Donna Walsifer
birthday cake
This past weekend my daughter and her family spent a few days with us. It was my daughter’s birthday, so I decided to make her favorite birthday cake, Gateau de Crepes. This is a cake made of multi layers of crepes with a rich, vanilla pastry cream filling. The recipe appeared in the New York Times in May 2005 where Amanda Hesser adapted the crepe batter from Joy of Cooking and the pastry cream came from Pierre Herme and Dorie Greenspan’s book Desserts.
The cake takes two days to prepare. The crepe batter and the pastry cream need to be prepared ahead of time. The crepe batter is a luscious combination of butter (which is browned and makes it tasty nutty), milk, eggs, flour, sugar and a pinch of salt. The pastry cream requires a vanilla bean, milk, egg yolks, sugar, cornstarch, heavy cream, butter and Kirsch (clear cherry brandy). Don’t skip the vanilla bean, it makes a world a difference in the cream. Although I purchased mine at Wegmans awhile ago, you can purchase whole vanilla beans from the websites of King Arthur Flour or Beanilla.
The cake takes two days to prepare. The crepe batter and the pastry cream need to be prepared ahead of time. The crepe batter is a luscious combination of butter (which is browned and makes it tasty nutty), milk, eggs, flour, sugar and a pinch of salt. The pastry cream requires a vanilla bean, milk, egg yolks, sugar, cornstarch, heavy cream, butter and Kirsch (clear cherry brandy). Don’t skip the vanilla bean, it makes a world a difference in the cream. Although I purchased mine at Wegmans awhile ago, you can purchase whole vanilla beans from the websites of King Arthur Flour or Beanilla.
On day two, I made my crepes. It takes a bit of practice to make the delicate crepes. I used my non-stick Greenpan, but had difficulty flipping them over to lightly brown the other side. You can purchase crepe pans from Williams-Sonoma, however, for a once a year cake, I’d rather perfect my technique with a non-stick pan. I did make enough crepes to make a 5” high cake. Although you can assemble the cake after the crepes have cooled, I opted to assemble on day 3.
After making the custard for the pastry cream, you need to press the mixture through a fine mesh strainer. This is done to eliminate any lumps. After cooling and refrigerating the pastry cream, you are to press it through a fine mesh strainer again. I didn’t do a second pass as my custard had no lumps. Instead, I whisked the cream vigorously to loosen it up before folding in the whipped cream. Another change I made was to eliminate the Kirsch and add 2 teaspoons of pure vanilla extract.
My cake came out beautifully. My daughter and son-in-law noted that it wasn’t lopsided like my previous cakes. It tasted fabulous. The crepes almost became one with the pastry cream. The cake was luscious, decadent and rich. It wasn’t sweet and tasted so light. I gave my daughter a wedge of cake to take home with her and I had small piece left that I shared with my neighbors. Here’s their reaction, “I hope you’re going to confession for this cake because it is sinful. Thank you!” From his wife, “WOW! Oh, WOW! OMG WOW! That cake was so fabulous! Thank you very, very, much! (Can you tell I really liked it?)” This cake has that effect on people. The cake involves some work, patience and bit of expense for the vanilla bean, but your guests will love this cake.
After making the custard for the pastry cream, you need to press the mixture through a fine mesh strainer. This is done to eliminate any lumps. After cooling and refrigerating the pastry cream, you are to press it through a fine mesh strainer again. I didn’t do a second pass as my custard had no lumps. Instead, I whisked the cream vigorously to loosen it up before folding in the whipped cream. Another change I made was to eliminate the Kirsch and add 2 teaspoons of pure vanilla extract.
My cake came out beautifully. My daughter and son-in-law noted that it wasn’t lopsided like my previous cakes. It tasted fabulous. The crepes almost became one with the pastry cream. The cake was luscious, decadent and rich. It wasn’t sweet and tasted so light. I gave my daughter a wedge of cake to take home with her and I had small piece left that I shared with my neighbors. Here’s their reaction, “I hope you’re going to confession for this cake because it is sinful. Thank you!” From his wife, “WOW! Oh, WOW! OMG WOW! That cake was so fabulous! Thank you very, very, much! (Can you tell I really liked it?)” This cake has that effect on people. The cake involves some work, patience and bit of expense for the vanilla bean, but your guests will love this cake.