My Daring Baker friends might want to avert their eyes right now because I'm revisiting Crepe-gate, although only briefly and on a very small scale. From the moment we were given the original recipe of the chocolate crepe cake I had wanted to try a lemon version. Pancake Day in our house was always about the lemon and sugar and although Nutella has since raised its chocolatey head, even my little one is sometimes torn between the two. Besides, I still had a little lemon curd left over.
I had a basic idea of how I wanted to do it, plain crepes and a white chocolate ganache to cover, but I couldn't decide how exactly to fill them. Not wanting to just use the lemon curd neat, but also not much in the mood for making a custard based lemon cream, this is supposed to be a pared down version, I had to wait for laziness to inspire me. Delicious magazine had what I needed (you may have noticed I have used it once or twice before) with this simple Lemon curd and ginger fool which I made even simpler by omitting the ginger. Beating a little mascarpone with some icing sugar, then folding in some barely whipped cream and finally stirring in the lemon curd, but only just. I can cope with that.
I think shop-bought crepes would be fine to use in this recipe as the the layers soften when left to sit in the fridge, and no fingers will be harmed in the process. To be honest the only reason I made my own is because I was making them for the little one anyway. Make the petals the day before to get yourself started. It's not hard to assemble the cakes as their mini stature makes them easier to handle than the large cake, and less likely to take a trip south while your back is turned. The assembly itself is a little time consuming, but in a methodical way so you can let your mind wander in whatever direction you may choose.
Me, I'm quite tired after all that, I could do with a sit down and a little bite.
P.S. Since posting this earlier I found two links which may be of interest, one is by fellow Daring Baker Lis at La Mia Cucina compiling all the original darkest crepe cakes in one place. Then I found this mille crepe gateau on the delectable Dean and Deluca website. At a whopping $100 for a puny 20 layers I think I may be selling myself short. Cheques can be sent in the mail... thanks.
MINI WHITE CHOCOLATE CREPE CAKES
For the crepes: follow the recipe from Pancake Tuesday or even use shop-bought crepes.
For the filling:
- 75g mascarpone
- 4 tbsp icing sugar
- 250ml double cream, lightly whipped
- 8 tbsp lemon curd (shop-bought or home-made)
- few drops of vanilla
For the ganache:
- 250g good quality white chocolate, finely chopped
- 125ml double cream
- about 1 tbsp unsalted butter, melted, optional
For the chocolate petals:
- 85g white chocolate, melted
- 1 tsp lemon zest, finely chopped
- fresh raspberries, to garnish
- Make the petals first because they need to set. Place a long sheet of tin foil on a flat work surface. Melt the chocolate in a microwave or in a bowl over a pan of simmering water. Stir in the lemon zest and continue to stir until smooth.
- Dip the back of a tablespoon, or teaspoon depending on what size petals you want, into the chocolate and smear it gently onto the foil, moving the spoon towards you. Allow the petals to set until firm then slip the blade of a small metal spatula under each petal to release it from the foil.
- Remove and place in an airtight container up to 3 days.
- Make the filling by beating the mascarpone and icing sugar until smooth. Lightly fold in the whipped cream then stir through the lemon curd with a fork so that you can still see streaks of lemon curd.
- To get six, three inch diameter, six layer cakes you'll need 9 or 10 eight inch crepes. Cut 3 inch rounds out of your crepes and layer with about a tablespoon of filling. Use six layers for each mini-cake and continue layering crepes and filling until you have 6 cakes. Assemble them on a large plate and put in the fridge to set, while you make the ganache.
- Make the ganache by placing the chopped chocolate in a medium bowl, then heating the cream until it has just boiled. If the cream gets a skin on top, pour it through a strainer over the chocolate in the bowl. Stir the chocolate until smooth. Adding melted butter will create a higher sheen to the icing, but it is not essential.
- Remove the cakes from the fridge and gently transfer to a wire rack placed over a baking tray, using a spatula. Pour over the ganache to coat, scooping up the excess ganache with the spatula to spread over any patches that didn't get covered. While the icing is still wet place the petals around the top, slightly overlapping to make what should, hopefully, look like flowers. Place a fresh raspberry in the middle to finish it all off. Then refrigerate again until set. Dust with icing sugar and serve with extra raspberries. Just a note on the petals, I didn't temper the white chocolate so it did develop a slight bloom of white streaks, so next time I might exert myself enough to temper it, though the icing sugar did disguise the streaks in this case!
Makes 6, 3 inch cakes.
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