Sweet Potato Crepe Cake Recipe With Cream Filling

Ultra-thin sweet potato crepes layered with a luscious passion fruit filling for an extraordinary cake recipe crafted in half the duration of a conventional cake.

What Is A Crepe Cake?

A crepe cake, often referred to as “Mille Crêpes” (thousand crepes), or “Gâteau de Crêpes”, is a French-inspired delicacy comprising stacks of fragile crepes piled high with a thin layer of smooth filling in between each crepe.

Crepes are fundamentally very slender pancakes typically prepared from a basic mixture of flour, eggs, milk, and butter. The filling can be anything you desire, but it must be spreadable to a very thin consistency.

Crepe Cakes vs Viennese Tortes

If you have ever enjoyed a Viennese Sacher Torte, composed of numerous thin layers of a sumptuous cake batter, often made with nut flour rather than all-purpose flour, you’d likely be excited by the prospect of creating a multi-layer cake in half the time!

The initial Sacher torte I concocted years ago required a full day for preparation and decoration, so I fully support this convenient multi-layered crepe cake.

Sweet Potato Crepes

Regarding the crepes? The options are endless when it comes to the type of crepe components you might select based on your preference for flavor or visual appeal.

I selected sweet potatoes to create my crepe batter due to their significantly superior flavor compared to a standard crepe; either orange (more flavorful than pumpkin) or purple sweet potatoes can be utilized, and their intrinsic starch content aids in a crepe that maintains its structure well.

If they are overly cake-like, they won’t retain the integrity as effectively as the chewy texture we aim for, which is achieved by using a substantial number of eggs.

A lot of eggs adds extra fat, much like I employ in my Savory Crepes instead of tortillas for the majority of my wraps and certainly to provide substance to my Wellington, where they are layered between the mushroom pâté and the puff pastry.

Who Creates A Cake Out Of Crepes?

Anyone seeking a ‘Showstopper’ cake! As a cookbook author, with a collection of cooking contests on television under my belt, I simply had to enter the arena and apply for The Great American Baking Show, produced by the same team behind The Great British Baking Show.

As you may already be aware, the stringent quality regulations in the British Baking show means I am practicing relentlessly on various baked treats that are generally crafted by a seasoned baker.

However, to be eligible for the show, you must be an amateur baker, an everyday home chef, which I am, and thus I require great ingredients to simplify my challenging task a bit.

If a crepe cake emerges as one of the challenges, then I want to practice it several times before the producers start making their selections for the upcoming season.

The Fashionable Crepe Cake And Why Sweet Potatoes

Why create a layered cake if you can…
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just pile layers of ultra-thin crepes from your preferred crepe batter, distribute a delicate layer of filling in between and envelop the substantial stack with a decadent creamy frosting!

Well, that’s precisely what I’m about to accomplish as soon as I ensure I have two, not just one, excellent crepe pans to expedite the task.

After viewing nearly every season of the Great British Bake Off, likely twice, I’ve discovered one undeniable fact; the judges Paul Hollywood and Prue Leith sample numerous delightful bites, making the most effective way to impress them either through flavor or visual appeal. I’m aiming for both!! 

The taste and stunning natural hue of either purple sweet potatoes or orange sweet potatoes is what renders this marvelous sweet potato crepe cake; Remarkable. 

However, first I must secure myself an excellent crepe pan, not merely a non-stick frying pan but a pan that will aid me in crafting flawless layers of crepes swiftly and effectively. 

Kitchen Instruments And The Ideal Crepe

Much like nearly every cooking instrument in my kitchen that experiences years of usage, I am in search of product lines that elevate home cooking to a professional level, and make my tasks as straightforward as possible. 

Before selecting the crepe pan for my crepe cake, I first had to determine what size the completed cake was going to be. 

I found that crepe pans varied from a 12-inch cooking area to a 6-inch. Did I prefer larger crepes for a big crepe cake, or smaller crepes for a truly tall cake?

One certainty is that I desired a crepe pan facilitating easy flipping, which likely indicated non-stick pans. 

5-Characteristics To Consider In A Crepe Pan

These characteristics formed my criteria for selecting the crepe pan to create that ‘fashionable’ crepe cake with numerous layers;

• First and foremost, a non-stick surface will significantly ease crepe preparation. 
• The appropriate pan for me also needed to be lighter, as I would need to move it swiftly over high heat to spread the crepe batter to the edges of the pan quickly. 
• This leads to my next feature to focus on: a pan that could endure high temperatures. Would this imply cast iron, carbon steel pans, or aluminized steel?
• The design would significantly influence the finishing of the edges as well as ease of flipping. Did I want shallow sides, a flat base, or did the exterior edges truly matter since they would probably be coated with buttercream frosting or might be trimmed before layering?
• Lastly, it was crucial to evaluate whether electric crepe makers would yield better crepes compared to a stovetop crepe pan, and which option would depend more reliably on my heat source. 

I selected a pan that has performed exceptionally well for me each time I prepare a crepe cake, although I would be eager to hear from you regarding your preferred pan to work with. 

Crepe Cake Creamy Filling Is More Than Just An Icing

Unlike most layered cakes that receive a generous layer of frosting between the tiers, the crepe cake layers require a very thin layer, and one that infuses as much flavor into a mere spread as possible. 

