Recipe: 21-Layer Matcha Mille Crêpe.

This recipe is a loose adaptation of Ellen Easton’s 20 layer crêpe cake. It requires you make batter ahead of time, but it’s impressive enough to look at that it’s worth it. If you’re not a fan of green tea in your desserts, you can replace the matcha powder in the recipe with cocoa powder (for chocolate) or flour (for a plain crêpe). Personally, I think the green tea variation is best. The smell when the crêpes are cooking is just killer.
The garnish is up to you. I opted to dust it with a layer of matcha and then with some powdered sugar over a piece of lace. Get creative!
 
21-Layer Matcha Mille Crêpe
(or Crêpe Cake)

Batter 
¼ cup + 1 tbsp (75g) butter, melted
3 cups (700ml) warm (not scalding) milk
6 large eggs
1 ½ cups + 1 tbsp (190g) all-pupose flour, sifted
3 tbsp (18g) matcha powder, sifted
1 pinch salt
1/2 cup (100g) Sugar

Whipped Cream Filling
1 tbsp (8g) powdered gelatin
4 tbsp (60ml) ice cold water
3 cups (700ml) heavy cream
1/3 cup (35g) powdered sugar, plus more for dusting
(For matcha cream, add 2 tbsp. or 16g matcha powder)

1. In a large mixing bowl, mix the eggs, flour, matcha powder, sugar and salt. Stir in the warm milk and butter until the batter is smooth, then cover and refrigerate 4-8 hours or overnight.

2. When you’re ready to make your crêpes, heat a nonstick frying pan on medium heat. Gently spread a thin layer of butter into the pan with a paper towel. Once the pan is heated, begin making crêpes. Ladle a small portion of batter (approximately ¼ cup) into your pan, and quickly swirl it to cover the bottom of the pan evenly. Make sure to swirl the batter around the edges multiple times to build up the thickness and increase the stability of each crêpe. Once the top of the crêpe is dry and the bottom lightly browned, flip the crêpe. [I do this by hand by grabbing a corner and pulling it up, but if you aren’t confident you can do that without burning yourself, please use a spatula!] Cook for 20 seconds on the other side, and then transfer the crêpe to a plate. Repeat this until you’ve used up your batter, stacking the crêpes on one another to cool. You should get 20-25 crêpes unless your pan is larger than 10″. Cover them and refrigerate until they’re cooled completely.

3. Make the whipped cream filling. In small bowl, mix the gelatin and cold water and allow to bloom for 5 minutes. In a large bowl, beat the powdered sugar and cream until the whipped cream has reached soft-to-medium peaks. Gently warm the gelatin, either over a double boiler or in the microwave. Either way, be sure the gelatin has dissolved, but do not allow the mixture to boil. Pour the gelatin mixture into your heavy cream while mixing, and mix on medium-high speed until you just achieve medium peaks.

4. Begin assembly. Lay a crêpe on your cake plate and spread a layer of whipped cream as thick as the crêpe on top. I used an ice cream scoop to portion out the cream on each layer. Start in the middle and spread the whipped cream just to the edge of the crêpe, but not beyond. Repeat until you’ve used all your crêpes, and then sprinkle the cake with powdered sugar (or a mix of matcha and powdered sugar). Chill for an hour to allow the cake to set, then cut into slices and enjoy!

30 comments

  1. Gee says:

    Hi Katharina!
    Have you tried this recipe with red bean paste added to the cream? If I want to add red bean paste (sweetened) to your cream filling recipe above, how should I make the adjustments?

    Thanks!

    • Katharina
      Katharina says:

      Hi Gee!

      I have! The answer to that depends on what sort of sweet bean paste you’re using. I would suggest using the chunkier kind, since the whole beans in cream are really beautiful. I’d simply fold the bean paste into the cream after you’re done sweetening and stabilizing it. Start with about 1/4 cup bean paste to every cup of cream, and taste the cream as you go until it’s where you want it. If you don’t want it too sweet, maybe also try cutting the sugar from the original recipe by about 1/3. You can always add more in later if it isn’t sweet enough.

