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Earl Grey Tea Crepe Cake

(with Orange infused Burnt Sugar)

Recently, I’ve seen crepe cakes become a popular dessert served at restaurants here in New York City. I had my first crepe cake over 5 years ago from Lady M Confections, a bakery in New York City made famous for their Mille Crepe Cakes. I instantly fell in love with the crepe cake for its uniqueness and delicate yummy-ness. Layer after layer of paper thin crepes and light pastry cream - Brilliant! And of course with all things I love - I had to master the art of making it. Especially since I lived in suburbia at the time and to me Lady M was a from a land far far away. I had made the ‘traditional’ crepe cake (with basic pastry cream) twice and since then I’ve had lemon-raspberry and green tea versions. These variations made me think of other flavors that would make for a delicious crepe cake and I remembered having earl grey tea ice cream once and loving it so much, so much that i took that memory and made it into a crepe cake.

A friend suggested pairing it with oranges since earl grey tea is recognized for its addition of oil extracted from the rind of the bergamot orange. I never noticed and had no clue, so i looked it up and it was true and so I went with it. To incorporate orange I started with infusing sugar with orange rinds to brulee the top of the cake. It seemed like a really awesome idea, but in the end the sugar didn’t pick up enough of the orange flavor to be noticed. It smelled great though.

I had planned to complete my cake on a Sunday and thought I could pickup a torch on the same day but unfortunately, just my luck, any store carrying kitchen torches in my area were CLOSED. What a bummer. So I had to improvise. I sprinkled sugar on foil in a circular shape approximately the same diameter as my crepe cake and broiled it.  It worked! AND looked pretty cool if you ask me. I served it up with a side of orange wedges and it was the PERFECT compliment, my friends are so smart.


Recipe

The day before serving the cake, make the crepe batter and the pastry cream. If you want to make it all on the same day - prepare the batter at least 1 hour before cooking. The resting time allows the flour to absorb the liquid and the foam to dissipate. Cover and refrigerate the batter if it’s going to sit for longer than 1 hour.

Crepe batter:

6 tablespoons butter
3 cups milk
6 eggs
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
7 tbsp. sugar
Pinch salt
vegetable oil (for the pan)

  1. Cook the butter in a small pan until brown like hazelnuts. Set aside.
  2. In another small pan, heat the milk until steaming; allow to cool for 10 minutes. In a mixer on medium-low speed, beat together the eggs, flour, sugar and salt.
  3. Slowly add the hot milk and browned butter. Pour into a container with a spout, cover and refrigerate overnight.


To make the crepes:

  1. Bring the batter to room temperature. Place a nonstick or seasoned 9-inch crepe pan over medium heat.
  2. Swab the surface with the oil, then add about 3 tablespoons batter and swirl to cover the surface. (Tip: I use a 1/4 cup measuring cup - filled to almost the top and it’s just the right amount of batter)
  3. Cook until the bottom just begins to brown, about 1 minute, then carefully lift an edge and flip the crepe with your fingers. Cook on the other side for no longer than 5 seconds.
  4. Flip the crepe onto a baking sheet lined with parchment.
  5. Repeat until you have 20 perfect crepes.


For the vanilla pastry cream:

2 cups milk
6 bags Earl Grey tea
1 tbsp. vanilla extract
6 egg yolks
1/2 cup sugar
1/3 cup cornstarch, sifted
3 1/2 tbsp. butter

  1. Bring the milk to a boil. Turn off the heat, stir in the vanilla extract and add tea bags.
  2. Set aside for 10 minutes (allow tea to steep during this time).
  3. Fill a large bowl with ice and set aside a small bowl that can hold the finished pastry cream and be placed in this ice bath.
  4. In a medium heavy-bottomed pan, whisk together the egg yolks, sugar and cornstarch.
  5. Gradually whisk in the hot milk, then place pan over high heat and bring to a boil, whisking vigorously for 1 to 2 minutes. (Tip: Remove the cream from heat once it starts to thicken - the cornstarch will thicken quickly and will get too gelatinous if heat for too long) 
  6. Press the pastry cream through a fine-meshed sieve into the small bowl.
  7. Set the bowl in the ice bath and stir until the temperature reaches 140 degrees on an instant-read thermometer.
  8. Stir in the butter.
  9. When completely cool, cover and refrigerate.


To assemble the cake:

2 cups heavy cream
1 tablespoon sugar

  1. Whip the heavy cream with the tablespoon sugar. Fold it into the pastry cream.
  2. Lay 1 crepe on a cake plate. Using an icing spatula, completely cover with a thin layer of pastry cream (about 1/4 cup).
  3. Cover with a crepe and repeat to make a stack of 20, with the best-looking crepe on top.
  4. Chill for at least 2 hours. Set out for 30 minutes before serving.
  5. If you have a kitchen torch, sprinkle the top crepe with 2 tablespoons sugar and caramelize with the torch; otherwise, dust with confectioners’ sugar right before serving.
  6. Slice like a cake.


Credits | Basic recipe adapted from Cream Puffs in Venice

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Jar of Hearts | Tiramisu

This year I was invited along with a few other girlfriends, sans date, over to my friend Han’s apartment for Valentine’s Day dinner.  At the host’s request I brought Tiramisu for desert. I’ve never been one to get excited about Valentine’s Day so in order to get into the Valentine’s Day spirit I wanted to do something special. Instead of making a whole cake - I made each person an individual serving in Ball Mason Jars. Also, in place of home-made Valentine’s Day cards - I decorated the jars with mesh ribbon, love quotes, butterfly cutouts and personalized labels.

The tiramisu was made two days in advance and decorated the night before dinner. All in all the overall process was more lengthy than usual because I had to separate the components of the recipe to fill each jar but so worth it. They were so pretty, no one wanted to eat them! In the end it was impossible - they couldn’t resist, the tiramisu didn’t stand a chance and I don’t blame them because it was delicious!

Recipe

Tiramisu

Ingredients
6 egg yolks
3/4 cup white sugar
2/3 cup milk
1 1/4 cups heavy cream
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 pound mascarpone cheese
3/4 cup strong brewed coffee, room temperature
6 tablespoons rum (add a tablespoon or two more if you want the flavor to be more intense)
2 (3 ounce) packages ladyfinger cookies (the hards ones, not the soft fresh ones - they don’t absorb as well)
1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder

Directions

  1. In a medium saucepan, whisk together egg yolks and sugar until well blended. Whisk in milk and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until mixture boils. Boil gently for 1 minute, remove from heat and allow to cool slightly. Cover tightly and chill in refrigerator 1 hour.
  2. In a medium bowl, beat cream with vanilla until stiff peaks form. Whisk mascarpone into yolk mixture until smooth. Fold the cream into mascarpone / yolk mixture. Refrigerate.
    In a small bowl, combine coffee and rum. Split ladyfingers in half lengthwise and drizzle with coffee mixture. (Tip: dip only half of the lady fingers, flat sugarless side down, for only 1 to 2 seconds - the hard cookies absorb the liquid quickly. The cookies will soften as it stands, so over soaking will make the cookies soggy.)
  3. Arrange half of soaked ladyfingers in bottom of a 7x11 inch dish or a spring form pan. Spread half of cream mixture over ladyfingers. Repeat layers. Cover and refrigerate 4 to 6 hours, until set. Sprinkle with cocoa (wait to sprinkle the cocoa until right before serving). Best after 2 days. (MODIFICATION Tip: to fill mason jars cut / break the soaked lady fingers into small pieces to fit in the jar and then layer, like a parfait.)
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