Tiramisu crepe cake
Twist on the italian dessert tiramisu
Tiramisu crepe cake! Do you like to eat the crepe cake layer by layer or slice it through? Something so satisfying about slicing through the layers of crepe cake.
I absolutely love tiramisu! The layers of coffee dipped ladyfingers, creamy mascarpone custard cream, and dusted generously with cocoa powder. This Italian dessert translates into “pick me up” because of the generous amount of coffee in it. And let me tell you as a mum I have been living off a lot of coffee so this dessert is right up my ally. It is also my go-to dessert to make for friends as it doesn’t involve any cooking and you can assemble it the night before.
Made the crepes last night after bubba went to bed and assembled it throughout the next day. Wanted to film an awesome timelapse video of making the crepe cake but Ethan was sick today and only wanted to be carried so he was my priority.
I got inspired to turn this traditional dessert into a crepe cake and it works so well. Instead of using ladyfingers I made coffee crepes but kept the same mascarpone custard filling and cocoa dusting. The whole crepe cake was easy to easy and held together very well. If you love tiramisu but want to changes things up by making another version this recipe is for you!
Tiramisu crepe cake
Directions
Coffee crepes
1. In a big bowl combine the eggs, espresso, milk, sugar, and salt and combine well.
2. Sieve in the flour, baking soda, and baking powder and with a whisk mix until all combined. If the mixture is lumpy, using an electric mixer will help to smooth out the batter.
3. Heat a small 20 cm non-stick frying pan on the stove on the lowest heat.
4. Grab a ladle and pour in ¼ cup of mixture and quickly swirl around until the batter evenly coats the frying pan. Let it cook for about 1-2 minutes.
5. Then wait until the edges start to lift off. You can test by trying to slide your spatula under the crepes, if they are ready, you should be able to easily slide under. If it is still not ready and under-cooked then the spatula will struggle or squish all the crepe together.
6. Now slide the spatula under the crepe and flip over. Cook for another 20 seconds. Then remove the crepe onto a plate.
7. Repeat until you get about 16 good crepes. I find 16 crepes to be a good height for the cake but I like my crepe cakes high.
8. Let them cool completely before using it.
Mascarpone cream
1. In a metal, bowl combine the egg yolk and sugar and mix well with a whisk.
2. Now we are going to semi cook and thicken the egg yolk mixture over a double boiler. Then put a pot with a little bit of water on the stove. Bring it to a boil and then turn down to the lowest heat setting. Place the metal bowl on top, making sure that the water does not touch the bowl directly. Continuously stir the egg yolk mixture as it thickens and cooks from the steam of the water in the pot. You want to do this until you can no longer feel any grains of sugar when you rub between your fingers and the mixture thickens, lightens and becomes glossier.
3. Once the thickness of the egg yolk mixture is achieved, take off the heat and set aside to cool.
4. In a big bowl whip up the mascarpone until fluffy and smooth. Add in the cream and beat with a mixer until thick. If you like your tiramisu cream runnier or more solid the consistency of the mascarpone/cream mixture now will determine that.
5. Add in the cooled egg yolk mixture and mix in well.
Assemble
1. Now time to put the crepe cake together. Cake stand or plate:
a. Place a coffee crepe onto the plate.
b. Spread on a layer of cream. To achieve a somewhat even looking cake it is important to spread the cream all the way and beyond the crepe edge. After all the layering we will scrape the side cream off anyways. Also, make sure to not put too much cream in the center, or else will it dome.
c. Top with another layer of crepe, making sure it is centered. Slightly press down the crepe especially in the middle.
d. Then repeat until all the crepe and cream are used!
2. Grab your scraper or cake spatula/palette and evenly scrape off the side and top of the cake. Normally I get my cake palette and somewhat even out the cream all over the cake, at this stage it will still look like a big blob of cream. Then I grab my scraper, place the long edge of the scrape to the side of the cake, making sure it is perpendicular to the cake plate and turn the plate to scrape off the cream. Then I grab my palette again and even out the top by bringing in the cream from the outer circle to the middle. Then when it is looking pretty even, I grab my cake palette one last time and make indents to the top of the cake so that it adds texture to the cake.
3. Dust the top of the cake generously with cocoa powder.
4. Mature in the refrigerator for at least 3 hours before serving.
Ingredients
Cream
4 Egg yolks
100g White sugar
300g Cream
500g Mascarpone
Coffee crepes
10 Eggs
1 cup Espresso extra strong (Or 1 cup of hot water and ¼ cup Instant coffee)
3 cups Milk
1/2 cup Sugar
Pinch of salt
2 cups Flour
1 tsp Baking soda
1 tsp Baking powder
Cocoa powder for dusting
Note:
- There are a lot of eggs and the batter may seem runny but I find if you are using a frying pan to make crepes instead of a proper crepe pan with a wooden spreader the batter has to be this way.
- I always think of the first few as practice and to get used to the motion of swirling, testing out when it is best to flip, and so on.
- Don’t worry if the crepes are not perfect all the same size or it didn’t evenly swirl so some parts are thicker. As long as it doesn’t have holes, which sometimes when you swirl there can be one spot where the batter doesn’t reach, then just grab a spoon and spread on some batter.