Some of you may remember the sugarfree crepe cake I made for my dear friend Anna, for her birthday last year. It was my first attempt at a crepe cake too. I loved how it's so delicate when you eat it, with the different layers. This time, I'm using sugar and my best friend, chocolate!
After a couple weeks of googling for recipes and trying to motivate myself to make it - ta da! I finally got there! Oh yummy!!! Sorry work mates, not sharing this one with you.
Ingredients
Crepes
85g butter, melted
3 cups milk
6 eggs
1 cup plain flour
1/2 cup caster sugar
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1/4 cup hazelnut meal
pinch of salt
oil for frying crepe
cream filling
200g dark chocolate, chopped
200ml thickened cream
1/2 tspn vanilla essence
2 tspn icing sugar, sifted
~1/2 cup hazelnut meal
Method
1. Heat milk in a small pot over medium heat until steaming but not boiling. Remove from heat and set aside.
2. Beat eggs and sugar until pale. Add flour, cocoa, hazelnut meal and salt. Mix well. Add milk and melted butter. Stir to combine. Cover and refrigerate. Best results, refrigerate overnight, but a couple of hours is fine too.
3. While crepe mixture is in the fridge, heat thickened cream in a small pot over low to medium heat until just boiling. Remove from heat and add chocolate. Keep stirring until chocolate melts and mixed well with cream. Stir in vanilla and icing sugar. Whip mixture until medium peaks.
4. To make the crepes, bring the batter to room temperature. Place a nonstick 9-inch crepe pan (or ordinary fry pan is fine) over medium heat. Swab the surface very lightly with the oil. Using a laddle (about 1/3 cup volume), add batter and swirl to cover the surface.
5. Cook until the bottom just begins to brown, about 1 to 2 minutes, then carefully lift an edge and flip the crepe. Cook on the other side until golden. Flip crepe onto a cooling rack, trivet or clean tea towel lined plate until cooled, then stack on another plate. Repeat from step #5 with remaining batter. This should make approximately 20 crepes.
Note: You can either make all the crepes then build the cake or build as you go. If you decide the latter – ensure the crepe is cooled before spread the cream.
6. Place a crepe on a serving plate. Spread about a heaped tablespoon of cream over crepe to cover surface. Sprinkle with hazelnut meal. Place next crepe on top and repeat for remaining crepe layers. Ensure to finish with your best looking crepe.
7. Cover with cling wrap and refrigerate overnight until ready to serve.
Tip: I used a springform cake tin to refrigerate to give the vessel some rigidity.
8. Serve on its own, some whipped cream, berry coulis or fresh fruit.
