Dear Judy,

Happy birthday! I hope you had a wonderful day celebrating with family. It’s been about five months since we’ve last had a family meal, yet alone a birthday cake!

I decided to take the week off and just relax and enjoy the hot summer weather we’ve been having by . . . mostly staying at home! Car rides too, I didn’t think I would enjoy long car rides that much. It still feels a bit scary, but I’m glad we can now expand our social bubbles and of course, family first! I’m still forbidding Howard from going to the hairdresser.

This is the first time I tried a Tasty recipe, they always make deceptively simple videos, even though the crêpes alone take forever to make.

Chocolate Mille Crêpe Cake
Recipe from Tasty

6 tablespoons unsalted butter
3 cups milk
6 eggs
1½ cups all-purpose flour
⅔ cup cocoa powder
7 tablespoons sugar

1. Melt the butter in a small pan or pot. Set aside.
2. Warm up the milk in a small pot until small bubbles form over medium heat. You don’t want it to come to a rolling boil!
3. In a bowl or stand mixer, whisk the flour, cocoa powder, and sugar. Then add the eggs one at a time.
4. Alternate between pouring in the milk and butter and whisk until everything is incorporated.
5. I took some additional steps that the Tasty recipe didn’t call for. I poured the batter through a sieve to get out any clumps and into a jar. I covered the jar and let it sit overnight in the fridge.
6. About an hour before making the crêpes, I took the batter out to rest in room temperature.
7. Using your best non-stick pan over medium heat, pour in about a quarter cup of batter into the pan and quickly swirl to cover the surface.
8. Cook for 30 seconds. Carefully flip and cook for another 15 seconds. Transfer to a cooling rack or towel.
9. Repeat until all the batter is used. You will need to watch and adjust the temperature to low if the pan gets too hot after a while.
10. Optional: trim the crêpes with a 6-inch round plate, cake pan, or cookie cutter (I used a pastry baking ring).

Whipping Cream
(For the cake filling)

1 cup heavy cream
2 tablespoons confectioners’ sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. I mean, one could whip this by hand, but it’ll take so long! Using a stand mixer with the whisk attachment, whip the heavy cream starting with low and then gradually adding more speed until you’re at the medium high setting.
2. When the cream starts to look solid, add in the sugar and vanilla extract. Whisk until stiff peaks form.
3. Keep cold until ready to use.

This post is so not sponsored by Loblaws. I think their prices are high (not just bread price-fixing) and they should continue pandemic pay to their grocery store workers until there’s a vaccine or zero cases. However, I did get their PC lemon curd to use as a filling along with the whipped cream.

I alternated each crêpe layer with whipped cream and then lemon curd. I love how Ollie tasted cherries and strawberries, I guess it wasn’t a strong lemon flavour or tart enough.

Them, chill the cake in the fridge for at least an hour or two before you glaze it.

Chocolate Ganache
(To glaze the cake, this is optional)

1 cup heavy cream
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1 tablespoon unsalted butter

1. Warm up the heavy cream in a pot so that it starts to simmer. Then turn the heat off.
2. Have the chocolate in a heatproof bowl or another pot. Pour in the hot heavy cream and stir until all the chocolate has melted.
3. Add in the butter and quickly mix it in until it’s all incorporated.
4. Place the cake over cooling racks (I used a little steamer stand) with a tray or large plate underneath to catch any excess ganache.
5. Carefully pour the chocolate ganache over the cake, let the excess drip off into the tray. Use a metal spatula to smooth the top and sides of the cake.

Cake Decoration
(A simple idea, also optional)

Wooden skewers
Washi tape
Scissors

1. Using the middle of the washi tape strip, wrap the skewers and seal together.
2. Cut out a small v-shaped at the end of the washi tape to make it resemble a flag.
3. Repeat as many times as you like!

Hmm, the slices show that I’m not very good at applying even lemon curd and whipping cream layers! Also, it looks like a tiramisu cake. Or wood grain without the knots!

Thanks for saying you liked the QQ of the cake. I don’t think it was supposed to be like that, I found this recipe created gummier crêpes. Maybe I don’t have to rest the batter overnight?

Sincerely,
Syl