If you love sky-high, showstopping desserts, prepare to meet your new obsession. Crêpe cake is a cool, lofty masterpiece composed of layers of crêpes and lightened vanilla pastry cream, all topped with a billowing cloud of whipped cream and a crown of fresh berries. It’s light, creamy, and absolutely irresistible.
Though it might look impossibly intricate and tricky to make, crêpe cake is actually pretty simple. Our top tip? Plan ahead and pace yourself. You can make the pastry cream up to a day in advance, and as for the crêpes, they can also be cooked and stored in the refrigerator between sheets of parchment overnight, or even frozen up to 1 month. When you’re ready to assemble, all you have to do is whip the cream to fold into the filling and get layering.
Read on for more tips on this effortlessly elegant dessert. Looking for more layers? Check out this chocolate chip cookie cake.
What’s the filling?
While there are lots of different filling options for crêpe cakes, we’re opting for a simple vanilla pastry cream, lightened with some whipped cream. It’s fun and airy and not too sweet, and when chilled, it becomes solid enough to hold all those layers together with no problem.
What do I do if I ruin my first crêpe?
It’s completely normal to wreck the first crêpe. Maybe the pan wasn’t hot enough or had too much butter in it. Don’t worry; there’s enough batter here to give you 18 crêpe layers, even with a few flops. Just toss it out (or eat it—it’ll still taste delicious, even if it’s not crêpe cake building material!) and move on to the next one.
How can I keep my crêpe cake flat on top?
The best way to ensure that your cake stays flat on top is to spread your filling slightly thicker toward the edges of the cake. This will help prevent the cake from sloping down around the sides and bulging in the center.
Why is my crêpe cake chewy?
If your crêpe cake is chewy, the crêpes might be overcooked. While you definitely want them cooked through, the crêpes should still be soft and flexible when you take them out of the pan. In testing, we found that this took about 1 1/2 minutes on the first side and 1 minute on the second.
How do I cut my crêpe cake without it sliding like crazy?
The answer is pretty straightforward: if your crêpe cake is slipping and sliding around when you try to cut it, you haven’t given it enough time in the refrigerator. We recommend chilling your cake for at least 4 hours before trying to cut it—and if you can overnight, even better!
Made this? Let us know how it went in the comments below!
