Crepe Cake with Blackberry Schnapps Chocolate Mousse

Just to let you all know, I am doing a happy dance as I post this recipe. Reason, you may ask. Well, there are many: 

1) I am extremely excited about this recipe 

2) It's my 200th post on my blog !!! YAY!!! 

3) It's happens to be my birthday, which by the way explains the number of corresponding layers in the cake. Now count the layers to find out how old I am (wink!)

Ever since I have laid eyes on Martha Stewart's Crepe Cake I had wanted to make a crepe cake myself so this has been on my to-do list. I was just waiting for a good excuse to try it out. My husband ’s birthday was a good opportunity but when given a choice between peanut butter chocolate cake and a crepe cake, he obviously choose the former. Well then, I knew right away which one I was going to make for my birthday :)

Recently my sister hosted a dinner at her place and asked me for a chocolate mousse recipe. I found this recipe and passed it on to her and got rave reviews. Well, I was now tempted to try and I thought it would be great in my crepe cake. The texture of the mousse, the chocolatey flavor and the few dashes of blackberry schnapps was surely going to make it all a great combination. I am a diehard fan of chocolate plus blackberry schnapps. I have used this combination in many recipes but unfortunately none of them have made it to the blog. 

We usually make whole wheat crepes for breakfast as my daughter loves it when smothered with some Nutella and rolled with some fresh berries. Actually all 3 of us love it so I was pretty confident that the crepe cake with the right flavors would find favor within the family. During my preparatory research before making the crepe I learnt that I could use beer to make the crepe batter more airy. Though the idea sounded good, I decided to substitute beer with club soda instead because I felt beer would be better when making savory crepe rather than the sweet type. The batter turned out just perfect to yield super soft crepes. I was rather delighted when my daughter had a bit and asked me “mama, how did you make it so soft” 

The best thing about this Crepe Cake is that it is not very heavy and rich, unlike the traditional birthday cakes that are loaded with buttercream, and neither is it overwhelmingly sweet. I loaded it with berries hoping that it would give it a nice touch!! Hope you all enjoy it as much as we did! 

Cheers, Love N Peace 
~Shema 

Recipe for Chocolate Mousse partially adapted from here

Recipe for Crepes partially adapted from here

Vanilla Crepes
Yields: 34 eight inch crepes
Ingredients
3 cups - Warm milk
6 tablespoon - Melted butter
2 cup – All-purpose flour
¾ teaspoon – Salt
3 tablespoon – Sugar
4 - Eggs
1/2 cup – Plain Club Soda 
2 teaspoon - Vanilla
8 inch - Skillet

Direction

• Add all the ingredients into a blender (except soda) and pulse until all the ingredients are incorporated well.
• Pour batter over a sieve
• Stir in the soda, and mix(don't over mix). 
• Set the batter aside, in an air tight container, for 8 hours or overnight.
• Pour about 1/4 batter onto the cast iron skillet and swirl the batter around to create an even surface. Add a little more batter if needed to cover the holes. Small holes are okay to have!
• Cook for about 2 minutes on the first side and then about 30 seconds on other side.

Blackberry Schnapps Chocolate Mousse
Ingredients
6 large - Egg yolks
½ cup + ¼ Cup – Sugar, divided
3 cups - Heavy cream
12 ounces (about 2 cups)- Bittersweet chocolate morsels, melted
3 tablespoons - Blackberry Schnapps

Directions

• In a saucepan, whisk together egg yolks, ½ cup sugar, and 1 cup heavy cream and cook over medium-low heat, stirring, until mixture coats back of spoon, 3 to 4 minutes (do not boil). 
• Remove from heat; whisk in melted chocolate and vanilla.
• Strain into a bowl to remove any residues and chill until cool.
• With an electric mixer, beat remaining heavy cream with remaining sugar until stiff peaks form.
• Add blackberry schnapps and whip for another 30 seconds
• Stir 1/3 of whipped cream into cooled custard mixture and then gently fold in the rest with a rubber spatula.
• Cover and allow the mousse to chill for at least 30 minutes before assembling the cake

Assembling the Crepe Cake
Ingredients
Blackberry Schnapps Chocolate Mousse
Crepes
Skewer / toothpicks / dowel rods
Berries to decorate the cake
Cake stand or serving plate

Directions 

• Place one crepe on the cake stand or serving plate.    
• Spread about 1/4 cup mousse onto crepe. Top with 1 crepe. Continue layering crepes and mousse. 
• After you reach the 10th layer let the crepe tower rest in the freezer for 10 minutes to make it firm. If you wish use skewers/toothpicks/dowel rods to strengthen and reinforce the cake tower.
• Continue the same process for the rest of the layers. I know the assembly of this cake times, but I highly recommend freezing the cake tower at the end of every 10th  layer or else the tower might slide and might fall apart.    
• Top crepe cake with remaining mouse and berries of your choice.

Notes and Tips

• Make the batter ahead of time and let it rest. This resting period allows the gluten in the flour to develop and bond to the milk and eggs, and this yields a more complex flavor.  
• You can make the crepes a day before and assemble the cake the next day and store the crepes in an air tight container.
• I highly recommend freezing the cake tower at the end of every 10th  layer or else the tower might slide and might fall apart.   
• If you wish use skewer / toothpicks / dowel rods to strengthen and reinforce the cake tower. I highly recommend this.