You might have noticed but I love making crème brûlée inspired desserts. It not even about the crème brûlée part. I just liking hitting desserts.
I don’t why but it’s extremely satisfying spending hours making something and then just destroying it afterwards.
Anyway I’ve been seeing a lot of videos on tiktok about crème brûlée crepe cones, that a place in London sells. I NEEDED TO TRY IT but I couldn’t figure out how to make them in cone formation so I made a crème brûlée crepe cake instead!
Can I skip the chilling time?
So in the recipe, there’s two different times when you need to wait and leave things to chill in the fridge.
The first time is after you make the batter. It is important to let the batter chill in the fridge for at least an hour, you could also leave it in the fridge overnight.
This resting time allows the gluten strands to relax. If you skip this time, the crepes will have a chewy/gummy like texture, which is not what we want.
Then the second time is after you have filled and stacked all the crepes. I recommend leaving the cake in the fridge for 30-60 minutes to let everything set before cutting it. If you try cutting into it straight away, the crepes will slide around too much. It will still taste good but the slices won’t be as neat.
Video Tutorial
Tips on making the crepes:
Sieve the batter
The best way to make crepe batter is by adding everything into a blender. I don’t like washing blenders though, so I just whisk it. But either way, the batter will have some lumps so make sure to pour it through a sieve before leaving it to chill.
Add some corn flour
This is optional but I’ve added 20g of corn flour into the recipe.
Corn flour gives you a softer crepe, you can leave it out and just add 20g of extra plain flour but I recommend adding it.
Cook them on low heat
I don’t cook them for too long, I prefer when they don’t gain too much colour. But just cook them on low heat and flip once the top starts looking a little matte.
Adding the brûlée:
For the brûlée part of the crème brûlée, I added a thin layer of granulated sugar on top of a slice of the cake. Then used a blow torch to brûlée it.
I recommend only doing this part when you’re about to eat or serve a slice. If you do it to the top of the whole cake at once, it just starts melting after a while.
Crème Brûlée Crepe Cake
Ingredients
- For the crepes:
4 eggs
350ml warm milk
50g unsalted butter (melted)
100g plain flour
20g corn flour
30g granulated sugar
- For the filling:
3 egg yolks
15g corn flour
40g granulated sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
220ml milk
15g unsalted butter
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
250ml double cream
50g icing sugar
Directions
- Making the crepe batter:
- In a bowl or jug, mix together the eggs, milk and butter.
- In a separate bowl, mix together the flour, corn flour and sugar. Pour the wet mixture into this and whisk everything together until you can't see any more flour. At this point, it might be a little lumpy, this is ok.
- Pour this batter through a sieve to get rid of all the lumps, then leave the batter in the fridge for at least an hour.
- Making the filling:
- In a non-stick pot, add the egg yolks, corn flour, granulated sugar and salt. Mix these together then mix in the milk.
- Put this pot onto low heat and keep heating, whiles stirring during the whole process, until the mixture thickens.
- Once it thickens, add in the butter and vanilla. Mix until the butter has melted.
- At this point, if you see any lumps, push this through a sieve. If not just add it straight into a bowl, cover with cling film (make sure the cling film is touching the surface of the custard), then leave in the fridge to cool.
- In a separate bowl, add the double cream and icing sugar. Whip this until you get stiff peaks. Leave this in the fridge too.
- Once the custard has completely cooled, mix it into the whipped cream then leave this filling in the fridge until you're ready to use it.
- Cooking the crepes:
- After the batter has rested, you can start cooking your crepes.
- Place a pan on low heat. Once the pan has heated up, add some of the crepe batter onto it. Immediately swirl the pan around so that the crepe batter covers the surface of the pan. Try not to add too much batter to the pan, you want the crepes to be thin.
- I only cooked these for about 30 seconds on each side, you can cook them for longer if you want. I just prefer them when they don't have too much colour on them.
- Keep repeating this until you've used all of the batter.
- Putting the cake together:
- Once all the crepes have been cooked and have cooled down, put everything together.
- Add a crepe down onto a cake board or plate, add some of the filling, spread it out and then add another crepe on top. Keep repeating this until you've used all of the crepes, then also add some of the filling on top too.
- Side note, this is not like a regular cake. So when adding the filling, only add thin layers, if you add to much the crepes will be sliding around too much.
- Leave this in the fridge to set for 30-60 minutes, then cut into it.
- When serving, add a slice onto a plate, sprinkle some granulated or caster sugar on top, then brûlée it with a blow torch. Let this sit for about 30 seconds so the sugar can set and then that is it!
