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This Pandan Mille Crepe cake is layered with delicious thin crepes infused with pandan flavors and stacked up with homemade whipped cream in between layers. What else can one ask for!
The Spring has sprung. Today sure feels like Spring. Gorgeous perfect weather. Today is the first day of Spring and that also means it was the day my mom brought me into this world 38 years ago! Damn! 38! My kids have this impression that I am an ancient subject! THIRTY EIGHT ?? My daughter shouted (echoed by her brother who copied everything she said). Why are you old mom? I’m going to miss you when you go to heaven! Now…wait a minute! 38 is a big number but I’m still not ready to leave this earth just yet (I hope!).
What is it like turning 38? hmm…seriously, just a number I think (though I really just plucked away few more gray hair the other day while my husband said I wasn’t supposed to pluck them because I would get more. What ?? Any scientific proof to this?). We went to Buca to eat, just the 4 of us. I almost pulled out that duct tape to silent my children who kept shouting “It’s MY MOM’s birthday” probably every few seconds! I seriously did not want the attention. The people singing the BUCA birthday song to me (nothing’s wrong with the song!). Thank goodness.. no singing. No attention. Just the good food and two noisy kids that I happened to love so much.
I’m happy to say that I am in good health so far. I have two kids that absolutely drive me nuts every day and yet I would seriously give my life to them if I have to. The husband who always has so much faith in whatever I do (seriously..this blog won’t be here without him!) even when I feel like I screw things up badly and have no clue what in the world I am doing. These are the people who make me want to be better every day.
He wasn’t supposed to be in the photo! But…here he was! I couldn’t resist that smile too
Making Mille crepe has been on my list for a long time. I decided to use this very day (actually, I started the day before) to make/put together Mille crepe as a birthday cake. I’m a person with very little patience and I’m trying to exercise more patience. Making this Mille crepe layer by layer sure taught me some about being patient (and gentler!).
WHY DO I REST THE BATTER?
There are some people who have said that they have made crepes without resting the batter for hours or overnight and turned out fine. From my experience making these crepes and other gluten-free crepes (using rice flour), I find that the batter is easier to work with after I let it rest. I didn’t have much issue with the crepes tearing. They say that letting the batter rest allows the flour to be hydrated much better.
It’s not the most attractive cake from the outside (at least not the one I make) but I can honestly tell you that my heart actually skipped few beats I think while I was about to slice into that cake. When I see those layers inside the cake….I was beyond thrilled! I love looking at those layers. Layers of love and care 🙂 and as usual…I have to inject it with some Southeast Asia flavor, the pandan leaves! (that gives the cake its lime green color!)
The tummy is happy. The soul is happy too.
Recipe for the crepe batter is adapted from Ellen Easton 20-Layer Crepe Cake
Easy Pandan Mille Crepe Cake
Ingredients
Crepe batter (prepared the night before if possible)
- 6 large eggs
- 210 gr all-purpose flour
- 100 gr sugar
- Pinch of salt
- 480 g milk
- 240 g pandan juice from 15 pandan leaves
- 84 g butter melted
Whipped Cream
- 600 g heavy whipping cream chilled
- 80 g confectioners sugar
- ½ tsp vanilla extract
Instructions
Making pandan juice:
- Chop the pandan leaves into 1-inch pieces and place into a blender. Add about 1 cup of water. Process into a pulp.Transfer to a cheese cloth and squeeze out the juice and measure out 240 g of juice. This can keep in refrigerator for about 1 week. Give it a shake/stir if it has been sitting for a while and pour out to measure 240 g
- Melt the butter in a small saucepan over low-medium heat until it is lightly brown and let it cool down a bit before preparing the batter
- Place all the ingredients for crepe batter in a blender and process until it is smooth. Cover and chill in refrigerator for at least 2 hours or overnight
Whipping the cream:
- Place all ingredients for whipped cream in a mixer bowl and whip on edium-high speed (6 on Kitchen Aid) until it has a firm peak but not too stiff that the mixture turns grainy. Cover and let it chill in the refrigerator while you are cooking the crepes
Cooking the crepes:
- Bring the crepes out to room temperature (30 minutes) before you start cooking. Prepare a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Preheat 10-inch non-stick skillet. Put just a bit of melted butter. Pour a little over 1/4 cup of batter in the middle of the pan and immediately swirl to let the batter cover the surface of the pan. Let it cook until it is lightly golden brown over medium heat, about 30-45 seconds and then gently flip over to cook for another 5 seconds and remove from pan to baking sheet. Do not stack the hot crepes on top of each other yet. The crepes cool down quickly though, so I stacked up the crepes after they cool down (because I'm running out of space). Continue cooking the rest of the batter. You should get about 18-20 crepes
Assembling:
- Place one crepe on a serving platter or cake stand. Spread about 1/4 cup of cream evenly on top and then stack with another piece of crepe and continue with the rest of the crepes and cream. Finish up with crepe and top with more cream on final layer. You can decorate with some fresh fruit on top, sprinkles, or whatever your heart desires
*Nutrition facts are just estimates and calculated using online tools*
6 comments
I don’t have pandan juice or leaves, but I have pandan essence powder that I would love to use, or pandan extract that is 2 times more concentrated than the powder, if you think that’s better. Would you use the essence or extract, and how much would you use? Thank you!
Hi Kristen, I have never used the essence powder before so I can’t comment much on that. I heard that the powder has a weaker aroma? The extract is definitely very concentrated. If you want to use the extract, I would say 1/2 teaspoon would be plenty.
Happy Birthday! I will turn 38 on the 4th of April as well and reading this post I cannot help but think that our lives are pretty similar… 🙂 I would not mind this mille crepe cake for my birthday either, but we will not be at home this year, so no cake for me, only on the blog I suppose.
Thank you so much Adina.
Hahaha! I’m not too far behind you, birthday-wise, but I’m not planning to go to heaven quite yet. So cute! This cake is gorgeous and looks absolutely DELISH! Happy birthday 🙂
Thank you so much Kelsie. That’s so sweet of you and thank you for stopping by !