The Ultimate Pastry Guide: How To Make a Tiered Crepe Cake

Introduction

Several months ago, my friend asked me if I was willing to make a tiered crepe cake for her upcoming wedding. Now, prior to this, I had never made a crepe cake before (much less a tiered one!) and had always been more occupied with small, delicate French pastries, like entremets or macarons–nothing to the scale of a massive, tiered cake. Still, the challenge excited me, and I had made crepes before (they’re actually the pancakes I grew up with; in Serbia, the only “pancakes” they have are called “palacinke,” which are, essentially, crepes!).

My friend knew I hadn’t made this before (I made sure to make that clear…bless her for trusting me so much!), but figured I could do it. I’m glad she thought so, as the process ended up being a fun challenge to undertake that left me with new knowledge under my belt: the wonderful world of the mille crepe cake!

I decided to make this guide because in my process of learning to make a tiered crepe cake, I found very little information online–there were some recipes for actual crepe cakes, but they were often not very detailed (really, most just describe the basic idea: make crepes, make filling, then layer it all together, without describing how to make them look nice, even, and flawless). So I thought I would share some of the knowledge I learned throughout this experience for all of you who might be in the same spot I was: a complete crepe cake novice (or maybe just a frustrated crepe cake attempter!).

Now, this guide isn’t a recipe, but more of a technique handbook on the art of the crepe cake. You can apply these tips and tricks to pretty much any crepe cake flavor you can come up with! All you need are crepes and some type of relatively stable (aka, not liquid) filling. The crepe cake world, I have learned, is ripe for innovation 🙂

Equipment You’ll (Probably) Need:

While you can definitely MacGyver your way through a crepe cake, it’s a lot more efficient (and less stressful) to have certain pieces of equipment prior to attempting to make one. Here are some things you’ll probably want to have lying around:

• Different Sized Crepe Pans and/or Cake Rings: If you’re making a tiered crepe cake, it’s going to make the process quicker (and use up less batter) if you make the tiers in crepe pans that are the correct size (so you’ll want a 10-inch crepe pan for a 10-inch cake tier, for instance). You can also cook the crepes in a pan with an appropriately sized cake ring (so you’d place maybe a 6-inch cake ring in an 8-inch crepe pan). Just lift the ring off once the crepe is set before flipping it! Cake rings can also double as a “crepe cutter,” so if you make larger crepes, you can cut the smaller sizes you’ll need using the cake rings.
• A Good Offset Icing Spatula: This tool is one you might already have, and boy, does it come in handy! This spatula is not only helpful when you’re stacking the cake to keep the filling flat and evenly spread, but it also helps immensely when flipping crepes perfectly. Just jimmy the spatula along the edge you want to flip the crepe on and then, working quickly, use your fingers to flip the crepe all the way. It sounds a bit scary, but it works really well (and is super easy once you’ve done it a couple times!).
• Cake Boards and Dowels: A tiered crepe cake is assembled much like you would any other tiered cake, I learned. Despite my worries about the crepe cake being less stable because of the traditional whipped cream fillings used, I was able to stack and dowel the cake like you would any tiered cake. If you’ve never played around with cake boards and dowels before, this is the concept behind them: you place several dowels in a cake layer, cut to the height of the cake (so there isn’t a large part of the dowel sticking out above it), then place a cake board, and the next tier of the cake, on top of it; that way, the tiers of the cake are not resting on the cake itself, but instead, on the cake board-dowel support system. Genius, right?).

Tips And Tricks

Now we’re to the meat of this post: how to make a tiered crepe cake look flawless, even, and level! These are some of the things I learned over my crepe cake experience that I wish I knew before:

• Make sure your crepes are EXACTLY the same size and PERFECT circles: This may seem like an overly annoying, tediously detailed step, but trust me: you’re tiered crepe cake (and even standard one-tier crepe cake) will look soooooo much better and be wayyyy easier to stack if you follow this rule (I hope all those o’s and y’s I added make this clear…). It was significantly easier to create even, level layers of frosting and crepe when the crepes were the same size and perfect circles, as those uneven, ruffled edges crepes typically have create a large amount of problems in this department. Now, how did I accomplish this? Firstly, I made sure to cut each crepe along a template (this is where a cake ring comes in handy–you can use it as a giant crepe cookie cutter! Otherwise, use your cake board or print off a template to the size you want your crepe to be and outline it. Then, just use a pizza roller or knife to cut the circle along the template.) Even if I made them in an 8-inch crepe pan, I still would cut my 8-inch crepes along the 8-inch round template; this ensured that any slightly uneven edges were gone. Sounds incredibly anal (and it was…) but it helped soooo much later on!
• Be Careful with Pastry Cream and Curds: If you want to use a looser filling in the crepes, like a custard or fruit curd, I would advise you to combine it with another traditional crepe cake filling: whipped cream! You could even use buttercream, although I find this filling too heavy for my tastes. What I recommend is making a flavored whipped cream (based on the flavor of your crepe cake), and spreading a thin layer of that down first along the entirety of the crepe. Then, spread a dollop of your curd or pastry cream, making sure that it stays more focused along the center and doesn’t reach the edges. This will help the crepe cake be more stable once it comes to stacking the tiers.
• Chill Out: The cold is a helpful force when making a crepe cake: if it ever feels too wobbly or loose when you’re stacking it, stick the cake in the fridge or freezer for 5-10 minutes before proceeding. It’ll make the cake feel more secure as it sets in the chilled temperatures. As a side note, the layers could also be loose if you’re using too much filling, so make sure to only spread a thin layer on.
• Keep Things Flat: If a cake tier is not level, it will be a sore spot when stacking multiple tiers on top–you’ll easily be able to see the edges drooping and might even have a leaning tower of Pisa situation (trust me, if you want to see that, just go to Italy!). To keep the crepe cake level, it starts with my previous tip: making sure the circles are all the same size and don’t have super ruffled edges. Then, when spreading your filling, make sure to keep the filling layer thin and flat (this is where the offset spatula comes in handy!). I would follow this by placing the next crepe on top of the filling, then using my palms to carefully flatten out the top and wiping off the excess filling with a paper towel to keep things clean. I also pressed down on top of the crepe layers with a cake board, so that it flattens evenly. I did this with EVERY new layer–again, tedious, but important!
• Don’t Be Afraid to Flavor Crepes!: This is going to be a bit similar to my how to flavor macaron shells post, but flavoring the crepe batter is a great way to get more flavor into your crepe cake. Now, there’s some obvious ones, like making chocolate crepes, but consider adding other ingredients like freeze-dried fruit, loose-leaf tea (ground up finely), extracts and flavoring oils, and fresh herbs and ground spices.
• Be Patient: A crepe cake can be a lot of work, and you might not want to look at another crepe for at least a few days after it’s done, but patience is key! You’ll need to work preciecely if you want the crepe cake to turn out well, and that requires a deft, calm hand.

Conclusion

Yes, a tiered crepe cake can be a (frustrating, at times) challenge, but it’s also incredibly fulfilling when it all comes together. Remember, baking should be fun: if you ever get too frustrated, just let the crepe cake chill in the fridge for a while before continuing…don’t let eggs and sugar get the best of you 🙂

For more French Pastry Tips, check out my Ultimate French Pastry Guide series here!

Happy baking, everyone!