What do you get when you put 30 enthusiastic, gorgeous and passionate girls together with a challenge and a blog?
A lot of raving, ranting, chitter, chatter, venting and in some cases hyperventilating!
The challenge, which was picked by Brilynn, was not the easiest. A chocolate crepe cake as created by Martha Stewart. It has always been Brilynn's dream to make this cake and so she decided to get the entire Daring Bakers team to share the dream.
The Daring Bakers blog (a private blog only for the privileged LOL!) was alive with lively chatter. Tom's birthday was earlier this month so I had the perfect occasion to experiment with the cake. I think I was one of the first to give the challenge a try.I was a bit intimidated by the challenge. It was my first after all and I really did not want to let any of my team mates down. The challenge as set by Bri, was to make the crepes and the glazing but the filling and the toppings could be changed as desired. Well at first I thought to use Nutella for my filling, but my thoughts did not let me rest.
It must have been a sign from the Cake God - the doorbell rang and the mailman brought my copy of Chocolate Desserts by Pierre Hermé written by Dorie Greenspan. As I opened it, the first recipe that I saw was for a wonderful, rich chocolate pastry cream. It took me a millisecond to decide. This was my crepe cake filling.
However, it did not rest there. I just could not help myself and I had to tweak with the Holy Meister of Desserts' recipe too. I dared to make a slight change to this - I am a Daring Baker after all!
The recipe below is the one of my tweaks and changes. In some cases I was forced to make a few minor changes to avoid catastrophe!
Ingredients:
For the chocolate crepes:
200g all-purpose flour
150g semisweet chocolate - finely chopped
50g fine sugar
170g cold unsalted butter - cut into pieces, plus melted for pan
620 ml whole milk - room temperature
6 large eggs - room temperature
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
For the chocolate orange pastry cream:
adapted from Pierre Hermé's Chocolate Desserts by Pierre Hermé
500 ml whole milk
4 large egg yolks
75g sugar
3 tablespoons cornstarch - sifted
200g bittersweet chocolate - melted. I used Sarotti's No. 1 with orange peel
40g unsalted butter - room temperature
For the chocolate glaze
295 ml heavy cream
250g semisweet chocolate - finely chopped
30g unsalted butter - cut into pieces
For the candied orange peel
470 ml filtered water
380g sugar - some for rolling the peels in
1 medium sized orange
Method:
For the chocolate crepes:
In a small saucepan bring approx. 60 ml water to a rolling boil over medium-high heat. Add butter, 1 piece at a time, whisking to combine after each addition. Remove from heat; stir in chocolate until completely melted. Set aside.
Mix together the flour, sugar, and salt in a medium bowl. Whisk the milk, vanilla and eggs together in another medium bowl. Using an electric whisk/blender, gradually add milk mixture to flour mixture, whisking until smooth. Finally add chocolate-butter mixture and whisk until it has incorporated - do not overmix. Pour through a fine sieve into a pitcher or a container with a pouring spout (I used my lemonade glass pitcher) and rap the pitcher on the counter to burst any air bubbles. Cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours or overnight.
When you are ready to make the crepes, whisk the batter gently just to re-blend the ingredients. The batter should have a consistency of heavy cream. If it is too thick add some more milk, just a tiny drizzle at a time.
Lightly coat a crepe pan or nonstick pan with melted butter. I used a small 19 cm non-stick pan for this. Place the pan on a medium heat until just starting to smoke. As soon as the pan is hot, lift from heat and pour about 3-4 tablespoons batter into pan, swirling to cover bottom. Reduce the heat to medium-low and return pan to heat. Cook for approx. 30 seconds. Run a icing spatula around the edges of the crepe and check the underside - it should be golden. If you are happy with the coloring flip it over - yes, I used my fingers - and cook the other side till golden. This side will cook faster than the first one so make sure it does not get too dark.
