(Some pretty ones from Victoria Magazine, Martha Stewart, and The Suburban Soapbox, L-R) Crepe cakes are just as they sound. It’s simply a stack of delicate, thin, crepes layered with something delicious between each one, piled high on a beautiful platter. Nothing spectacular happens to the crepes to change their flavor, texture, or appearance, so if you love crepes, you’ll love crepe cakes (and vice a versa.) As opposed to titling this post “Strawberry Chocolate Crepe Cake” I went with “How to make a Crepe Cake” because honestly it’s so easy and there are endless filling options when it comes to creating one. I’ll show you exactly what I did, and include my filling recipe at the end, but use your imagination and fill with anything you dream up! For this cake I decided to go with a no-fail flavor combination of hazelnut, chocolate, and strawberries.
First you’ll need a big ol’ stack of crepes. If you have a favorite recipe, feel free to use it. Here’s my recipe if you need one! This is the sort of thing you can eyeball a little bit. You can vary the size of your crepe if you want a smaller/taller, or wider/flatter. I went with a size that fit nicely on my cake stand and would be easy to cut into quite a few slices. Making the crepes is definitely the most labor intensive step, here. You can make them ahead of time and layer them between parchment or wax paper in a ziplock bag if you want to make them a day ahead.
Then feel free to experiment with different fillings. Fruit curds and chocolates are really delicious. Basically anything that would be good in a crepe is good in a crepe cake! I made up a chocolate-hazelnut filling and included a little gelatin to help it hold its shape.
Basically I started with my Stabilized Whipped Cream
and then folded it into a mixture of whipped Nutella and cream cheese.
To assemble the cake, you basically just lay down crepes and spread your filling.
Now I had this great idea and after every 2 or 3 Nutella layers, I spread on a layer of Strawberry filling (I used one of those Natural Smuckers Fruit Spreads). While the taste was fantastic, it made the layers super slippery! They kind of slid around, especially after slicing. So next time I’ll avoid jams and jellies and stick to more “sticky” fillings. Stabilized whipped cream would be really fantastic though.
When I was all done stacking the layers, I spread on a quick layer of ganache (which is just melted chocolate and cream)
and let some of it drip down the edges.
For the top, I used some chocolate dipped strawberries and Ferrero Rocher chocolates (which you can find at pretty much any grocery store)
Even though it seems like a lot of steps, crepe cakes are actually really easy to make! And they look SO impressive.
Next time I will also make my filling layers a little thicker. My layers kind of all smashed together. They still tasted amazing, but I would have liked a thicker filling.
I think this would be amazing with lemon curd and whipped cream in the layers and powdered sugar and berries on top. I think that might be what I try next!
Related Links
Find more Valentine’s Day ideas right here. For more berry desserts, check out these favorites! Chocolate Covered Strawberry Cream Puffs Russian Cream with Berries Pavlova
