Oh, Canada! 18-Layer Strawberry Crêpe Cake

I would eat this cake for breakfast.

Really, a crêpe is basically a very thin pancake, either sweet or savoury, filled or layered with just about anything you can think of under the Canadian summer sun. If maple syrup flowing over the edges of pillowy soft pancakes is an acceptable start to a lazy Sunday morning, then I'm sticking to my guns (and rationalizing) an entire stack of thin pancakes layered with honey sweetened & vanilla flavoured pastry cream should be just as customary.

Besides, it's the celebratory weekend where it's demanded we show our Canadian pride with anything and everything red, white & delicious. Snowbirds, beaches, farmers' markets, parades, fireworks, bbq's, backyards, beer, and cake!

Mille crêpe is the classical name for this cake as mille means 'thousand'. A bit of an exaggeration but you get the idea of many layers composing the cake. It is quite forgiving to prepare if you need another reason to attempt the recipe besides the stunning presentation.

This crêpe cake can be prepared in stages if it seems overwhelming to complete all at once. Prepare the batter up to a day in advance; prepare the crêpes up to a day in advance; prepare the pastry cream up to 4 days in advance. Assemble the cake up to a day in advance. If you follow along with my work at all, you know I like to share ideas and recipes that can be adapted to whatever seasonal ingredient is available. Could you imagine this cake topped with juicy peaches or blueberries?

A couple of suggestions:
Crêpes should be thin and delicate. Not too delicate that they fall apart but still thin enough to know they are not a pancake. If they are thicker than a couple of millimeters, oh well. They will still taste fantastic but if they are too thick try adding a little water to the batter. Alternatively, if they are too thin add 1-2 tablespoons of flour to thicken. It's almost customary that the first one or two crêpes you prepare will be 'duds' but in their own sense they are the best because as 'testers' you can eat them hot off the pan still coated in succulent butter.
The pan you cook the crêpes in should be hot enough that it only takes a minute to cook them on the first side without burning. The edges of the crêpes should curl and become lacy -  crêpe means 'curled'. Test the pan before adding the butter and batter by dropping in a few drops of water; it should spatter and hiss. If it takes longer to cook the crêpes they could become soggy or doughy (and could also mean they are too thick). Oh well, they will still taste delicious.

When preparing the pastry cream, take care to not overcook it. Because you are cooking an egg based custard with cornstarch, there is the chance you could literally make scrambled eggs. Stir constantly and never leave the pastry cream unattended while on the stove top. As soon as it's sufficiently thickened, take it off the heat and cool it down as quickly as possible.

Funny/humbling story time: chefs school, 2002. Celebrity chef Andrew Shott is the guest chef in residence for a week. "Can you make pastry cream?" Mr. Shott asks me. "Sure can!" I replied.
"Sure I can screw it up and scramble eggs," is what I could have replied instead because that is exactly what I did. Yes, you can strain out the curdled/lumpy bits of egg from a custard (or puree them so they are unrecognizable) but you cannot get rid of the 'cooked' egg flavour no matter what you do. If you curdle a custard, it's not the end of the world. Maybe you can learn from my mistakes though and skip this kitchen lesson. If you don't, oh well.

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18-Layer Strawberry Crêpe Cake

Recipe inspired from Serious Eats

Serves 10-12

Pastry Cream:
1 1/2 cups milk
3 tablespoons local honey
1/2 vanilla bean
4 egg yolks
4 tablespoons sugar
1/4 cup cornstarch
pinch of salt
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, cubed
1 cup 35% cream
1 tablespoon icing sugar

• In a medium-sized pot, bring milk, honey and vanilla bean (pod slit; seeds scraped into milk) to a boil. Once the milk bubbles, turn off the heat, and cover the pot for 10 minutes to steep.

• After the vanilla has steeped into the milk, place yolks, sugar, cornstarch, and salt into a separate bowl and whisk until combined.

• In four stages, slowly add the scalded milk to the egg mixture, mixing thoroughly after each addition. Once combined, pour the entire mixture back into the pot and apply medium heat. Stirring constantly, allow the mixture to heat to 150°F or until it is thickened enough to coat a spoon.

• Remove pot from heat and stir in cold cubed butter; stir until combined.

• Pour pastry cream through a fine mesh strainer to into a clean bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Refrigerate until needed. (This step can be done up to 4 days in advance.) Tip- rinse the vanilla bean under water, dry, and add to a small container of sugar to create vanilla sugar.

• Before assembling cake: whip 35% cream with icing sugar to form stiff peaks. Fold whipped cream into cold pastry cream until well combined. Set aside.

Crêpes
2 cups all-purpose flour
6 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons finely grated lemon zest
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 cups milk
1 cup water
4 eggs
1/2 cup melted butter + 2 T

• In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, zest, and salt.

• In a pourable mixing container, combine milk, water, and eggs.

• Making a well in the center of the dry ingredients, pour in wet ingredients. Using a whisk, stir the liquid into the flour by stirring in circles - working from the center outwards. Once the batter is smooth, pour in 1/2 cup melted butter and whisk to combine. Cover and allow batter to rest in the fridge for at least 2 hours up to 24.

• To prepare crêpes: heat a shallow, 9 or 10-inch non stick pan over medium-high heat. Grease pans lightly with reserved butter.

• In one hand, lift the hot pan up (with a pot holder!). With your other hand, pour in 1/4 cup of batter into the center of the pan while simultaneously tilting and swirling it to cover the bottom surface with as thin a layer as possible. Cook the batter for about 1 minute on one side or until lightly speckled brown and edges lacy. Using a large palette knife or spatula, carefully flip crêpe over and cook for another 20-30 seconds. Remove from pan and place on a baking rack or tray to cool.

• Repeat until batter is depleted. You should end up with approximately 18-20 crêpes. This process can be completed 24 hours in advance if wrapped and refrigerated.

Cake Assembly:
Prepared pastry cream
Prepared crêpes
1 quart local strawberries
Icing sugar for dusting

• To assemble cake, spoon 2 tablespoons of pastry cream onto a cake platter or cake and place a crêpe on top. Alternate layers of about 3-4 tablespoons of pastry cream and a crêpe smoothing the pastry cream in between as you go. Dust with icing sugar. Slice fresh berries on top. Cover and refrigerate at least one hour before serving.