Although crepes are supposed to be paper thin I quickly discovered that this was not going to work that way. The original recipe from Martha asks us to use 2 tablespoons of batter to make the crepes. However, this caused me two problems:
- My first 5 or 6 crepes ripped easily
- When spreading the pastry cream on the first one caused the crepe also to rip
So, I needed a new plan of action and decided to make them a bit thicker. This worked really well and I had no trouble flipping the crepes.
Slide the crepes onto a plate, stacking them on top of each other in stacks of 5 or 6 and separating each one with a sheet of baking paper to avoid them sticking to each other. Repeat the process with the remaining batter, coating pan with butter as needed. You should yield about 25 crepes.
Storing tip:
When packed airtight you can refrigerate them for a day or frozen for a month.
For the chocolate pastry cream:
adapted from Pierre Hermé's Chocolate Desserts by Pierre Hermé
Preparation
Fill a metal bowl with ice cubes and cold water. Set aside a smaller bowl that fits into the ice bath and will eventually hold the pastry cream. Set aside a fine meshed strainer too.
Bring the milk to a boil in a small saucepan. In a heavy-bottomed medium sized saucepan whisk the yolks, sugar and cornstarch together. Whisking all the time, slowly drizzle a quarter of the hot milk into the yolks. Still whisking, pour the rest of the milk in a steady stream into the tempered yolks.
Strain the mixture into the saucepan. Place the pan over a medium heat and continuously whisking, bring the mixture to a boil. Keep the mixture at the boil - whisking vigorously - for 1-2 minutes. Still over the heat, stir in the chocolate, then remove pan form heat. Scrape pastry cream into the small bowl set aside.
Place the bowl in the ice-water bath. Stirring frequently, to keep the mixture smooth, cool the pastry cream to 60 degrees Celsius. Remove the cream from the ice-water bath and stir in the butter in 3 or 4 additions. Return the cream to the ice-water bath, set aside, stirring occasionally until it has completely cooled.
Storing tip:
Cover tightly in plastic wrap, pressing the plastic against the cream's surface to create an airtight seal, the cream can be refrigerated for 2 days.
For the chocolate glaze
Bring the cream to a boil in a medium saucepan over a medium heat. Remove from heat and add the chocolate. Swirling the pan around allow the chocolate to melt. Add the butter and allow to melt mixing occasionally. Let stand for 5 minutes. Stir until smooth.
For the candied orange peel
For once I followed instructions of a recipe!! eHow is a fantastic website that shows you how to do 1001 things. This includes making candied orange peel.
Assembling the cake
Place a crepe on a wire rack or a large wooden board. Using a spatula spread about 2-3 tablespoons of pastry cream on the crepe. Cover with another crepe. Spread another 2-3 tablespoons of pastry cream, then cover with a crepe. Repeat this process until the pastry cream and crepes have been used up. In my case I ran out of cream on about the 18th crepe.
Spoon the glaze on top of the crepe cake and spread across so that it is evened and smooth. Allow the glaze to run down the sides of the cake, smoothing and evening with the spatula.
Decorate with the orange peel and if desired some hazelnut brittle. Allow the cake to set then move to a serving platter an refrigerate for a few hours.
Storing tip:
When covered loosely in plastic wrap the cake can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.
If you would like to try out the original recipe from Martha Stewart you will find it here. A helpful visual step by step of the cake can be found here.
Whichever version you do try - I wish you all the very best of luck. Make sure you cut out a big piece for yourself - after all that effort you deserve it.
Verdict:
I was expecting the crepes to be a bit rubbery as I made them slightly thicker. But they were not they were smooth and fluffy. I made this cake for Tom's birthday and although it was not enjoyed on the very same day, we dug into big pieces the next day for dessert. It is a very filling cake but the delicate flavor of orange really zests this cake up adding a slight zing to the cake. All that chocolate makes it a chocolate lover's dream come true. I preferred the idea of the light pastry cream to the filling hazelnut cream of the original recipe. It was just perfect for this type of cake.
To see the other Daring Bakers' experiments simply click here and work your way down the list.
Have fun!
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