Chocolate Hazelnut Crepe Cake from King Arthur and Broma Bakery

I may have a thing for King Arthur.... 

Remember my artistic attempts at crepes? 

They resulted in a chocolate hazelnut crepe cake. I am terrible at food photography. But it was really yummy! Crisp crepes layered with hazelnut pastry cream? Oh yes. 

This will take  you approximately 7867 hours to make. Budget your time accordingly. Or get a good book to read or listen to while you make crepes. I always thought crepes were quick things. Each of my crepes took about 5 minutes. Maybe mine were overcooked. 

Hey! I have never made crepes before! 

If you want to see this crepe cake in all it's chocolatey glory, go check out the Broma Bakery photos. They are a thousand times more appealing than my pictures. 

Chocolate Hazelnut Crepe Cake

Crepes

• 1¾ cups Flour
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ¼ cup Cocoa
• 4 large eggs, room temperature
• 1½ cups milk
• ½ cup unsalted butter, melted

Filling

• 2 cups homemade Pastry Cream (see below)
• ¾ cup chocolate hazelnut spread, such as Nutella

Pastry Cream

• 3 cups whole milk
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup cornstarch
• 1 tablespoon flour
• 4 large egg yolks
• 1/4 cup butter
• 1 cup heavy cream, whipped to stiff peaks

(In typing this up, I realize I completely forgot the whipped cream. Ooopsie! I will have to make it again to see if it is better with it. This version, sans whipped cream, was pretty fabulous....)

For Crepes--

1. In a medium-sized bowl, whisk together the flour, salt and cocoa. If the cocoa has any lumps be sure to break them up or sift them out.
2. Whisk in the eggs, milk and butter and continue to whisk until the mixture is smooth. Pour the batter through a strainer into a clean bowl, cover and set aside for 30 minutes.
3. Towards the end of the rest period, preheat your crêpe pan according to the manufacturer's direction. Cook a test crêpe or two, and adjust the batter with milk if it is too thick to work with. Cook the rest of the crêpes, you'll need about 18 to 20 for the cake.
4. Cool the crêpes while you prepare the homemade Pastry Cream (recipe linked above). You will need approximately 2 cups of cooled pastry cream.

Cooling the crepes was pretty easy for me--I ended up with paper thin crepes and I had a large cookie sheet to place them on. By the time I finished the third crepe (they took forEVER to make) the first one was cooled completely. I made the pastry cream ahead of time, so I just assembled the cake while I was making them. 

For Hazelnut Pastry Cream--

1. In a medium-sized saucepan, stir together 2 1/2 cups of the milk, the sugar, and salt. Bring to a simmer over medium heat, stirring to dissolve the sugar.
2. Meanwhile, whisk the cornstarch, flour, and egg yolks with the remaining 1/2 cup milk.
3. Whisk some of the hot milk mixture with the egg yolks to temper them. This keeps the yolks from turning to scrambled eggs when you add them to the simmering milk.
4. Pour the egg/milk mixture back into the remaining simmering milk. Doing this through a strainer will help prevent lumps later. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly with a whisk, until the mixture thickens.
5. Remove from the heat and strain through a fine sieve. Stir in the butter and vanilla extract. Stir in the nutella. 
6. Rub a piece of butter over the surface of the cream, top with a piece of plastic wrap (make sure it touches the top of the pastry cream so it doesn't develop a skin), then refrigerate until cool.
7. To complete, fold the whipped cream into the cooled pastry cream.

Assembling cake--

1. To assemble the cake: Stack 3 crêpes on a serving plate and spread with 2 tablespoons of hazelnut pastry cream. Continue to layer a single crêpe and 2 tablespoons of filling until you are nearly out of crêpes. For stability, occasionally layer two or three crêpes instead of one single crêpe.
2. End with a layer of 3 crêpes. Wrap the cake well in plastic wrap, using a little pressure to keep the cake pressed down. Chill for at least 60 minutes, or up to overnight. Slice in wedges to serve.