Saturday, April 27, 2019

Strawberry Crepe Cake – Works on So Many Levels

Using this simple “crepe cake” technique, you can turn any of your favorite cake fillings into visually stunning, multilayered masterpieces. By the way, I said this is simple, not fast, as it does take a little bit of time to make and stack all those crepes, but once you get rolling, it goes pretty quick.

I was going for a very light dessert here, in both taste and texture, but this technique really shines if you use a more traditional cake filling like buttercream. Since that gets nice and firm when chilled, you’ll get even more gorgeously defined layers. Chocolate ganache is also a great choice, especially layered alternately with pastry cream, which would create a sort of Boston cream pie.

The ingredient amounts below are just a guide, since it really depends on the size of your crepes, and how much filling you spread on. You’ll probably have a few more crepes than you need, which isn’t really a problem, and you can try to go even higher than I did. I also increased the cream filling ingredients below, since I had to make another half batch during my construction. 

Speaking of filling, I probably could’ve just folded the strawberry jam into the whipped cream mixture to save time when assembling. I though it would be nice to have streaks of fruit in the cream, but once sliced, it really wasn’t that noticeable. Of course fresh fruit would also work, just be aware of the extra moisture that might add. Regardless of how you fill yours, or how high you stack, I really do hope you give this a try soon. Enjoy!


For the crepes:
5 large eggs
3 1/4 cups milk
2 1/2 cups flour
2 1/2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 tablespoons white sugar
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

For the cream filling:
3/4 cup mascarpone
1 1/2 cup heavy cream
3 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

For the fruit mixture:
10 ounce jar of strawberry jam
2 tablespoons water
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16 comments:

matrix47 said...

Could you make a medovik? https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medovik
Thank you!

Smruthi said...

This looks delicious! Every recipe you post is delicious, to be honest, though our favorite are the mancakes.

We do have a Food Wish to request of you though, cayenne and cheddar toast. We figured this would be right up your alley. We recently ate it at The Friendly Toast and haven't been able to get its fiery orange softness out of our heads.

Haroldm said...

All purpose or self rising flour ?

Wayne Gordon said...

I've made these before, so I thought to offer a few more suggestions for fillings. First, alternate layers of a dark berry (blackberry or raspberry or marionberry) with a dark chocolate ganache. Or alternate layers of Jelly/preserves of your choice with peanut butter (add a bit of honey to the peanut butter and warm just a little in the microwave to make it easily spreadable). Also, you can do a baklava style with a very finely ground pistachio-nut mixture and brush each crepe lightly with honey syrup per chef John's video on baklava. As he says, try whatever you like, y'all are after all the Great Grape Apes of how you rock your crepes....

Wayne Gordon said...

We Americans call these crepes to distinguish them from our version which are made from a much thicker batter and hence produce a much thicker "cake". Check out Chef John's Mancakes video.

Wild Blueberries said...

Thank you so much for demonstrating this amazing torte. I have been wanting to make one since my friend's Serbian mother was making it one day for a religious celebration dinner and she made a sabayon with champagne and alternated with finely ground walnuts tossed with sugar. I think she served it in a pool of sabayon as well or maybe I'm just imagining how I'm going to eat it!! No, I think it was just layered with nuts then the sabayon was on the plate. Crazy good stuff.

Wild Blueberries said...


Thank you so much for demonstrating this dish. I have been fantasizing about this dessert since I saw my girlfriend's Serbian mother make one. I think she used finely ground walnuts tossed with sugar and then she served it on the plate with sabayon made with champagne. I can hardly wait to make this. Your crepes looks so perfectly browned and appetizing.

fred said...

please szarlotka next :)

Unknown said...

Hey chef john. This one is truly inspired. You could try reducing the flour content of the crepes aka increasing the egg, the crepes come out more tender and may be easier to cut. I am not sure how it would change the flavor of the overall dish but I have enjoyed crepes made that way by my Memere all my life. Just a lucky guy I guess.

Unknown said...

@Michael Our American pancakes are much thicker and fluffier, more like a cake. So I guess we have to differentiate?

Mike said...

Why do Swedes double post? ;)

Miss Mash said...

Chrissy made this for a Birthday cake which turned out great. Used raspberry preserves or jam, not sure, and somehow she removed the seeds and every third layer was Nutella. Turned out Great.

Natalie Lanham said...

Do you think you can freeze the leftover crepe cake? I am asking just so I don't have to eat from it all week long :)

Unknown said...

I tried this recipe out and everyone loved it so much I made it a second time in less than a week for a dinner party. It was a hit. I did use my MIL crepe recipe:
3 large eggs

2 cups milk

1 cups flour

1 tablespoons vanilla

1 tablespoons white sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

Unknown said...

I tried this recipe out and everyone loved it so much I made it a second time in less than a week for a dinner party. It was a hit. I did use my MIL crepe recipe:
3 large eggs

2 cups milk

1 cups flour

1 tablespoons vanilla

1 tablespoons white sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

Unknown said...

I love the comments! My mom used to make crepes but she called them Swedish pancakes. Sugar overload with the syrup on top. But I loved her Swedish pancakes aka crepes!