42 Layer Chocolate Crepe Cake and an 11th Birthday

It's been a long while since I've shared one of my parties with you. This one has the added benefit of being an early birthday for a dear little friend of mine who is about to turn eleven. I remember that age so fondly!

Pink was the order of the day. The place cards are from Hobby Lobby, as are the raised gold stickers. I just did the first letter of each name, like a monogram. Luckily, there were only two of us with matching letters! 

The fun napkins are ones that I got while in Paris, just dreaming of when I would use them. The napkin "rings" are candy bracelets and watches as an added party favor. I love these little things. I remember I used to get the necklaces and I would walk about with them around my neck and pulled up to stick in my mouth. I would suck on them to make them last longer. Then I snapped them back around my neck and let them dry!  This would go on all day long until I had a candy colored and very sticky neck ;).  Aren't the little paper doilies under the glasses sweet?

The cake is one that I have been wanting to try ever since I pulled it out of a Martha Stewart magazine in 2006. How's that for procrastination for you? It's made of chocolate crepes sandwiched with a hazelnut cream and then a dark chocolate glaze poured over. The magazine picture had it topped with spiky sugared hazelnuts, which I am dying to try doing. But for this party I thought that my vintage bird candle holders and some pink nonpareils and edible gold stars were more appropriate.

But who knew if the cake would be edible? Or if the birthday girl would like it? So I also made a pile of ever-pleasing chocolate chip cookies. 

Did you know I had a twin? A much younger, much cuter twin? (Hey, it could happen...) I found the black and white embroidered dress for Ms. Belle a week ago and had to prance around Goodwill in excitement. I told her that since I couldn't fit into it, she had to wear it for me. And the very next week (same store...oh, eerie ;) I found a startlingly similar dress in my size. What fun to be able to dress up with a girlfriend... 

This is a sad picture of the cake the next day, after it sat on the table, got soft, and tried to slide. Hey, we were talking about books and I forgot to takes any pictures of the slices or the inside!

I served up the first slice of cake to the birthday girl and asked her how it was. She smiled and said, "It tastes like ice cream!" I thought that was odd until I tasted it. It is very hard to describe, but the thin little layers of filling do give it an oddly ice cream-ish texture. The crepe layers are nothing like cake, but their texture is absolutely perfect. Springy, tender, and a chocolate that is not too sweet. That would have been cloying, but the crepes had a dark cocoa taste that made it just right.

The crepes are very tender. I tore three or four as I went along. But they were quickly eaten and so no one ever knew! It took a good while (perhaps an hour) to cook all the crepes.

Everyone who tried it liked it! My middle son said, "Now this is special." He is a cook, and when he says that it's very high praise. My oldest tasted it and declared, "Yum! Tastes like mousse cake." My youngest ate some at the party. Ate another slice later. Had another for breakfast. Ate the last bit that night. And then he declared, "That may have to be my birthday cake this year." 

42 crepes, all ready to be layered together into a clever cake. Yes, I really counted. DISCLAIMER- I do NOT believe in using nonstick! I think it is a big health no-no. But moma gave me one that was too small to be of use to them, but just the right size for crepes...there's an exception to every rule, right? Sigh, nothing like snacking on a little cake of nonstick death.

I guarantee this is like nothing else you've ever had, unless you've had crepe cake! I can't properly describe the taste and texture, but it works wonderfully. Martha's recipe has you make a whipped cream and beaten meringue, then fold in some hazelnut cream. I decided to use chocolate-hazelnut spread, the Aldi version of Nutella, and lighten it by folding in whipped cream.

The whole jar of chocolate-hazelnut plus whipped cream only filled half the crepes. And I did a very thin layer! I melted about 3/4 cup of semi-sweet choc chips and folded in whipped cream to fill the other half. It was PERFECT! I don't know how her filling tastes, but I know that I will be using the one that I came up with again!

I didn't get any pictures of the glaze, which is basically just a ganache that you smooth over. In her magazine they let it run over the sides and you can still see the layers of crepes with gaps and drips. It looks artful, but I wanted this one to look more like a traditional birthday cake. I used 70% dark chocolate for my glaze, and I only made half of the recipe. I knew I didn't need 2 cups of glaze for this little thing.

 Here is the Martha Stewart recipe- Darkest Chocolate Crepe Cake . And these are the things I did differently- I used a 6 inch pan for the crepes because it's what I had. I used a type of Nutella lightened with whipped cream for the filling. And I only made half the glaze. I would be very interested to know what her filling tastes like, if you decide to try it. I hope you won't wait as long as I did, because this is a gem of cake!

So, a pretty-in-pink party for a dear young girl that I have been blessed to know since she arrived on this green earth. Can't wait to see how she grows and changes through the coming years!