Rainbow Crepe Cake

I've been wanting to try making a full-size crepe cake ever since I made those Nutelle mini crepe cakes 3 years ago, and seeing a recent picture of my friend Serene's matcha crepe cake re-inspired me.  But when I couldn't decide which flavor crepe cake to make, my other friend Christine reminded me of a rainbow crepe cake she had shown me on Instagram before.  I knew what I must do.

After some research on-line, it seemed that most rainbow crepe cakes used 6 discrete colors of crepes, but I wanted to try to blend them together so that the color of the crepes was more progressive.  I figured I'd make 2 crepes of each color, then start mixing the leftover batter together a little at a time.  This just made an already complicated process even more complicated, but I'm rather pleased with the result.  If you'd rather just leave it as 6 discrete colors, just divide the batter evenly between 6 bowls before coloring.  But if you'd like to try the ombré approach, you can put 1/3 less batter in the bowls for the red and purple since you're only blending those one way instead of two (a scale makes it a lot easier to figure out).

I decided to just use sweetened whipped cream for the filling (a recommendation from Serene) instead of pastry cream plus whipped cream like a lot of other recipes use because it was easier, and I liked the pure white color of the filling against the rainbow of colors.  Serene also suggested freezing the cake if not serving right away to help stabilize it and prevent weeping.

Rainbow Crepe Cake (crepe recipe from Alton Brown)
makes a 24-layer crepe cake

4 large eggs
1 1/2 cup milk
1 cup water
2 cups all-purpose flour
5 tablespoons sugar
6 tablespoons melted butter
1 tablespooon vanilla extract, divided
Oil, for greasing
2 cups heavy cream
1/3 cup powdered sugar
Rainbow sprinkles (optional)

Combine the eggs, milk, water, flour, sugar, butter, and 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract in a blender and pulse for 10 seconds.  Let rest in the fridge for at least an hour or overnight.

Divide the batter into 6 bowls, with about 1/3 less in two of the bowls.  Color the bowls with less batter in them red and purple.  Color the other bowls orange, yellow, green, and blue.

Lightly grease a non-stick pan with oil and heat over medium-low.  Pour a scant 1/4 cup of the purple batter into the middle of the pan and swirl to spread into an even circle.  Cook for 30 seconds and flip carefully.  Cook for another 10 seconds, then transfer to a cutting board or baking sheet lined with parchment paper.  Repeat, making 2 crepes each of all 6 colors.  Once the crepes have cooled on the parchment paper you can start stacking them on a plate.

Gradually mix the rainbow-adjacent colors together to make the rest of the crepes.  You should end up with about 24 crepes, more if you don't mess any up.  I messed up 2 or 3 (the first one is always a fail) and ended up with 24.

Beat the heavy cream to soft peaks, then add the powdered sugar and remaining teaspoon of vanilla extract.  Beat again to barely stiff peaks.

Place a purple crepe on a plate and spread a thin layer of the whipped cream on top, leaving a little bit of a border.  Top with another crepe and continue with alternating layers of crepes and whipped cream.

If you have any whipped cream leftover, frost the top and garnish with sprinkles, if you like.  Chill until ready to serve.

To be honest, I thought the cake looked a lot prettier than it tasted.  This happened the last time I made a rainbow confection too.  I think I was so focused on the looks I forgot that I never really flavored the crepes or whipped cream, and Alton Brown's crepes are made to be filled with something tasty not just eaten alone.  Luckily, Serene sent me her crepe recipe so I'll probably use that one next time.  =)

Next:  Rhubarb Strawberry Coconut Cream Tart
Previously:  Japanese Chicken Curry Rice
Last Year:  The 4-Hour Baguette
Two Years Ago:  Homemade Squid Ink Pasta
Three Years Ago:  Miso-Glazed Eggplant
Four Years Ago:  Happiness Cake
Seven Years Ago:  Momofuku's Crack Pie
Eight Years Ago:  Korean Pancake Face-Off

Taiwanese Oyster Omelet (Without the Oysters)

I know, I know, it's almost blasphemy to make 蚵仔煎 (pronounced "uh-ah-jian" in Taiwanese) without the oysters, but honestly, the oysters are my least favorite part of this dish.  I love the blend of crispy and gelatinous textures from the sweet potato flour batter, the fried egg that holds it all together, and the tangy red sauce that smothers it all, but the chewy, cooked oysters just get in my way.

For this recipe I combined the omelet from Tiny Urban Kitchen and the red sauce from Serious Eats.  The sauce was so spot on that when I took my first bite, I totally thought I tasted an oyster in there and was pleasantly confused.  If you want to make this with oysters, use 3-4 small, shucked oysters for each pancake and either add them to the hot pan before the batter for a minute or two or mix them in with the batter before cooking, depending on how cooked you want them.