      Keep in mind the chunkiness will make the layers a tad taller and a tad less even, but you could even cut the crepe amount in half and use thicker layers of filling to avoid it looking bumpy. I hope this helps!

  2. Poupe' says:

    Thank you so much for wonderful recipe. Made it two days ago for a friend’s birthday. She loves it !!!

    btw, what if I wanna change matcha to coco powder, can I use the same amount ?

  3. jojo says:

    Hi! I’m really interested in making this cake and it looks great based on your photos :)). I have a question. For the milk used in the batter, is it just regular milk? Like the one you drink?

    • Katharina
      Katharina says:

      Hi Rachel! Sorry for the delayed response, you got caught in my spam filter!

      The gelatin is there purely to stabilize the whipped cream so the cake will hold up for longer. If you plan on serving it right way it won’t be necessary.

  4. yosia lie says:

    hello, i wanted to ask you about the batter ingredients. why is my batter so watery? i just added like 400ml of milk and its not looks like a batter at all. what did i do wrong?

    • Katharina
      Katharina says:

      Hi Yosia,

      I think it’s very possible you did it correctly! Crepe batter is extremely thin and runny, which is necessary in order to create a very thin sheet. It looks very, very watery compared to a cake batter. I would do a few test crepes to see if they hold together well. If for some reason they don’t, you can add a tablespoon or two of flour. I hope this helps!

  5. yosia lie says:

    hi there katharina! 🙂

    thanks alot for your fast reply, turns out it became a perfect batter after i refrigerate it, i need to add 2 tbsp of flour tho coz its so runny. matcha whipped cream also taste sooooooo gooodddd. overall it was a success on the 1st try, so thanks alot for ur recipe. looking forward to try your other recipe soon 😀

  6. Francesca says:

    Hi, this is amazing tried it at a Chinese restaurant…. my question is Can I make this recipe the night before? I am having wok Wednesday at my house and I don’t want to make the dessert the same day??

    • Katharina
      Katharina says:

      Hi, Francesca! As long as you stabilize the whipped cream and keep it covered so the crepes don’t dry out, it can be kept for several days and still be delicious. Hope this helps.

  7. Elaine says:

    Wow, this looks amazing…first time trying your recipe. My previous recipe added something bubbly like beer…have you try that before??

    • Katharina
      Katharina says:

      Hi Ashlee,

      This mixture helps air bubbles rise out of the batter and makes the crepes become smoother. If you’re in a pinch and have to skip a step, however, it won’t ruin the cake by any means. Definitely put it in the fridge for at least an hour if you can, but if not it isn’t the end of the world!

  8. Di says:

    Hi Katharina,

    This recipe is awesome, thank you!! Just made it, and it tastes great. Can I ask you how can you make the crepes so evenly? The center of mine is a lot higher than the edge. It got a bit better after spreading the cream, but still it’s a lot higher in the middle!

    Thank you again for sharing! 🙂

    • Katharina
      Katharina says:

      I’m so glad you enjoyed it!

      So, all crepe cakes tend toward that shape and it’s very normal! I try to make sure I swirl enough batter at the edges when I make my crepes, and then I level the rest out by spreading the cream a bit thicker around the edges when I assemble. I’m also not above using a cake board or pan to just push the crepe cake level here and there between layers. When you’re working with so many thin layers even very subtle height differences build up to big effect. I hope this helps!

  9. Tiffany says:

    Thank you for your recipe! It is very easy to follow, fool proofed, and the crepe I made turned out really well. I made chocolate crepe and matcha cream and can’t wait to try different flavours with your recipe.

    • Katharina
      Katharina says:

      Pei Pei,

      Very sorry for the delayed response; your comment was buried in my spam filtered comments for some reason! I think it probably wouldn’t mess with the recipe all too much to reduce the egg, however it may make the crepes more likely to fall apart and will probably reduce the yield by a crepe or two.

    • Katharina
      Katharina says:

      You can absolutely make those substitutions! The honey may make things a bit too runny, but that is an easy fix. My suggestion is to make one test crepe and then determine if it holds together well. If not, add a spoonful of flour to the batter and continue.

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