If you’re looking for a beautiful cake for a birthday party or any celebration, a crepe cake is a great option. The crepe cake, also known as mille crêpes, is a French-inspired dessert made by stacking multiple layers of crepes with a creamy filling in between. Unlike traditional cakes, there’s no baking involved. It’s relatively easy to make, can be prepared ahead of time, and holds very well in the fridge.
Today I want to share this crepe cake filled with a tangy sweet lemon curd cream. This lemon curd recipe was shared by my pastry chef Emily. It is her signature recipe that produces a lemon curd that is extra zesty and citrusy. Its silky texture and tangy sweetness balance perfectly with the airy whipped cream, creating a well-rounded flavor profile that isn’t overly rich.
How to make lemon crepe cake
Make the lemon curd
First, mix the lemon zest and the sugar together until it forms a wet sand texture.
Next, mix in the butter, and whisk in four eggs, one at a time.
Pour in the lemon juice until combined. The texture of the liquid may look a little separated but it’s OK.
Then cook the lemon curd over the stove, mixing it while heating it. Note, the lemon curd starts to thicken really quickly, so do not leave your stove during this step. Once it has thickened, run it through a fine mesh strainer to remove any clumps. Then cover it tightly with plastic wrap before refrigerating.
Make the crepes
Make the crepes while chilling the lemon curd. Blend everything together in a blender until smooth. Do not over blend, otherwise your crepes might come out tough.
The crepe batter will be very thin and runny, barely coating the back of a spoon.
Cook each crepe by cooking 1/4 cup batter in a 9” pan. Swirl the pan and the batter should spread easily, forming a thin crepe. You can add a few drops of batter to patch up any open areas. And it’s totally OK if your crepes don’t come out perfectly, since most of them will be covered inside of the cake. If your batter is a little too thick, you can always add a little bit of water to thin it out, so the crepes come out paper thin. If the batter is too runny, you can add a little rice flour to thicken it.
Secret ingredient – rice flour
This recipe used half rice flour and half all-purpose flour in the crepe batter. It makes extra thin crepes easily with a light and crispy texture. We love this texture in the crepe cake. If you don’t have rice flour, simply replace the rice flour with all-purpose flour, then you’ll get a more traditional crepe cake.
Make the lemon curd cream
First make whipped cream with heavy cream, powdered sugar, vanilla extract and salt. You want to whip until stiff peaks form, so the cream is more stabilized and can hold up in the cake. Then fold in the lemon curd to make the lemon cream.
Since we’ve made a very zesty lemon curd, the lemon cream will in turn be very zesty with a bright flavor. The cream is also not overly sweet, working really well with the thin crepes.
Assemble the crepe cake
Assembling the crepe cake is super easy. All you need to do is to spread the cream on each piece of the crepe and stack them. Once everything is stacked, you can decorate the top by dusting some powdered sugar (The easiest way). Or you can fill the rest of the lemon curd cream into a piping bag and add some frosting on top, and garnish with berries.
Here we made a 30-layer crepe cake with 15 layers of crepes and 15 layers of cream. I know that 1/3 cup of lemon cream for each layer sounds like a lot of cream! But trust me, it makes a very stunning looking crepe cake with a creamy texture that’s nicely balanced.
How to serve and store crepe cake
You should chill the crepe cake in the fridge for at least 1 hour before serving, so the cream will become more stabilized. The cake will be much easier to cut and the layers won’t collapse.
You can store the crepe cake in the fridge in an airtight container for up to a week. The crepes will toughen up a little and absorb moisture from the cream over time. So the cake will taste a little denser, with a more prominent crepe texture. But it will still taste very good.
Other baked goods for celebrations
- Japanese Cheesecake (Jiggly and Extra Cheesy)
- Matcha Cake
- Japanese Strawberry Cake
- Black Sesame Babka
- Pineapple Cake (凤梨酥), A Simplified Version
Chinese Cooking Made Easy
Are you new to this website? This free email series is a great place to start. I’ll walk you through a few of my most popular recipes and show you how and why they work. You’ll quickly start to cook better Chinese food in your own kitchen.
