A gluten-free crepe cake made with teff flour is a show-stopping dessert for your Passover seder or any occasion! You can do this, I promise!
Once I figured out how to make kosher-for-Passover crêpes using teff flour, it was only a matter of time before I created a recipe for a kosher-for-Passover crêpe cake, right?
If you are not familiar with crêpe cakes, they are cakes made my stacking hundreds – okay, maybe just dozens – of crêpes with something delicious and binding – like pastry cream or whipped cream or buttercream – in between the layers to create a cake that you can slice and serve. As desserts go, crêpe cakes are definitely impressive, especially when you slice into them to reveal the stacked layers. Cue all the oohs and aahs from your friends!
You can make a crêpe cake in any flavor and combination you can imagine. Here, I used chocolate crêpes made with teff flour – making them gluten-free and kosher for Passover – and filled the cake with a orange-scented pastry cream. On top, an orange-scented whipped cream and a shower of fresh berries.
Because neither the chocolate crêpes nor the pastry cream are very heavily sweetened, the cake is lighter and less rich than it may appear. Plus the orange flavor and the berries add a nice tartness to the dish. As for the wheat, you will never miss it. Teff flour makes tender, melt-in-your mouth crêpes and the nutty flavor of teff pairs beautifully with chocolate.
As you might expect from how they look, crêpe cakes take time to make and there are several steps: you have to make the crêpe batter, let it rest, prepare the pastry cream filling, cook the crêpes and finally assemble the cake. It’s a no-bake dessert, but that definitely does not mean less work in this case!
But, the good news is that you can make the cake in advance — indeed, many of the steps must be done in advance, as I will explain — and chill it until it is time to serve. Whenever you are entertaining, be it Passover or just a dinner party, a dessert you can make well in advance is a beautiful thing.
Here is my suggested game plan for making this crêpe cake. The batter for the crêpes needs to rest for at least two hours in the fridge before you use it. But it can chill for as long as a day or two, so feel free to make the batter the day or even two days before.
You can also make the pastry cream the night before – just cover it with plastic wrap placed directly on top of the cream – not just on top of the bowl – to prevent a skin from forming.
The cake, once assembled, should be well-chilled prior to serving, so on the day of your seder or dinner party, make the cake in the morning, cover it and chill it until ready to serve. Plan for about an half-hour to forty-five minutes to cook all the crêpes and a similar amount of time to assemble the cake.
I recommend waiting until right before you want to serve the cake to add the whipped cream and fresh berries on top however. Whipped cream when refrigerated for a long time will start to weep. That’s why I actually prefer a pastry cream-whipped cream mixture for the filling here, even though pastry cream can be a bit of a chore to make. (Don’t worry – I spell out all the steps for you in the recipe.)
Bring the crêpe cake to the table uncut and bask in the admiration of your guests. Then, cut that first slice and be prepared for a round of applause when they see all the gorgeous layers!
Ingredients
- 2 cups teff flour
- 3 cups milk
- 4 eggs
- 6 TB sugar
- 1/4 cup cocoa powder
- 4 TB (1/2 stick) butter, melted
- 1 TB vanilla extract (can be omitted if not kosher for Passover)
- Pinch salt
- 2 cups whole milk
- Zest of one orange
- 6 large egg yolks
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 1/4 cup cornstarch
- 2 TB unsalted butter, divided
- 1 TB vanilla extract (can be omitted if not kosher for Passover)
- 2 cups heavy cream
- 2 tsp Grand Marnier or Cointreau (optional)
- 1 cup cream
- 2 TB sugar
- Fresh berries
Instructions
- Prepare the crepe batter by combining all the ingredients in a blender and blending until smooth.
- Allow batter to rest in the refrigerator for at least two hours and up to overnight.
- To make the pastry cream, pour the milk into a medium saucepan. Add the orange zest and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Remove from the heat.
- Prepare an ice bath by filling a larger bowl one-third full with ice and water.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the egg yolks and 1/2 cup of sugar until pale. Sift the cornstarch into the mixture and whisk to combine.
- Slowly whisk about one-quarter of the milk into the yolk mixture to temper it, then whisk the yolk mixture back into the pan with the remaining milk.
- Cook custard over medium-high heat, whisking constantly, until the pastry cream thickens. Remove the pan from the heat and whisk in the butter until it is completely melted.
- Strain the pastry cream through a fine-mesh sieve into a medium bowl to remove the orange zest and any lumps or bits of cooked egg. Whisk in the vanilla extract.
- Set the bowl of pastry cream in the ice bath and stir frequently until cold. Press a piece of plastic wrap directly onto the surface of the cream and refrigerate until needed.
- To make the crepes, spray a 10-inch nonstick crepe pan with nonstick cooking spray and preheat over medium heat.
- Cut 20 squares of wax or parchment paper to place finished crepes on.
- Whisk the batter to recombine and add a splash of milk if it appears too thick.
- Pour 1/4 cup batter into the preheated crepe pan and immediately swirl batter around the pan for an even coating. (Be careful just to thinly coat the bottom of the pan or the crepes will not cook and will be too thick.)
- Cook crepe for one minute to one and a half minutes until top appears dry. Remove pan from heat and using the edge of a thin, flexible spatula, carefully loosen edges.
- Flip crepe onto wax or parchment paper.
- Return pan to heat and repeat with remaining batter, spraying the pan with nonsticjkspray every few crepes.
- Stack finished crepes on top of one another with paper in between and cover with a towel to keep from drying out. You should have at least 20 usable crepes. (The first one is often a dud.)
- To begin assembling cake, combine the pastry cream with whipped cream: whip two cups of heavy cream in a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment on high speed until it forms soft peaks. Gradually add 1/4 cup sugar to the cream and the Grand Marnier or Cointreau if using.
- Fold the whipped cream into the pastry cream.
- To assemble, place a crepe on a cake plate. (You may want to slip parchment paper under the side of the crepe to catch spills.) Top with 1/3 cup of the pastry cream mixture and spread to the edges of the crepe with an offset spatula. Top with another crepe.
- Continue layering until you have used all your cream and crepes, ending with one of the prettiest crepes on top.
- Cover and chill cake for several hours up to overnight.
- Prior to serving, whip remaining cup of cream in a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment on high speed until it forms soft peaks. Gradually add 2 TB sugar to the cream and another splash of vanilla extract, Grand Marnier or Cointreau if desired.
- Top cake with whipped cream and add berries. Serve immediately.
