Happy Pride Month!!!!!
I feel like this month is so colorful. I mean yes, rainbows obviously. But it’s also the beginning of summer, which means bright colors.
Now, I have some beef with colorful foods. I think they are really pretty, and they do say you should “eat the rainbow”. But I find that in this day and age, especially in desserts, vibrant food comes solely from food coloring. And though it may look cool, it just tastes blech.
My goal for Pride Month was originally to get a naturally colorful dessert. But for such an occasion I wanted it to be pretty bright which just couldn’t be accomplished with natural ingredients. So sadly yes, we are using food coloring for this cake, but I promise it still tastes amazing, and in no way artificial.
Describe this Cake to me:
Taste: This cake has a few different flavors going on. The crêpes themselves are pretty bland, but they are buttery and slightly orangey. The real flavor comes from the filling, which is creamy, sweet, and flavored with almond extract and orange zest. The orange curd adds a refreshing sweetness, with a little bit of tang, brightening up this cake.
Texture: The crêpes are buttery and tender, with a little but of chewiness. The whipped filling is fluffy, creamy, and melts in your mouth in between each and every one of those layers. The orange curd is juicy and smooth, making the cake more flavorful and moist. I will say that the cake layers can slide around a little with the curd, but it’s worth it for that great flavor!
Ease: As you may have guessed, this recipe is a little more difficult. Making crêpe batter is very simple, but cooking all of those crêpes will take a while, as well as layering all of them. We are also making an orange curd, but I reccommend making that the day before and letting it chill overnight to save you time. Though this cake is difficult, I think it’s worth it. It’s summer! What else are you going to do on all of your free days? This is such a fun and different recipe, I highly recommend it as a challenge this summer.
How to Make Crêpes
Crêpe batter is a very simple mix, with only a handful of kitchen staples like eggs, salt, flour, milk, and butter, with the addition of orange zest and juice. It’s a lotta these ingredients though, with 8 eggs, 4 cups of flour, and 4 1/2 cups of milk. The batter will be pretty thin and flavorless, but that’s what we want. Then you have to let the batter rest in the fridge for at least 2 hours, which allows the flour to absorb some of the liquid giving you more tender crepes. Once it’s rested, you can split it up and separate it to dye the colors of the rainbow.
Cooking Crêpes
This is a pretty daunting task, because we have a lot of crêpes to make. But cooking each crêpe takes so little time, you’ll be done before you know it. There are a few things to keep in mind when making crêpes. Number one, use a nonstick pan, otherwise your crêpes will be a sticky mess. Number 2, make sure your pan is hot, otherwise your crêpes won’t cook correctly. Number 3, work quickly. Once you’ve poured on the batter, it will start cooking instantly so you have to swirl it around right away. Here’s the most important thing to keep in mind: your first few crêpes will not work. I reccomend making a little extra of one of your colors because your first three or four crêpes will not be perfect. It takes practice to get a technique down that works for you.
The Orange Curd
On my first try at this recipe, it was a little bland. I decided I needed something tangy to make it not only interesting to look at, but also to eat. In the end I decided orange curd would be my best bet. After a few attempts at a good orange curd, I finally found the perfect recipe. The key is to use less sugar than you would in lemon curd, because oranges are sweeter. You also have to use a little bit of lemon juice to bring out the orange flavor, so it doesn’t just taste syrupy. Other then that, you make this orange curd just like you would make a lemon one, by slowly cooking eggs and sugar over hot water.
The Filling
Traditionally crêpe cake filling is a light, fluffy whipped cream and mascarpone mixture, lightly sweetened and dotted with vanilla bean. I wanted to keep a similar idea for this cake, but add a little bit more pizaz with the flavor. We start by creaming our mascarpone cheese to get it nice and creamy before we add the cold heavy cream and whip it into fluffy and light frosting. Then we add some confectioners sugar, vanilla, salt, orange zest, and a touch of almond extract. The pillowy filling is summery, creamy, and refreshing. The sweetness sits well with the buttery flavor of the crêpes themselves.
What Does this Cake Taste Like?
