Tiramisu Crepe Cake

Several of my friends have mentioned that tiramisu is one of their favorite desserts; I felt inspired and decided to try putting a bit of a spin on the classic Italian dessert. Conceptually, tiramisu is already kind of "layered", with the layers of mascarpone and lady fingers, so I thought it'd work in a crepe cake format too. I alternated layers of coffee-flavored crepes, mascarpone cream, and cocoa powder. I'm really happy with the overall flavor of the cake -- the mascarpone cream is absolutely divine and pairs beautifully with the coffee flavor. Unfortunately ... the structural integrity of this crepe cake was not the best, for two main reasons: 1) the mascarpone cream was way too "fluid" for a crepe cake, and 2) I made the crepes too firm, while a crepe cake definitely calls for softer crepes. If I can improve on those areas though, this dessert would be incredible. It's really time consuming to make and I'll probably never make this by myself again, but it could be a fun experience with someone else.

Active Time: 3 hr

Total Time: 5 hr

Ingredients

(For the mascarpone cream)
> pasteurized eggs (6)
> powdered sugar (1.5 cup)
> mascarpone cheese (16 oz)
(For the crepes)
> eggs (6)
> milk (2.5 cups)
> granulated sugar (3 tbsp)
> melted butter (4 tbsp)
> vanilla extract (1 tsp)
> AP flour (1 3/4 cups)
> espresso powder (2.5 tbsp)
> salt (1/4 tsp)
(For dusting)
> cocoa powder
> dark chocolate

Instructions

To make the mascarpone cream filling:
1. Separate the egg yolks from the egg whites. Add the 6 egg yolks and powdered sugar into a large mixing bowl, and mix well.
2. Add the mascarpone cheese, and whisk until smooth.
3. In a separate mixing bowl, beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form, using standard meringue techniques.
4. Add the egg whites into the mascarpone cream filling, and gently fold the egg whites into the mixture until fully incorporated.
5. Chill in the fridge for at least 1 hour.
To make the crepes:
1. In a large mixing bowl, whisk all the liquid ingredients together (eggs, milk, melted butter, vanilla extract) until well-mixed.
2. Mix together all the dry ingredients (sugar, flour, espresso powder, salt). Gradually sift into the wet ingredients and mix thoroughly. Whisk until no lumps remain. If necessary, strain out any lumps. If too much flour is strained from the mixture, add more flour as necessary. Let the mixture cool in the fridge for 30-60 minutes.
3. Heat a nonstick frying pan over medium to medium-low heat. Spread a very small amount of vegetable oil onto the pan.
4. Add about 1/4 cup of crepe batter to the center of the pan (adjust according to the size of your pan), and tilt the pan around to spread the batter evenly on the pan. Once the edges begin to crisp up (approximately 2-3 minutes), flip the crepe with your hand. Cook about 1-2 minutes on the other side. Remove the crepe and let cool completely. Repeat this step until you are out of crepe batter.
Putting everything together:
1. To assemble the cake, we'll use a 9-inch springform pan. Line the bottom of the pan with parchment paper.
2. Using the side of the springform pan, trim the crepes into a perfect 9-inch circle, if necessary.
3. Drop a crepe into the pan. Add approximately 1/3 cup mascarpone filling. Spread the filling uniformly all the way to the edges. Sprinkle sme cocoa powder over the top. Repeat this process until you run out of crepes / mascarpone filling. Leave the last crepe with no filling.
4. Use plastic wrap to cover, and transfer to the fridge to cool for at least 2 hours, preferably overnight.
5. Remove the plastic wrap, and invert the crepe cake onto a serving platter. Remove the springform pan and parchment paper. Dust the top with cocoa powder and grate a little bit of chocolate over the top. Slice, server and enjoy!

Notes/Tips:

> Remember to bring all of your ingredients up to room temperature before using. Especially for making the mascarpone cream, this will make your life much easier. Forgot to take ingredients out of the fridge? Warm it up in a water bath.
> I've never actually figured out how to avoid lumps in crepes. One potential approach is to use a blender (just add everything and mix until smooth). But if you don't have a reasonably large blender like me, lumps always seem to form regardless of how much I whisk the mixture. I usually just end up straining the mixture, and adding a touch more flour if needed.
> Ideally, you want the size of your pan and springform pan to match as close as possible. Otherwise, make sure your pan is slightly larger so that you can trim off the excess.
> Make sure that your pan has a flat bottom and isn't warped. If the bottom is warped, the thickness of the crepe won't be uniform and it won't cook evenly. Alternatively, use a crepe making pan (although personally, I'm not very good at making these using the crepe making pans).
> Make sure that the sizes of your springform pan and nonstick frying pan match up! Ideally, you'd want your crepes to be exactly the size of the springform pan.
> This recipe will probably give you slightly more crepe batter than you need. No matter how many times I make crepes, I inevitably mess up some, particularly in the first couple. It's good to have that extra safety margin.
> You can definitely omit the last step of inverting onto a serving platter, if you prefer. In that case, I'd actually suggest adding filling on the top of the last crepe, to press it down a bit.
> With crepe cakes, you definitely want to make a softer crepe, so that you can easily slice through the layers without making the whole cake disintegrate. So for that reason, you'll probably want to use a different recipe.