My niece, Amanda, recently came to visit and thought it would be fun for us to make a dessert together. She decided on a Crepe Cake for several reasons. First, Crepe Cakes are all over Instagram and they look impressive. Unlike a fussy layer cake, Crepe Cakes have a sort of fun, haphazard feel and that is exactly what we needed with a baby and a 2-year old at our side.

Crepe Cakes sound French so might conjure up images of traditional French pastries or other classic desserts that require some level of expertise. Amanda wanted to demonstrate that they really aren’t as difficult as you might think. There are definitely some techniques to pay attention to so we have shared our tips here and a quote from Julia Child. 

From her book, Julia’s Kitchen Wisdom, “Once you have mastered a technique, you barely have to look at a recipe again.”

Crepe Cakes provide endless possibilities so learning the basics of crepe making seems like a good skill for gluten free cooks. After trying crepes with quinoa flour and buckwheat flour we decided on this gluten free version of the typical sweet crepe. This is the kind of crepe you would make for breakfast or dessert and no one would guess it was gluten free.

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Filling and Decorating a Crepe Cake

For the filling Amanda chose a classic French vanilla Pastry Cream for its’ decadence with fresh strawberries and stabilized whipped cream to finish off the presentation.

This pastry cream is luscious from the six egg yolks and can likely be made with ingredients already in your kitchen. I make an eggless version of this called Vanilla Cream. I like that recipe because I can start it with what’s in my fridge, but then I do need a trip to the store for whipping cream to finish off the recipe. So use which ever filling you want with this tip on making sauces with cornstarch.

The filling for a Crepe Cake needs to be thick. Over whisking any sauce made with cornstarch can result in a watery mess, so just don’t over whisk allowing the heat to thicken the sauce.

The fun part about making this recipe together was that we learned from each other. It is pretty easy to assume that everyone knows what you know but of course that isn’t true. This is what we learned.

Amanda taught me how to stabilize whipped cream by adding dissolved gelatine into the whipped cream. This helps it hold its shape for hours in the fridge, perfect for serving our birthday Crepe Cake much later that day.

I taught Amanda my trick of beating the chilled and set custard to a velvety smooth texture before spreading it onto the crepes.

Tips and Techniques

It took me two batches of crepes, with two pans going at once, to master the technique of crepe making. This is what we thought were the important points to share.

• the pan needs to be quite hot
• use a tiny amount of oil and wipe the pan with a paper towel before each crepe to evenly re-grease the pan plus pick up any flecks of batter from the last crepe
• I preferred a measuring cup to pour the same amount of batter in the pan each time
• Amanda poured with one hand then quickly swirled the pan with her other to cover the entire bottom as quickly as possible
• whisking the batter as you cook keeps it from settling to the bottom
• ¼ cup batter makes thin crepes but a slightly thicker crepe is needed to hold the weight of a Crepe Cake
• a very thin flipper is ideal and wiping the flipper with the oiled paper towel helped prevent the crepes from sticking
• if a crepe tears you can still use it if the tear is small, otherwise discard it (eat it)

Get The Tools

A crepe pan isn’t necessary but they do have some features you might like. For serious crepe makers who can imagine a few Crepe Cakes in their future you might consider some of these tools.

• Cuisinart’s Classic non-stick 10-inch crepe pan
• This high-end 10-inch Ceramic Nonstick Crepe Pan with a larger edge on one end
• An electric crepe maker with batter spreader and wooden spatula
• Le Creuset Enameled Cast-Iron Crepe Pan
• We simply used two regular non-stick pans on the stove at the same time to work efficiently
• A spatula is arguably my favourite kitchen utensil and I have every shape and size you can imagine. For a Crepe Cake you could use a regular silicone spatula, an offset spatula like you would use to decorate a cake or just a kitchen knife.
• To pipe stabilized whipped cream on top of the Crepe Cake disposable or reusable icing bags, with our without a tip, are ideal. Of course a freezer quality zip bag will work too.

So Amanda and I challenge you to master the art of crepe making and unleash your creativity with crepe cakes. Who knows, it could just become a family dessert tradition.

Let me know in the comments below how your Crepe Cake turned out. I’d love to see a photo of it and if you send me one I’ll add it here.

More Crepe Recipes

Savoury Buckwheat Crepes

Gluten Free Crepes