Boston Cream Crepe Cake

This is one of my favorite "go too" dessert recipes of all time.  Yes, it can be a bit time consuming making all those crepes, but the trick is to have 2 or even 3 pans going at the same time.

Boston Cream Crepe Cake

 Ingredients (12 Servings)

 Crepes

·         4 large eggs

·         4 tablespoons butter, melted and cooled slightly

·         4 cups milk

·         2 teaspoon vanilla

·         2 tablespoon sugar

·         1 teaspoon salt

·         3 cups all purpose flour

 Pastry Cream

·         3/4 cup granulated sugar

·         1/3 cup flour

·         1/4 teaspoon salt

·         2 cups milk

·         3 egg yolks, beaten

·         2 tablespoons butter

·         1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla bean paste or vanilla extract

·         1/2 cup whipping cream

 Chocolate Ganache

·         6 oz. milk chocolate, finely chopped

·         3/4 cup cream

 Instructions

+NOTE:  The day before serving the cake, make the crepe batter and the pastry cream.+

Crepe Batter

·         Add ingredients to blender jar in the order listed, cover and blend until smooth. Refrigerate overnight or for 1 hour prior to cooking. (Or if you’d rather, you can strain out any lumps and use immediately.)

·         Heat an 8-inch skillet or crepe pan over medium heat and lightly coat with butter or cooking spray. For each crepe, pour 1/4 cup batter into the center of the skillet and immediately rotate the pan until the batter covers the bottom of the skillet in a thin layer. Cook until light brown and the top begins to dry out, approximately 1 minute. Flip and cook an additional 30 seconds.

·         Repeating with remaining batter. Stack completed crepes on a plate. (If your crepes are sticking together, put wax paper between the crepes.)

Pastry Cream

·         In a medium saucepan combine the sugar, flour and salt. Gradually whisk in milk. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until mixture starts to boil. Cook for 2 minutes until thickened.

·         Remove from stove. Whisk 1/4 cup of the hot mixture into the beaten egg yolks, and immediately add egg yolk mixture to the hot mixture in the saucepan. Cook for 2 more minutes, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and add butter and vanilla. Transfer pudding mixture to a medium bowl. Cover with plastic; refrigerate until well chilled, about 1 hour or overnight.

·         When pudding is chilled, whip cream to form soft peaks and gentle fold in to pudding. Keep covered and chilled until ready to use.

Assemble Crepe Cake

·         Place one crepe on a large cake plate. Spread with 1/4 cup pastry cream. Top with another crepe. Continue layering with filling and crepes, using about 24 crepes and ending with a crepe on top. Refrigerate until firm, at least 1 hour.

Chocolate Ganache

·         Place half of the chocolate in a small mixing bowl. Heat heavy cream on medium high heat until it comes to a boil. Remove from heat and immediately pour cream over chocolate and stir until chocolate is completely melted. Add remain chocolate and stir until chocolate is completely melted. Cool until ganache is thickened but still thin enough to drip down the sides of the cake.

·         Spoon chocolate ganache on top of the cake, spreading to edges and letting the ganache drip down the sides. Refrigerate until ganache is set, about 20 minutes.