Wednesday, July 8, 2009

Gateau de Crepes with Green Tea Cream

I had a couple of fellow bakers and the idea was we would whittle away the afternoon with board games and trying out some food. The invite stated something along the lines of 'bring a baked good that you've been trying out/ experimenting with'. I really always experiment so I thought I would continue with the theme. I saw this at Desserts Magazine http://tartelette.blogspot.com/2008/08/two-chocolates-some-salted-butter.html It's from the book:'Chocolate Epiphany: Exceptional Cookies, Cakes and Confections for Everyone' by François Payard.

If you can roll out a ton of crepes in a small amount of time then let me tell you this is the recipe for you. If you can't then it's a labor of love...a seriously long, drawn out love. Let me tell you I spent over an hour making the crepes for this guy.

However, it is a visually stunning cake - all the lovely layers of brown contrasting with the vibrant green pastry cream (a light one - with the pastry cream being 'lightened' if you can call it that... with whipped cream). I tried the pastry cream without the added cream and it had a really intense matcha tea flavor. The interesting thing was, once you added the crepes and the whipped cream, the flavor wasn't really there anymore. It was lost - and only found at the end of a bite. Which, as I'm not a massive fan of matcha tea was a good thing.
The crepes themselves are infused with oran
ge zest which really dominates the flavor.

This is not a sweet treat - it is a rich treat. It's about the dense pastry cream and the rubbery crepes.
I adore the way it looks utterly ragged on the outside, and yet when you cut into it it looks amazingly organized.

13 comments:

Q. said...

Stunning.

Xiaolu said...

That is truly gorgeous. I've had my eye on that recipe as well, but haven't had the time nor courage yet.

Jennifer Galatioto said...

Stunning...

Cookin' Canuck said...

Wow! That is so beautiful! That truly is a labor of love.

cindy* said...

love this. beautiful!

Marta said...

Hahahaah I know this cake is an absolute labour of love! I've made a Nutella version and I think it took me like 2.5 hours to make crepes, fills, stack, hope it didn't lean sideways, etc!
Yours looks truly stunning, I think you did a marvelous job because it doesn't look messy at all, which is usually the result of these crepe cakes.
I'm glad you were adventurous and experimented with this!

rhid said...

Oh but nutella sound so good Marta! Were the crepes flavored?
Rhi

Zurin said...

What a beauty! absolutely gorgeous!..

amateureater said...

Those are beautiful, almost architectural when cut into. Well done.

Naomi said...

oh wow, i'm salivating. this looks yummy!

hannyb said...

Delectable art! And what I love is that it looks like it would be a delicate labour of love. Cakes are often meant to say, you're special, and this one truly does.

Unknown said...

I can't seem to find the recipe :( Can someone help?

kleine said...

hi there, it look amazing!
where can I find the recipe?
thanks