Gâteau de Crêpes

I’ve been meaning to make this recipe that I found on nytimes.com a while back for some time now. Sometimes I read a recipe and it burrows into a corner of my brain, gathers dust, and refuses to move out until I make it. Well this recipe is based off of the famed specialty at Lady M Boutique on the Upper East Side. I myself have never been, but I heard the stories of its utterly delicious baked goods.

So here’s the basic idea of a Gâteau de Crêpes: 20 layers of crepes filled will cream and an endless choice of sweet fillings. It’s a modern twist of the classic French pastry mille feuille (thousand leafs), which is a whole bunch of flaky, buttery layers of pastry filled with cream and it very traditional in French cuisine.

The recipe calls for vanilla pastry cream in the original recipe, but I’m a big fan of dulce de leche so I wanted to implement that as my filling. I had to thin it a bit with some cream because it’s just so thick and luscious.

Gâteau de Crêpes

New York Times, 5/15/05 who adapted the batter from ”Joy of Cooking” and the pastry cream from ”Desserts,” by Pierre Herme and Dorie Greenspan.

For the crepe batter:


6 tablespoons butter 


3 cups milk 


6 eggs


1 1/2 cups flour


7 tablespoons sugar


Pinch salt 



1 can Dulce de leche

1 cup cream ( I had leftover whipped cream from my hot chocolate, so I used that)

Directions

1. The day before, make the crepe batter. Batter: In a small pan, cook the butter until brown like hazelnuts. Set aside. In another small pan, heat the milk until steaming; allow to cool for 10 minutes. In a mixer on medium-low speed, beat together the eggs, flour, sugar and salt. Slowly add the hot milk and browned butter. Pour into a container with a spout, cover and refrigerate overnight.
   
   
2. Assemble the cake the next day: Bring the batter to room temperature. Place a nonstick or seasoned 9-inch crepe pan over medium heat. Swab the surface with the oil, and then add about 3 tablespoons batter and swirl to cover the surface. Cook until the bottom just begins to brown, about 1 minute, then carefully lift an edge and flip the crepe with your fingers. Cook on the other side for no longer than 5 seconds. Flip the crepe onto a baking sheet lined with parchment.
   
   
3. Repeat until you have 20 perfect crepes.
4. Lay 1 crepe on a cake plate. Using an icing spatula, completely cover with a thin layer of whipped cream.
   
   
   
   
   
   
5. Place another crepe on top and spread a thin layer of the dulce de leche on it.
   
   
6. Cover with a crepe and repeat to make a stack of 20, with the best-looking crepe on top.
7. Chill for at least 2 hours. Set out for 30 minutes before serving.
8. If you have a blowtorch for creme brulee, sprinkle the top crepe with 2 tablespoons sugar and caramelize with the torch.
   
   
9. Slice like a cake. Batter adapted from ''Joy of Cooking.''