This beautiful chocolate mousse crepe cake is made of 20+ layers of delicate chocolate crepes filled with rich chocolate mousse filling and topped with festive red pomegranates.
Happy pre-Thanksgiving, folks! How’s your Thanksgiving prep going? I have a busy day ahead of me. Today, I need to prep the potatoes and stuffing, help my husband brine the turkey, make my pumpkin mousse pie and this pecan pie.
I already made these apple pie turnovers last week. They are frozen and ready to be baked tomorrow. I think, I have everything “under control”, except I need to go to grocery store to pick up some last minute stuff. (Grrr, I hate when I do this to myself!) I’m so excited for tomorrow though. It’s my favorite american holiday with LOTS of food and surrounded with family. In Mongolia, the whole extended family gathers together and pigs out on Lunar New Year. Thanksgiving is very similar to that, and that’s probably why it’s my favorite. It reminds me of home.
Anyhow, let’s take a little break from all the Thanksgiving stuff for a moment, and talk about this beautiful layered crepe cake. Crepe cake has always been on my list of things to make. I should mention this list is quite long, and unfortunately, I never get to this crepe cake. Well, one day I was reading one of my favorite blogs, and Lindsay announced the kitchen challenge to make a crepe cake. What a perfect excuse to finally tackle this long-overdue task! I just needed that nudge, you know.
I’ve been making crepes for my entire life. Russian culture influenced a lot here. For me, crepes are Russian thing, not French. (Not arguing that crepes are originated in France though.) Anyway, crepes are one of my husband’s favorite Sunday breakfasts. We love to eat them smothered with butter and jam. It’s the best. You see, whenever I plan to make a crepe cake, we just end up devouring it before I get a chance to stack them up. Sigh…
This time was different though. I had accepted the challenge, and I’m not the one who’d back out. So, I was determined to be patient and save the crepes for the cake. I didn’t want to make my regular basic crepes too. It’s a challenge; let’s make something different! I decided to load them up with chocolate. Oh man, was it the best decision ever? My supreme chocolate cake with chocolate mousse filling is the MOST popular recipe on my blog. I get rave reviews all the time. So why re-invent the wheels? I simply made small changes in the mousse recipe and used it in this crepe cake as well. If you love chocolate as much as I do, you will love this chocolate crepe cake recipe.
Honestly, making a crepe is not very difficult, but it’s time consuming. And never expect your first crepe to turn out perfect. No matter how experienced you are, your first crepe will always be imperfect, to say the least. But that’s ok, you’re gonna eat that one anyway for taste-testing to make sure there is enough sugar, or salt, or whatever other flavorings you’re adding. Just stop at one though, and save the rest for the cake. 🙂
You can make this cake in advance, which makes it perfect for holiday. Make the crepes and mousse filling a day advance, refrigerate them separately and assemble them a few hours before serving. Or you can actually assemble the whole thing a day in advance. Up to you.
I hate buttering the pan every time I cook a crepe. Here is my secret to avoid that: add vegetable oil into the batter and use non-stick pan. For uniform-sized crepes, which are important for this cake, use skillet on a smaller size. I used my 7-inch non-stick pan here. My #1 tip is to make sure your skillet is HOT before you start cooking the crepes. When the pan is hot, it doesn’t take long to cook the crepes, AND they don’t stick to the pan. As usual, here are step-by-step photos to guide through the process.
Perfect centerpiece of any holiday table, don’t ya think?
I wish you all a Happy Thanksgiving! Thank you so much for reading and being on this journey with me!
Chocolate Mousse Crepe Cake
Ingredients
For chocolate crepes:
- 2 cups 250gr all-purpose flour
- ¼ cup 30gr unsweetened cocoa powder
- ¼ cup 50gr sugar
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 3 large eggs at room temperature
- 2 ½ cups 600ml milk, at room temperature
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 2 tablespoons vegetable or canola oil
- Pomegranate seeds for garnish optional
- Powdered sugar for dusting optional
For chocolate mousse:
- 2 tablespoons 15gr unsweetened cocoa powder
- ¾ cup 150gr semi-sweet chocolate chips
- 1 cup 240ml heavy whipping cream
Instructions
- In a medium bowl, sift together flour, cocoa powder, sugar, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
- In a mixing bowl with whisk attachment, or using an handheld electric mixer,or by hand, beat the eggs for a minute. Stir in milk and vanilla extract. Add the flour mixture and beat on medium low speed just until combined, 1-2 minutes. Don’t overmix, or the batter will get tough and rubbery! Cover the mixture with a plastic wrap, so that it touches the surface of the batter. Let it rest for at least 30 minutes. When ready to fry the crepes, whisk in the vegetable oil.
- Heat 10-inch non-stick skillet over medium high heat. (The bottom of my 10-inch pan measures 7 inches, which means the crepes will be 7-inch round.) Place a little less than ¼ cup of batter into the hot pan, quickly swirl the pan so the batter is evenly covers the bottom of the pan. In about 1 minute, when the edges of the crepe start to pull away, flip it over using a spatula. Cook for about 30 seconds or so and stack the crepes on a plate. You’ll get about 20 crepes. Cool the crepes completely. You can wrap the crepes with a plastic wrap and refrigerate for up to a day.
- To make the mousse filling, dissolve the cocoa powder in ¼ cup (60ml) hot water. Set aside.
- In a double boiler, melt chocolate chips until smooth. Remove from heat and cool slightly. Stir in the cocoa mixture.
- In a mixing bowl with whisk attachment, whip the heavy cream until hard peaks form. Fold in the whipped cream into the melted chocolate and gently mix until no white streaks remain.
- Spread heaping one tablespoon of mousse filling on a crepe. Place another crepe on top and spread another heaping tablespoon of mousse filling. Repeat until all crepes are used. Store in airtight container in the fridge until ready to serve. Top the cake with pomegranate seeds and dust some powdered sugar generously using a mesh sieve right before serving.
Tips & Notes:
Tara says
Can this be made gluten free and or vegan??
Shinee says
Hi, Tara. I’ve never tested this recipe with gluten-free flour and egg-free.
Jacob @FlavorThyme says
This chocolate crepe cake looks so decadent and delicious! I bet it would be extremely good with a dulce de leche in between a couple layers!
ella says
Crepe recipe is in the right proportion. Although I did tweak it a little here and there. Family loved it. I will definitely make this again.