Strawberries and Cream Crepe Cake

A beautiful and elegant Strawberries and Cream Crepe Cake made with 30 layers of crepes, separated by fresh whipped cream and freeze dried strawberries. It takes a certain amount of patience to make and assemble this crepe cake, but it is worth the effort. Relax on a weekend morning and make this crepe cake for brunch. 

It’s finally happened!  I’ve turned 30! Here it is, the big 3-0.

Looking back, this past decade has been quite the trip. I’ve gone from studying health education in Texas to working at a hospital in San Francisco to studying law in Chicago and practicing as a finance attorney in Los Angeles. Now, I’m managing a coffeeshop and writing a food blog in London. During that time, I also got together with my middle school sweetheart (only 13 years late) and we exchanged vows under the northern lights in the Arctic Circle. At one point too, I drove a BMW convertible, but now I’m just fine getting around town by bike and helmet.

So given the mishmash of my past and no clear future path, I spent the past weekend bothering my other half, Jonathan, with “what should I do with my life” questions. Should I go back into law? Should I open up my own coffee shop? Should I just sleep and eat all day? Eh, maybe! (just kidding.).

Grab a friend and make this Strawberries and Cream Crepe Cake

The only way he could get me to stop was to give me a big project to do. And that meant something more than whipping together a batter and pouring it into a pan to be left alone to bake. He actually needed to keep me occupied for a good amount of time.

The smart guy decided that we should make a crepe cake together for my birthday. It involved making layers of crepes and stacking them all together, each with a layer of fresh cream and freeze-dried strawberries in between.

Fresh whipped cream and freeze-dried strawberries sit between each of the 30 layers of crepe

This Strawberries and Cream Crepe Cake is the perfect cake to make with a friend, family member, child or loved one. A crepe cake always takes quite a while to make because you have to cook up every layer of the cake individually. After you methodically cook the crepes, and I say methodically because after the 10th crepe you will have a system down, you still need to assemble the cake. It’s a lot more fun to make crepe cakes when you grab someone to do it alongside you.

It’s definitely not a hard cake to make, but it does take several steps and some patience. If you want to speed it up, you can use multiple crepe pans or frying pans. But as tedious as it is to make one crepe at a time, I like to slow it down when I make this recipe. Think of making a crepe cake as a weekend morning project.

But this Strawberries and Cream Crepe Cake is worth every minute of it. It is so satisfying taking a knife and cutting through all the layers of crepes at once. It’s also so enjoyable to take a big forkful of the cake and know that you are getting 30 layers of crepes and cream in one bite.

The recipe for this crepe cake is easy – you just need sometime and patience

While I typically wouldn’t be the type to make my own birthday cake, making this crepe cake shut me up about my unknown future, and it was the perfect birthday activity spending time with Jonathan in the kitchen.

Little did he know, it also gave me some time to reflect on how I want to spend my time in life. I love this blog, and right now, this is it for me. This and all the opportunities that come along with it, like the pop-up brunch club I’ll be hosting in February (more to be posted about that soon)! So if you enjoy following my blog, I’d love if you could please give it a like or a share somewhere. It would mean a lot to me, and be the best birthday present ever!!!

Enjoy this beautiful crepe cake for a special brunch

And here it is, the recipe for my 30th birthday cake: Strawberries and Cream Crepe Cake.

5 from 5 votes

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Strawberries and Cream Crepe Cake

Prep Time 10 minutes

Cook Time 1 hour 15 minutes

Total Time 1 hour 25 minutes

Servings 12

Calories 299 kcal

Author The Worktop

Ingredients

Basic Crepes

• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (300 grams)
• 2 cups whole milk (480 milliliters)
• 2 medium eggs
• 1/2 cup water (120 milliliters)
• 1 tablespoon oil (15 milliliters)
• Oil for cooking the crepes

Fresh Whipped Cream and Strawberries

• 2 teaspoons gelatin
• 2 1/2 tablespoons cold water (37 milliliters)
• 2 cups double cream (440 grams)
• 1/2 cup powdered sugar (65 grams)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3 tablespoons freeze dried strawberries pieces (7 grams)
• handful of fresh strawberries - for topping

Instructions

To make the crepes:

1. In a medium bowl, beat together the eggs. Beat in the milk.
2. In a separate medium bowl, add in the flour. Slowly whisk in the beaten egg and milk. Slowly whisk in the water and oil.
3. Heat a cast-iron crepe pan on medium to medium-high heat (I switched between setting 6/10 and 7/10 on my stove). Make sure you give it enough time to evenly heat through (about 5-7 minutes). If the pan is not hot enough, the crepes may start to stick to it.
4. Add about 1/2 tablespoon of oil to the pan and give it a quick wipe with a paper towel to wipe off the excess oil and evenly coat the pan in oil. When you feel that the crepes start to stick to the bottom of the pan, repeat this step (every few crepes). I keep the paper towel nearby to give the pan a wipe with the excess oil when needed.
5. Once the oil is hot, add scant 1/2 cup of crepe batter, and quickly spread it around the pan evenly using a crepe rake. You can also try to quickly tilt the pan to swirl it, but I find it easier to use the crepe rake to make even sized crepes. The crepes should be very thin.
6. Let each crepe cook for about 1 minute, and then flip over and cook for an additional 30 seconds.
7. Remove the crepe and place on a cooling rack. The crepe will cool quickly, so if you are short on space, you can begin to stack them up after a few minutes of cooling.
8. Repeat with remaining batter.

To make the whipped cream:

1. In a small bowl, mix together the gelatin and cold water.
2. Place the small bowl inside a larger bowl, and fill the larger bowl with hot water, careful not to spill into the small bowl. Mix the gelatin in the small bowl until it is completely dissolved. Remove the bowl from the hot water and allow the gelatin to cool (but not set).
3. In a medium bowl, whip together the cream, powdered sugar and vanilla until it is slightly thick.
4. Add in the gelatin and continue mixing until it is stiff.

To assemble the cake

1. Let all the crepes cool before assembling the cake.
2. Spread a spoonful of whipped cream on a crepe. Sprinkle on some freeze dried strawberries. Top with another crepe and repeat with remaining crepes.
3. Top the cake with a generous layer of whipped cream and a some fresh strawberries.

Recipe Notes

The crepes can be made the night before and kept in the refrigerator until ready to be assembled.