Chef John's Strawberry Crêpe Cake

I used raspberry jam for this one. Took the advice and assembled on a plate without ridges. Awesome recipe!

This was actually only the second time I made crepes ever, and for how messy it looks it was still delicious. None of my crepes came out as even circles, and my layers strawberry cream were all over the place in thickness, but it still tasted good. I added thinly sliced strawberries as well, just since I really like raw strawberries and while I think it was nice texture, I think it was a mistake.

This was actually only the second time I made crepes ever, and for how messy it looks it was still delicious. None of my crepes came out as even circles, and my layers strawberry cream were all over the place in thickness, but it still tasted good. I added thinly sliced strawberries as well, just since I really like raw strawberries and while I think it was nice texture, I think it was a mistake.

Really, really fun. I served it for Valentine's Day breakfast, since it's basically cheese blintzes with whipped cream: breakfast food! This is a labor-intensive recipe, but it can be broken up into steps. I made the crepes first. Cooking them all took about an hour; I think I got 22 total. I wanted to use the filling to frost the exterior as well, so I used a whole 8 oz tub of mascarpone and about 4 Tbsp butter to help it firm up in the fridge. I also wanted to cut down the sweetness of the jam, so I changed the filling. Here's what I did: creamed the room-temp butter and 1/2 cup sugar, then beat in the room-temp mascarpone. I used a food processor to grind a packet of freeze-dried strawberries into a powder, then added that to the filling. I whipped two cups of cream (increased from 1.5 cups) in a separate bowl until soft peaks, then folded that in to the strawberry filling along with the vanilla. Despite increasing the amounts, I didn’t have enough for the outside of the cake and barely enough to cover every crepe. Once I'd stacked the crepes, I let the cake chill about half an hour. I whipped another 1.5 cups of cream with about 2 tablespoons of sugar and used that to frost the top and sides. I let it chill overnight, and it was ready to go this morning! I think it tastes much better at room temperature rather than straight out of the fridge. This would be great for Mother's Day brunch.

Really, really fun. I served it for Valentine's Day breakfast, since it's basically cheese blintzes with whipped cream: breakfast food! This is a labor-intensive recipe, but it can be broken up into steps. I made the crepes first. Cooking them all took about an hour; I think I got 22 total. I wanted to use the filling to frost the exterior as well, so I used a whole 8 oz tub of mascarpone and about 4 Tbsp butter to help it firm up in the fridge. I also wanted to cut down the sweetness of the jam, so I changed the filling. Here's what I did: creamed the room-temp butter and 1/2 cup sugar, then beat in the room-temp mascarpone. I used a food processor to grind a packet of freeze-dried strawberries into a powder, then added that to the filling. I whipped two cups of cream (increased from 1.5 cups) in a separate bowl until soft peaks, then folded that in to the strawberry filling along with the vanilla. Despite increasing the amounts, I didn’t have enough for the outside of the cake and barely enough to cover every crepe. Once I'd stacked the crepes, I let the cake chill about half an hour. I whipped another 1.5 cups of cream with about 2 tablespoons of sugar and used that to frost the top and sides. I let it chill overnight, and it was ready to go this morning! I think it tastes much better at room temperature rather than straight out of the fridge. This would be great for Mother's Day brunch.