The Show Off
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This is not a cake for the faint of heart. This is not a cake to throw together after work, or a cake to make for a kids birthday. Oh no. It will take several hours to make, and multiple steps and some patience. This cake is a labour of love. But, this isn’t a hard dessert to make, just a time consuming one I promise. And if you time yourself well, and make a few things the night before you won’t hate yourself for saying you’ll make it. And when your friends see the cake you’ve made, they will be intensely impressed. This is a show off cake. This is the cake to make if your boss is coming over for dinner, or for an anniversary. Or if your me, with to much time on your hands it’s what you make when you have friends coming for dinner on Friday night.
Crepe Cake with Dark Chocolate Ganache and Poached Pears
This is a long process, you will want to make the ganache first, because it takes several hours to firm up. Then make the crepe batter, because it will take at least an hour to cool. The poach the pears, then make the crepes. Then assemble it all!
Ganache:
500g Heavy Cream
250g Dark Chocolate, finely chopped
1tsp Vanilla Extract
Bring the cream and vanilla up to a boil
Pour over chocolate.
Let is sit for a couple of minutes, then stir. It may seem to take a while but it will get smooth!
Crepes
6 eggs
7 tbsp Sugar
1tsp Salt
1 1/2 cups Flour
1/3 cup Butter
3 cups Milk
In a pot bring melt the butter. Keep it on the heat until it is very frothy, stirring regularly. In a couple of minutes the milk solids will start to get brown and it will smell nutty.
Immediately pour the milk in and bring it to just belove a simmer.
Meanwhile mix the eggs and the sugar in a mixer with the whisk attachment.
Add in the flour and then slowly pour in the milk and butter mixture.
Whisk until you have nearly no lumps.
Cover and set to cool in the fridge.
Bring a small frying pan, not stick if you have it to medium heat.
Put a small nub of butter into the pan and tilt the pan to either side until the whole pan is covered.
Pour about a quarter cup of batter into the pan. It should spread pretty thin.
Let it start to bubble up a bit the tilt the pan to let excess from the middle spread to the sides.
Carefully, with a rubber spatula, push the edges gently and shake the pan until the whole crepe is moving.
Flip the crepe, with a spatula if your new to this, or with a flick of the wrist if your an old pro, and let it cook another minute on the second side.
Slide it onto a plate and go for the next! Repeat until the batter is finished, this will take a while.
Poached Pears
5 medium sized firm pears, I used Anjou.
1 cup sugar
1tbsp Vanilla Extract
Zest of an orange, peeled with a vegetable peeler into thick strips
Peel pears.
Cut them into quarters and core them.
Put them into a pot with sugar, vanilla and zest. Cover with water.
Bring to a simmer and gently cook for about 10 minutes or until just becoming translucent and are soft enough to cut with a spoon. Take off the heat and let cool.
Assemble
Slice the pears into thin strips.
Put a dollop of ganache on your plate
Lay a crepe down, spread it with ganache, then layer some pears on top.
Put a small dop of ganache onto the next crepe and place it face down on the crepe before, the ganache will work as glue to keep the layers from separating.
Repeat, repeat repeat.
I used about 17 layers of crepes, and now I’m writing this while eating the left overs.
I then used some pear slices on top to decorate it and sprinkled some icing sugar on top too.
I hope you make this cake,and I hope you like it as much as we did!