Lemon Creme Crepe Cake
Ingredients
Lemon curd
- 4 lemons’ zest
- 1 1/2 cups sugar
- 5 tablespoons butter , softened
- 4 eggs
- 2/3 cup lemon juice (about 5 to 6 lemons)
Crepes
- 1 cup milk
- 1/2 cup water (room temp)
- 4 large eggs
- 4 tablespoons butter , melted
- 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup rice flour (*Footnote 1)
- 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
- pinch of salt
Whipped Cream
- 3 cups heavy cream
- 1/2 cup powdered sugar
- 2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
Instructions
To make the lemon curd:
- Add the sugar into a large bowl. Zest lemons into sugar. Rub the lemon zest and sugar together with your fingers until it reaches the texture of wet sand.
- Add in butter. Fold lightly with a rubber spatula until combined. Add in 4 eggs, one at a time, whisking between additions, until fully incorporated.
- Pour in lemon juice and whisk thoroughly until combined.
- Heat the mixture in a small saucepan over medium heat, using a rubber spatula to stir constantly, scraping bottom. When the mixture starts to thicken, 4 minutes or so, use whisk to mix out any clumps. Let bubble for 1 minute. Remove from heat and transfer into a bowl. Run the lemon curd through a fine mesh strainer, pressing out any clumps. Once cooled slightly, cover with plastic wrap directly onto the surface of the curd, and refrigerate until cold.
To make the crepes:
- Put all the crepe ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth (do not over blend). Pour it through a fine mesh strainer to disperse any remaining lumps, and let batter rest for at least 10 minutes before continuing.
- Once the batter has rested, heat a 9” nonstick pan over medium heat. Add a small amount of butter to coat the pan, and pour in about 1/4 cup of batter. Quickly swirl batter around the pan, adding a bit more batter if necessary to cover the pan’s surface. Cook without moving until most of the surface starts to look matte and less shiny, and small bubbles start to appear at edges, about 2 minutes. Flip crepe in one swift motion, cooking the other side for about 30 seconds. The top of the crepe should appear lightly golden. Remove crepe to a large flat plate or tray (crepes can be stacked directly on top of each other without sticking). Repeat with remaining batter without the need to add more butter.
To make the lemon creme:
- Add the whipped cream ingredients in a mixer’s mixing bowl or in a large bowl if mixing by hand. Turn on medium-high speed or whisk until stiff peaks appear. Transfer into a large bowl.
- Fold chilled lemon curd into whipped cream until evenly incorporated. Refrigerate until ready to use.
To assemble the crepe cake:
- Once the crepes have cooled entirely, prepare a round and flat tray or a plate to build the crepe cake on. Transfer one crepe onto it. Spread about 1/3 cup of lemon cream mixture onto the crepe, spreading it to the edges using a small offset metal spatula. Repeat with remaining crepes, stacking and lightly pressing down each crepe as you layer. Finish with a layer of crepe, and garnish the top of the crepe with powdered sugar, lemon curd cream frosting, and berries if desired. Chill in the fridge for at least 1 hour before serving. Store the cake in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to a week.
Notes
- The rice flour makes it very easy to create a thin airy crepe that’s slightly crispy. If you don’t have rice flour, you can use all-purpose flour to make a traditional crepe with a slightly chewy texture.
Nutrition
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I was inspired by the recipe and made this last night. Great recipe! Sweetness level and citrus level was perfect. I only had a cast iron pan at that size and it worked perfectly on low-medium heat, made sure to oil my pan properly at the start. I ended up with a lot more whipped cream leftover so I piped it on top and covered the whole top. Definitely making this again! Everything on your site has been amazing, keep up the great work!
Maggie Zhu
So happy to hear you tried this out and enjoyed it! 🙂 It’s great to know that a cast iron pan would work. We experimented with half of the whipped cream at the beginning, but decided a taller cake looks nicer. Adding the cream on top sounds great! Thank you for leaving a positive review.