How to Make Crepe Cake: 7 Tips for Making Crepe Cake
Written by MasterClass
Last updated: Dec 3, 2024 • 6 min read
A crepe cake, often known as a mille-crepe cake, is a decadent dessert that's relatively easy to make because it doesn't require any baking—though assembly may require a little patience.
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What Is a Crepe Cake?
A crepe cake is a no-bake cake consisting of layers of thin crepes brushed with a sweet filling. Crepes, the star of this French dessert, are ultra-thin pancakes cooked on top of the stove in a special pan and served rolled around a filling, which can be sweet or savory.
In France, these cakes are known as mille-crepe cakes, a spinoff of the phrase "mille-feuilles," meaning "a thousand leaves," which refers to a French dessert made by layering pieces of puff pastry with a cream filling. The "thousand" is a bit of hyperbole, though, as a crepe cake typically has twenty layers.
There are many ways to customize your crepe cake: Fill the layers with buttercream or mascarpone to amp up the sweetness or add raspberries to the layers for a tart surprise.
5 Variations of Crepe Cake
Once you've mastered the basics of making crepes and assembling a crepe cake, experiment with different variations that use the same techniques. Among the possibilities:
- 1. Carrot crepe cake: This mille-crepe cake version of a carrot cake calls for adding puréed carrots to the crepe batter, with layers of pineapple-cream cheese filling.
- 2. Chocolate crepe cake: Add cocoa powder to your crepe batter to make chocolate crepes for this chocolatey variation. Fill the layers with chocolate buttercream for a decadent cake that chocolate lovers will adore.
- 3. Funfetti crepe cake: Create a birthday-worthy delight by covering your crepe cake with sprinkles and filling the layers with pink or funfetti pastry cream.
- 4. Matcha crepe cake: Japanese crepe cakes feature flavors popular in the region, making the crepes with matcha and filling the cake with adzuki paste.
- 5. Strawberries and cream crepe cake: Use freeze-dried strawberries paired with luscious whipped cream to make a crepe cake suitable for spring festivities.
7 Tips for Making Crepe Cake
Crepe cake uses a few basic ingredients, but it requires a little technique. Follow these tips to make the perfect crepe cake:
- 1. Clear your workspace. You’ll need counter space to make the batter, cool the crepes, and assemble the cake. Keep the area as clear as possible, so you have room to work.
- 2. Chill the batter. Chill your crepe batter in the refrigerator for at least one hour for crepes that are soft and tender—chill the batter overnight in the fridge, if you have the time.
- 3. Use a bowl as a template. If your crepes don't end up looking uniform, use a plate or bowl as a template, and trim off any ragged edges, so the cake is smooth all around.
- 4. Use a crepe pan. This cooking vessel will provide a nonstick pan surface and keep your crepes uniform. Use nylon tongs and a silicone or nylon spatula to avoid tearing the crepes.
- 5. Adjust the cooking time. Your pan will get hotter as you continue to make crepes, so you may need to shorten your cooking time or adjust your cooking heat as you go.
- 6. Cool the crepes separately. Your crepes will need time to cool before assembly. Cool your crepes separately rather than stacking them, which will make them soggy.
- 7. Avoid overfilling. Go easy on the fillings as you assemble your cake. Too much filling will cause the crepes to slide around. If you're using whipped cream as a filling, add gelatin to stabilize it.
Homemade Crepe Cake Recipe
makes
1 crepe cakeprep time
1 hrtotal time
2 hrcook time
1 hrIngredients
For the batter:
For the pastry cream:
For the topping:
Note: Total time does not include 4 hours and 45 minutes of inactive time.
- 1
Make the crepe batter. Melt 6 tablespoons of unsalted butter over low heat and set it aside.
- 2
In a medium pot, warm 3 cups of whole milk until it begins to steam, then cool it slightly.
- 3
In a large bowl, add 6 large eggs, 1½ cups of cake or all-purpose flour, 7 tablespoons of sugar, and a pinch of salt, then combine.
- 4
Add the warm milk and melted butter to the bowl slowly.
- 5
Seal the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate the crepe batter, at least 1 hour.
- 6
Make the whipped cream. Using a hand mixer or stand mixer, whip 2 cups of heavy cream with 4 tablespoons of sugar. Put the whipped cream in a small bowl, then place it in the fridge while you prepare the pastry cream.
- 7
Make the pastry cream. In a medium bowl, mix 1 egg, 1 tablespoon of flour, 2 tablespoons of sugar, and 1 tablespoon of cornstarch until smooth.
- 8
To a medium pan, add 1 cup of milk and heat until it almost boils. Remove the pan from the heat and trickle the milk slowly into the egg mixture, continuously whisking, to temper the eggs. Tempering is a cooking technique in which you gradually raise the temperature of a cold or room-temperature ingredient (in this case, eggs) by adding small amounts of a hot liquid to prevent the cold ingredient from cooking too quickly or too much. If you add all of the hot liquid into the eggs at once, you’re going to end up with lumpy scrambled eggs in your pastry cream.
- 9
After tempering the eggs, pour the pastry cream mixture into the pan and simmer for 5 minutes, constantly stirring, until it thickens and starts to boil.
- 10
Remove the pan from the heat. Add 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract and 1 teaspoon of hot water to the pan. Stir until the ingredients dissolve, then set the pan aside to cool, about 30 minutes.
- 11
Take the whipped cream out of the fridge.
- 12
When the cream is cool and firm, fold in most of the whipped cream, reserving a few tablespoons for garnish.
- 13
Put the pastry cream in a small bowl and refrigerate until it thickens, about 1 hour.
- 14
Return the leftover whipped cream to the fridge. You’ll use it to garnish the cake later.
- 15
While you wait for the pastry cream to cool, remove the crepe batter from the refrigerator, then prepare a cooling station for the crepes by placing a piece of parchment paper atop your wire cooling rack.
- 16
Once the crepe batter is at room temperature, make the crepes. Spoon about 3 tablespoons of crepe batter into a heated crepe pan, and swirl until the batter coats the bottom of the pan.
- 17
Cook each crepe for about 1 minute over medium heat, then flip the crepe and cook it for no more than 30 seconds, until golden brown.
- 18
Slide the crepe onto the cooling rack.
- 19
Repeat with the remaining batter until you have 20 identical crepes.
- 20
Let the crepes cool before assembling the cake, about 15 minutes.
- 21
Remove your pastry cream from the refrigerator.
- 22
Fold your pastry cream into the whipped cream.
- 23
Place your first crepe on the cake stand or large serving plate.
- 24
Use a silicone spatula to cover the crepe with a thin layer of pastry cream.
- 25
Place another crepe evenly on top of the filling, repeating until you have 20 layers of crepes.
- 26
Refrigerate the cake for at least 2 hours to allow it to set.
- 27
Garnish with the sliced strawberries and a few tablespoons of whipped cream before cutting with a very sharp knife.
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