Amaretto Cream Crepe Cake

About 20 layers of crepes in here…

 

We visited Jamie’s grandparents again for Labor Day weekend.

On the way to the beach during my daily three mile walk on the island.

The weather was beautiful, and we had such a wonderful time with them!

We love having dinner together on the porch and playing word games while we eat, like I Spy, Pass Around (everyone takes turns making up and continuing a story), and Rhyme Around (we tell part of a story and give the next person a hint of the rhyme — OK, this one is tricky!)

This time I got to make a couple of meals during our visit.  They requested the Roasted Veggie and Brie Frittata again, which is so easy and wonderful to make with fresh local produce.  For dessert, I made an Amaretto Cream Crepe Cake.

Crepe cakes look impressive, but they really aren’t difficult to make — they just take a bit of preparation.  Basically you make a boatload of crepes, layer them with ganache, preserves, whipped cream, or whatever you can dream up, then frost with your choice of toppings.

I’ve made this beautiful one in the past which is covered in ganache, layered with ganache and raspberry jam,  and decorated with truffles from the leftover chocolate.  My husband loved it, but I thought it was too dense and rich.  So I decided to make a whipped cream covered one.  I opted to spike the cream with almond extract and Amaretto because my mother-in-law loves Amaretto, and they happened to have a huge bottle of it in the pantry!   I decorated the whole thing with roasted, sliced almonds.

The finished cake with toasted almonds.

When I told my father-in-law I might post the recipe on this blog, he said I should call it “What to Make Your In-laws When You Visit”. 

Thank you, Didi and Mimette for another lovely time!

Amaretto Cream Crepe Cake

Crepes:

6 large eggs

1 ½ cups milk

½ teaspoon almond extract

1 cup all purpose flour

1/8 teaspoon salt

¼ cup confectioner’s sugar

Melted butter for skillet

Amaretto Cream:

2 cups heavy whipping cream

3 ½ tablespoons sugar

1 teaspoon almond extract

2 tablespoons amaretto liqueur

½ cup toasted, sliced almonds

1. Blend crepe ingredients except butter in a blender.  Brush a large skillet with melted butter and place over medium heat.  Pour scant ¼ cup batter into skillet and swirl to evenly coat the bottom.  When the top of the crepe is no longer shiny, after about 1 minute, carefuly flip and cook other side for about 40 seconds.
2. Make many more crepes in this manner, stacking them on a plate until all the batter is gone.  Cool crepes to room temperature. You can also store them in the refrigerator until ready to assemble.
3. Make Amaretto Cream.  Whip cream and sugar together until thickened.  Add almond extract and amaretto gradually.  Continue to whip until stiff peaks form.  You can also store the cream in the refrigerator until you are ready to assemble the cake.
4. Assemble Crepe Cake.  Line a 9-inch cake pan with parchment paper on the bottom.  Reserve about ½ of the amaretto cream, set aside.  With the remaining cream, build cake in the following manner:  Spread a dollop of amaretto cream on a crepe and place into cake pan.  Continue to spread crepe with cream and layer in pan in this manner.  When you get to the last crepe, place on top of layers in pan without spreading cream on top (because you are going to flip it and it will be on the bottom of the cake).   Press gently on top of the layers to smooth out (you will probably have a dome shaped cake).  Chill in the refrigerator for about an hour.  You could probably even make the cake up to here the day before serving.  Note:  I’ve seen other methods where you just stack the crepes on a plate and call it a day, so it’s your choice.  I think you get a better shape with the cake pan though. 
5. Remove cake from the pan by cutting around perimeter to loosen.  Then place a large plate on top and flip cake out of pan onto plate.  Frost with remaining amaretto cream and decorate with sliced almonds.

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