For my crepe cake, I’ve selected one of my preferred creamy fillings, one I frequently incorporate when filling eclairs or cream puffs. 

Passion fruit, one of Paul Hollywood and Prue Leith’s favored flavors, is going to beautifully complement these sweet potato crepes. 

The flavor of passion fruit is nearly more tart than a lemon, sweet and succulent as a peach, and by using just the pulp from the fruit, the possibilities are endless. 

How To Prepare A Crepe Cake

There are three phases to crafting this sweet potato crepe cake, each of which is fairly swift to execute and not as complicated as it might seem.

Crepes can be prepared in advance and kept in a sealed container until you are ready to put them together, or made on the same day.

Decadent passion fruit creamy filling can also be prepared ahead of time, kept in the refrigerator, and brought to room temperature when it’s time to assemble.

Preparing the cream frosting is quick; once the cream cheese and mascarpone are softened and the purple butterfly pea flower tea extract has infused sufficiently to achieve the desired hue, or you may simply incorporate food coloring.

Crepe Mixture

This mixture comes together swiftly in a food processor or stand mixer, creating a creamy consistency and quickly smoothing out the lumps.

It must rest in the fridge for at least an hour before producing the crepes, but this allows you time to prepare the filling.

Regarding the sweet potatoes; they can be steamed, roasted, or even include leftovers from a previous meal and then simply blended into a puree.

Making the crepes often follows the general process of making pancakes; typically, the first crepe is often discarded, so utilize that initial crepe to sample, should you wish to adjust anything concerning the batter.

Creamy Pastry Filling

And when I refer to pastry filling, I mean that this is distinct from the frosting you might spread between layers of a cake; this pastry cream is frequently used for the filling in eclairs since a dash of gelatin in the cream provides more structure as the layers of cream are applied thinly between each crepe.

Once the gelatin has dissolved in a small amount of the passion fruit pulp, everything blends quickly in a blender or food processor and is then stored in the refrigerator until needed.

Cream Frosting

Similar to the convenience of combining the crepe mixture and filling, the cream frosting also combines rapidly using softened mascarpone and cream cheese instead of butter, along with a generous amount of icing sugar, whipping cream, and one additional component to impart natural coloration.

Butterfly Pea flower tea or powder naturally imparts a beautiful purple hue to the frosting. In the absence of acidity in the frosting, the color will appear more blue; however, with a drop of lemon juice or the acidity in the cream cheese, the frosting transforms to purple.

If utilizing the tea, simply infuse it in the cream until the cream extracts its color, or mix the powder into the whipped cream.

For just a touch more sparkle in the icing, remember I crafted this recipe to impress Paul Hollywood—a sprinkling of edible fairy dust adds an extra color and shine.

A chiffonade of rose petals would undoubtedly make this purple sweet potato crepe cake a standout for any occasion!

Required Equipment

• Measuring instruments for accurate ingredient proportions.
• Stand mixer or food processor, ensuring a thoroughly blended and creamy batter.
• 8-9 inch crepe pan, or 10-inch for a larger dessert – This Eslite Life crepe pan with spreader and nonstick ceramic flat skillet is what I selected; in fact, I used 2 pans, with crepes cooking in about a minute each. Perfect crepes every time!
• A thin spatula or fine kitchen tweezers for lifting and flipping the delicate crepes while cooking.
• Basting brush for applying a thin layer of melted butter over the crepe pan.
• Icing spatula for evenly spreading a layer of cream between the crepes and a final coating of icing across the completed cake.

Stability For Tall Cakes

Essential Ingredients

• All-purpose flour – ideally one with elevated protein levels as they form the foundation of gluten for a sturdier crepe. I prefer King Arthur Flour.
• Cinnamon – either powdered or freshly grated.
• Nutmeg – either freshly grated or powdered.
• Sweet potatoes, either purple or orange, based on the hue you desire.
• Salt – fine salt granules.
• Whole milk – while a milk substitute could be utilized, there is still butter (cream) in the combination, so it’s best to stick with unadulterated whole milk.
• Eggs – large eggs are most effective for this preparation.
• Unsalted butter – there really is no justification for using salted butter, particularly when we usually add our own salt. Historically, salt was employed as a preservative in the making of fresh butter in the absence of refrigeration.
• Granulated cane sugar – or caster sugar, which is merely your regular sugar processed in a food processor to achieve a finer texture.
• Vanilla – either purchased or homemade with fresh vanilla pods in a jar with either bourbon or rum to extract the essence of the vanilla.
• Heavy cream – high-quality organic heavy cream without any added thickeners.
• Passion fruit pulp – brings a lovely tang to the sweet potato crepe.
• Unflavored gelatin, which ensures the filling is firm enough to withstand the numerous layers of crepes.
• Mascarpone or Cream cheese – either is suitable for the texture, though my choice is always mascarpone due to its subtly sweet, nearly nutty flavor.
• Powdered sugar for a delicately textured icing.
• Butterfly pea flower powder or tea as a natural food dye and mild flavoring (optional).
• Edible purple glitter (optional) just for an added flair.