As a word of caution, the batter made from sweet potato flour (which you should be able to find at an Asian grocery store) will be one of the stickiest things you've ever worked with once it starts cooking.  Make sure you use a non-stick or thoroughly seasoned pan, and even then, I would suggest using a generous amount of oil to make sure it doesn't stick. 

Taiwanese Oyster Omelet (Without the Oysters) (adapted from Tiny Urban Kitchen and Serious Eats)
makes 1 omelet

For the red sauce (makes enough for several omelets):
1/4 cup ketchup
1/4 cup rice vinegar
1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1/2 teaspoon miso
1 1/2 teaspoons cornstarch
1/2 cup cold water

For the omelet:
1/4 cup sweet potato flour
Pinch of kosher salt
Dash of white pepper
1/2 cup water
Vegetable oil
A small handful of celery leaves (or other leafy greens like baby spinach or bok choy)
1 egg, lightly beaten

To make the sauce, combine the ketchup, vinegar, sugar, soy sauce, and miso in a small saucepan over medium heat.  Simmer for a couple of minutes until the sugar dissolves.  

Mix the cornstarch and water to make a slurry and add to the saucepan.  Stir until thickened, another couple of minutes, and then cool to room temperature. 

To make the omelet, mix the sweet potato flour, salt, white pepper, and water into a smooth batter.  Heat a non-stick or thoroughly seasoned pan over high heat.  Add enough oil to cover the bottom of the pan generously, not enough to deep fry but enough that there is a visible layer of oil all over.

Pour the batter into the pan, and lower the heat to medium.  Once the top of the batter is set, add the leaves, continue to cook for another minute, and then add the egg.  Use a spatula to start testing the edge of the omelet to see if the bottom is cooked and releasing from the pan.  When the bottom has released and the egg is mostly set, flip the omelet over and turn off the heat.  The residual heat from the pan should be enough to finish cooking the egg.  

Invert the omelet onto a plate and drizzle a generous amount of red sauce on top.  Serve hot.

It's kind of freakish how intact my omelets ended up; I'm used to them being pretty mangled blobs of gelatinous messes.  In fact, the picture above was a little too perfect so I ended up drizzling more sauce on top just to make it messier, which is how I ended up with the top picture.  It's also more representative of how much sauce you want on the omelet. 

Next:  Drunken Noodles (Pad Kee Mao) with Tofu
Previously:  Scoglio all'Andiamo (Saffron Fettuccine with Seafood in a Lemon Garlic White Wine Sauce)
Last Year:  Serendipitous Chocolate Chip Cookies
Six Years Ago:  Red Bean and Black Sesame Ice Cream

Nutella Mini Crepe Cakes

Like my post on flower pavlovas, this post is less of a recipe and more of a tutorial.  I had some leftover buckwheat pancake batter last weekend and after seeing these super cute mini crepe cakes, I thought I'd try to make some myself.  I was ambitious enough to make ten tiny crepes, but not enough to make my own filling so I just melted some Nutella and used that in between the layers.

Instead of using a cookie cutter to cut out the mini crepes, I wanted to see if I could make consistently sized crepes by using the same amount of batter each time.  I used a Chinese soup spoon that holds about 4 teaspoons of batter, and it worked pretty well.

For the next batch, I wanted to try frosting the outside of the "cakes" to make it look more like a miniature layer cake.  I was out of the buckwheat batter, so I used Alton Brown's sweet crepe batter.  I found that if I carefully poured the batter into the center of the heated pan, the crepes stayed more or less the same size and shape each time.  It did mean I wasn't getting paper thin crepes because I wasn't swirling the batter around, but I was more concerned about reproducibility than the thinness of the crepes. 

I microwaved the Nutella for about 20 seconds so it was easier to spread.  I was able to get a nice glossy coat with the warm Nutella, but it didn't stick to the sides of the crepe cake very well.  So for the last batch I frosted the outside with room temperature Nutella after stirring it around a bit.

Doesn't that look a full-sized layer cake?  (Ignore the bottom layer which was too big and stuck out; I shouldn't have used it.)  I can't get over how cute these are!  I dream about making a Happiness Cake version with mini-chocolate crepes, passion fruit curd filling, and coffee frosting.

Next:  Easy Chilaquiles with Fried Egg and Avocado
Previously:  Dan Bing (Taiwanese Egg Crepe)
Four Years Ago:  The Best Scones in the World, Jean-Georges Vongerichten's Fried Rice, Alphabet and Rosemary Cheddar Crackers
Five Years Ago:  Cupcake Bites, Samoa Cupcakes, Coconut Lime Cakelets, Matzo Crack