough, and the crepes are too thick. These aspects are what I can definitely improve on the next time I try this at home again. Maybe with a slightly different recipe then. Let’s see!
Serving:
1 large cake
