Mille Crepe Cake with a Soft Crumb

For Mille Crepe Cake with a Soft Crumb, the counter starts with whole milk, vanilla powder more potent and easier to combine in cooked custards, and granulated sugar divided. Portion it for 12 slices.

Count on 20 minutes of prep, 1 hour of cooking, 4 hours of resting, about 5 hours from the first measurement to the plate.

Ingredients Method

What goes in the bowl

For the vanilla pastry cream

• 4 cups whole milk
• 2 teaspoons vanilla powder more potent and easier to combine in cooked custards
• 1 cup granulated sugar divided
• 6 large eggs
• 10 tablespoons cornstarch

For crepe cake assembly

• 2 ½ cups heavy whipping cream
• 2 tablespoon confectioner’s sugar
• 25 10 inch crepes [2x the sweet crepe batter recipe]
• ½ cup heavy cream whipped to soft peaks for topping
• strawberries sliced, or raspberries & blueberries

How the cooking goes

Prepare the crêpe batter

1. Whisk together the eggs, salt, milk, and melted butter. Slowly whisk in the flours, adding a little at a time like popovers. Whisk in the water last.
2. Allow the batter sit in the refrigerator overnight or for at least 1 hour at ambient temperature. This allows the flour to hydrate properly and any gluten to relax (a wet batter also helps reduce gluten formation even while sitting overnight).

How to cook crêpes

1. If you refrigerated your batter, remove it from the fridge about an hour before you plan to start cooking. Preheat a crêpe pan or nonstick skillet over a moderate flame. Slow and steady wins the race.
2. Using a fork, stab a piece of butter and quickly butter the pan. You only need to do this for the first crepe.
3. Tip in a ladleful (just shy of 4 ounces) into the center of the pan with one hand, and swirl the pan with the other to evenly distribute the batter around the pan.
4. Cook over medium-low heat on the first side until the edges begin to brown and you can see some darker spots forming near the center. The outer edge is an excellent barometer for readiness. For the pan and heat, it took 6 minutes to make a 12-inch crepe.
5. Flip by sliding the spatula underneath the center of the crepe and flipping it over like a pancake. If it folds, just unfold it. If you flip it too early and it’s blonde, flip it back. Don’t stress.
6. Continue to cook on the second side for an additional 1-2 minutes. Remove the crepe to a wire rack to cool before stacking, assembling, or storing!
7. Repeat with the remaining batter and cool. At this point, you can refrigerate the crepes overnight before assembling.

Prepare the pastry cream

1. Prepare a sheet pan with baking paper or plastic wrap.
2. In a mixing bowl, whisk together the eggs, vanilla sugar, half the granulated sugar, the vanilla powder, and the cornstarch until the texture looks smooth and homogenous.
3. In a medium saucepot, whisk together the milk and the remaining half of the sugar. This keeps it from scorching.
4. Heat it until it boils over a lively flame, then temper into the egg mixture by pouring a little of the hot milk into the mixture at a time while whisking constantly. Continue with a little milk at a time until all the milk has been added.
5. Add the milk mixture back into the pot and return to the burner over a moderate flame.
6. While whisking constantly, cook the custard until it comes to a boil. Be sure to get into the corners so you don’t end up with a chunky pastry cream.
7. Once the pastry cream boils, continue boiling and whisking for 1 minute. Pour onto the lined sheet pan, spread out the pastry cream, and cover with plastic wrap.
8. Poke a few holes in the plastic and refrigerate until completely set and cold. You generally do this overnight in a home refrigerator.

Assemble the mille crêpe cake

1. Put heavy cream to the bowl of a electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment or a large mixing bowl. Whisk by hand or on medium speed. You take it to soft peaks, then transfer it to another bowl.
2. Scrape the pastry cream from your sheet pan into the bowl of a electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. This can also be done by hand with a stiff silicone spatula. Beat the pastry cream on medium-high speed for 30 seconds to a minute to loosen it.
3. Prepare the crème légère. Take about a half cup of the whipped cream and fold it into the loosened pastry cream aggressively. This is called “sacrificing” in the professional world. This brings the pastry cream closer to the consistency of whipped cream, making combining easier and preserving more volume.
4. Delicately fold the remaining whipped cream into the pastry cream until completely combined.
5. Place one crêpe in the center of a flat cake plate. Place about ½ cup of the crème legere in the center and spread it out using a large offset spatula. You want most of the crepe to be covered without too many thin spots.
6. Repeat with all the crêpes except one for the top! Place the final crepe on the top. Wrap the whole cake and refrigerate for at least 4 hours to overnight.
7. When you are ready to serve, cover the top with lightly sweetened whipped cream, sliced fruits, and chopped candied nuts.

After it comes off the heat

Let the pan settle before you slice, so the crumb stays together. Cover leftovers once they are cool.

If you want another plate from Cakes, open American Flag Cake with a Soft Crumb and Peach Cake with a Soft Crumb.