Chocolate Crepe Cake - A special breakfast for Brittany's 21st

This is the labor of love!!  Are you jealous of my roommates yet?? Does your roommate make this cake for your birthday breakfast? Didn't think so. 

I've been meaning to share this cake with you all for a few weeks now.. I've been a bad blogger! But a good baker.. and a good student : )) 

Answer: 33. 

I should have stopped at 21 - the number of years. That would have been appropriate (and a little less work :) 

The idea of a crepe cake is a familiar Hungarian dessert as well. I have had this before but instead of using cocoa in between the layers there was ground almonds and powdered sugar. You could also use lemon zest + powdered sugar, or ground walnuts + jam, or even a cream or custard would be delicious.

I made mine with my new small fry egg pan I got for my birthday. The crepes were about 4 inches in diameter so I was able to achieve a tall cake. If you'd like to make a bigger cake I would suggest doubling the recipe so you still get the same height.

Alton Brown's Crepe recipe

(yields 17 normal sized crepes or 33 mini crepes, about 4 inches)

Ingredients

• 2 large eggs
• 3/4 cup milk
• 1/2 cup water
• 1 cup flour
• 3 tablespoons melted butter
• Butter, for coating the pan

Make the batter.

In a blender, combine all of the ingredients and pulse for 10 seconds. Place the crepe batter in the refrigerator for 1 hour. This allows the bubbles to subside so the crepes will be less likely to tear during cooking. The batter will keep for up to 48 hours.

Choose your filling. 

Make your filing before you start your crepes. You'll see why in a minute. I used a combination of a lot of powdered sugar with some cocoa powder.  Alternately you can use hot cocoa mixes such as Nestle Quick.  Other fantastic choices are lemon zest and powdered sugar, ground walnuts, hazelnuts, almonds etc + jam or powdered sugar, any creams or custards would be lovely as well. 

Make your crepes and assemble the cake.

Heat a small non-stick pan. Add butter to coat. Pour 1 ounce of batter into the center of the pan and swirl to spread evenly. (If you're making the mini crepes I used about 1tbs per crepe. I think Alton mentioned about 1/4 cup for a normal sized crepe) Cook ...until you see the outer edges start to flip up a bit. It will not bubble like a pancake. Note: YOU DO NOT NEED TO FLIP THE CREPES. Slide the crepe (cooked side down) onto a plate. Since you will be stacking the other crepes the same way, the uncooked side will get cooked by the fresh and hot crepe that you will be stacking on top of it. See, Makes sense and its good short cut. (learned this from my mom and grandma :) After placing your first crepe sprinkle or spread the filling of your choice. Continue this process of alternating crepe, filling, crepe until all batter is gone. 

Alton suggests these variations for the crepe batter. I have actually seen a savory crepe cake made with mushrooms and ham. Yum!

*Savory Variation Add 1/4 teaspoon salt and 1/4 cup chopped fresh herbs, spinach or sun-dried tomatoes to the egg mixture.

*Sweet Variation Add 21/2 tablespoons sugar, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract and 2 tablespoons of your favorite liqueur to the egg mixture.