Chocolate Hazelnut Crêpe Cake

You think it sounds wrong, but its not. This cake is so right. My sister lives off of nutella crêpes every time we go to on holiday, I thought it would be fitting to make her one for her birthday this year. I layered each crêpe with three fillings- a dark chocolate ganache, a hazelnut milk chocolate cream and sprinkling of chopped hazelnuts.

This was amazing with chopped strawberries piled on top and vanilla ice cream or fresh double cream poured over. Needless to say, it didn't last long in my house full of chocolate lovers.


Crêpe Ingredients
130g plain flour
6 eggs
225ml milk
125ml cream
30g icing sugar

40g melted butter for greasing the pan

Choco-hazelnut cream ingredients

320ml whipping cream

3tbs cocoa powder
3tbs caster sugar
1tbs nutella

Chocolate ganache recipe
130g dark chocolate, chopped
240ml double cream

plus a pack of chopped hazelnuts, strawberries to top and cream to serve and greaseproof paper to store the crepes.

Method

1. Whisk together all of the wet crêpe ingredients, then gradually add the dry ingredients. The mixture should represent thick cream.
2. Here, I recommend using a proper pancake pan- making 20 perfect crepes is hard enough, but the one i use guarantees them every time. Brush the pan with the melted butter and heat over a medium heat until the butter just begins to smoke. Then, (if you have a ladle, use it) fill a ladle 3/4 of the way and tip it onto the pan, immediately tipping the batter round to get an even coating
3. Keep an eye on the crepes, giving them a shake to loosen them. They are done when the top loses its glossiness. Now, flip the crepe with a spatula (or the traditional way, if you're feeling like a daredevil) then slide onto a sheet of greaseproof paper
4. Repeat until you have used up all of the mix, you should have about 20 crepes. I laid out a long sheet of greaseproof paper, then layered another over the top.
5. To make the cream filling, begin to whisk the cream, then gradually begin to add the sugar and then cocoa powder as it begins to thicken. Add the nutella and briefly whisk, set aside.
6. For the ganache, place the chocolate in a mixing bowl then heat the cream in a saucepan over a medium heat until almost boiling, remove from heat and pour over chocolate, whisking until smooth.

To Assemble

The ganache should cool a little but still be a runny liquid. Take the first crepe, place it on your serving plate. with a pastry brush, spread a thin layer of ganache on the top of the crepe, spread a slightly thicker layer of the cream filling on top, then place another crepe on and repeat. Sprinkle chopped hazelnuts on every other layer. When finished, brush the remaining ganache over the top and sides of the cake and leave to stand at room temperature to set.

Chop strawberries and pile on top, serve with fresh cream,

Enjoy! :) x