As I said before, this does not taste like chemicals and food coloring. I wanted to make sure that I picked summery and happy flavors to match the vibe of this cake, so I went with bright and refreshing orange and warming almond. The crêpes themselves are actually pretty flavorless since they have no sugar. But the filling is creamy, orangey, and nutty. But even with the tasty filling, this cake was a little boring. It needed a zing, so I add a lucious orange curd to brighten up this cake. This gives it a refreshing summery flavor, perfect for June!
That’s all I have for you today! Happy Pride Month, and I hope that this recipe encourages you to let out your creativity and colors (I know it’s cheesy. It I couldn’t resist), whether if that’s through this cake or some thing else. This is a time of celebration for yourself and others, so spend it happily. What better way, then with a forkful of rainbow crêpe cake!!
PRIDE Crêpe Cake
Ingredients
Method
- Fill a medium saucepan with 1-2 inches of water. Place a large heatproof bowl on top (you may also use a double boiler for this) Let it come to a boil on medium high heat, then reduce to low and allow it to come to a simmer.
- Add the egg, egg yolks, sugar, orange zest, lemon juice, orange juice, and salt to the top bowl. Using a silicon whisk (metal whisks can sometimes leave behind a metallic flavor), mix together. Cook for 10 minutes, whisking constantly. Whisking the whole time helps prevent the eggs from curdling. The mixture will thicken, and will resemble the consistency of Hollandaise sauce. If the mixture is not thickening, turn up the heat, making sure you are still constantly whisking.
- Remove the mixture from the heat and immediately whisk in the 6 pieces of butter. The remaining heat of the curd will melt the butter. Pour the finished curd into a glass jar or bowl. Cover the top of the curd with cling wrap, making sure the cling wrap is touching the surface of the curd. This prevents a skin from forming as the curd cools. Chill for at least 2 hours, it will thicken during this time.
- In a large bowl, beat the eggs together with the salt. Gradually whisk in a quarter of the flour, followed by a quarter of the milk. It will be lumpy, but that's ok, it will even out as we continue adding flour and milk. Repeat this process until you have used all of the milk and flour. Whisk in the orange zest and juice, followed by the melted butter. Do not overmix the batter.
- Tightly cover the bowl with cling wrap and chill the batter for at least 2 hours, but overnight works even better.
- Divide the batter evenly among 6 bowls, roughly 1½ cups in each. Dye each one a different color (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple). You might want to keep a little extra plain batter to use for your "test crêpe".
- Heat a large round non-stick skillet over medium heat. Make sure you are using non-stick, otherwise cooking these will not work. To test if the pan is hot enough, pour a little batter on. If it sizzles and begins cooking immedietly, then it is hot enough.
- Pour about ⅓ cup of batter into the pan (you can start with whatever color you want, it doesn't matter). Quickly swirl it around so it covers the bottom. The crêpe will start cooking as soon as it hits the hot pan, so you will have to work quickly. Once there is no wet batter on top of the crêpe (roughly 30 seconds), carefully flip it using a spatula and your hands if needed. Let it cook for another 30 seconds to a minute. Remove from the pan and set on a wire cooling rack. Continue cooking the rest of the batter (all of the colors) the same way. Your first few crêpes won't be perfect, that’s to be expected! Once you get the hang of it, the process will go a lot quicker.
- I usually have about 4 or 5 of each color crêpe, but this can vary given the size of your crêpes.
- In a large bowl using hand or stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, beat the mascarpone on medium speed until smooth and fluffy. Add the heavy cream and beat on medium low speed to combine with the mascarpone. Then, turn up to high speed and whip until stiff peaks form. Add the sugar, orange zest, almond extract, and vanilla extract. Beat until combined, creamy, and pillowy.
- Start with your red crêpes. Place one on a large cake stand and spread an even layer of cream on top. You only need about 2 Tablespoons of filling for each layer. Place another red crêpe on top and continue building up repeating the same process. Continue doing this with the rest of the colors (after all of the red, add all of the orange and so on). On each layer where you switch colors, add a little less then 1 Tablespoon of orange curd and spread it evenly on top of the cream. Once you have finished all of the layers, stick the cake in the freezer for 10-20 minutes to firm up. The layers may be sliding around a little, so this little bit of time in the freezer helps. After freezing, decorate with remaining cream and curd if desired.
- Cake stays fresh covered in the refridgerator for up to 5 days.
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