Food & Cooking Recipes Crepe Recipes Darkest Chocolate Crepe Cake 4.1 (301) 39 Reviews This decadent dessert is a showstopper—and you don't need to turn the oven on to make it! By Martha Stewart Martha Stewart Martha Stewart is a bestselling author, entrepreneur, and lifestyle expert who has taught millions of people through generations the joy of entertaining, cooking, gardening, collecting, crafting, and home renovating via her eponymous magazine, Martha Stewart Living, Emmy-winning television shows, and 99 books (and counting). Based in Katonah, N.Y., where she helms her 156-acre Bedford Farm, Martha is America's first self-made female billionaire. Editorial Guidelines Updated on September 24, 2024 Rate PRINT Share Close Photo: Dana Gallagher Servings: 16 Jump to recipe Our chocolate crepe cake is a showstopper. This impressive layered dessert does take some work but is much easier to make than you think. In place of cake layers baked in the oven, it is made with crepes that cook on the stovetop. You don’t need a special crepe pan to make them—a nonstick skillet is fine. The crepes are flavored with chocolate and layered with a hazelnut filling, finished with a rich ganache-like chocolate glaze, and decorated with candied and toasted hazelnuts. It’s a great make-ahead dessert—the cake can be assembled and refrigerated up to three days ahead of time and the crepes can be made the day before you assemble the cake. 20 Chocolate Dessert Recipes That Will Satisfy Your Cravings To create the candied hazelnuts with tall strands of sugar, the decorative nuts are dipped in caramelized sugar and hung in bat fashion—upside down—so the sugar streams and hardens into the best candy on the block. Cook Mode (Keep screen awake) Ingredients For the Crepes: ¾ cup (1 ½ sticks) cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces, plus melted for pan 8 ounces semisweet chocolate, finely chopped 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour ⅓ cup sugar ½ teaspoon salt 2 ½ cups whole milk, room temperature 6 large eggs, room temperature 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract For the Chocolate Glaze 2 3/4 cups heavy cream 1 tablespoon light corn syrup 1 pinch salt 10 ounces semisweet chocolate To Assemble: Hazelnut Filling Candied Hazelnuts 1/4 cup coarsely chopped hazelnuts, toasted Directions Boil 1/4 cup water, add butter, then off heat stir in chocolate: Bring 1/4 cup water to a rolling boil in a small saucepan over medium-high heat. Add butter, 1 piece at a time, whisking to combine after each addition. Remove from heat; stir in chocolate until completely melted. Set aside. Whisk dry ingredients and combine milk, eggs, and vanilla in another bowl: Whisk together flour, sugar, and salt in a medium bowl. Whisk together milk, eggs, and vanilla in another medium bowl. Make chocolate crepe batter and refrigerate: Gradually add milk mixture to flour mixture, whisking until smooth. Add chocolate-butter mixture, whisking until smooth. Pour through a fine sieve into an airtight container; discard lumps. Refrigerate at least 2 hours or up to overnight. Cook one crepe: Lightly coat an 8-inch crepe pan or nonstick skillet with melted butter. Heat over medium heat until just starting to smoke. Remove pan from heat; pour about 2 tablespoons batter into pan, swirling to cover bottom. Reduce heat to medium-low; return pan to heat. Cook, flipping once, until edges are golden and center is dry, about 30 seconds per side. Use remaining batter to cook more crepes: Slide crepe onto a plate. Repeat process with remaining batter, coating pan with butter as needed. Crepes can be refrigerated, covered, up to 1 day. Make chocolate glaze: Bring cream, corn syrup, and salt to a boil in a medium-heavy saucepan over medium-high heat. Remove from heat. Add chocolate; swirl pan to cover completely with cream. Let stand about 5 minutes. Stir until smooth. Let cool completely. Assemble cake: Place a crepe on a wire rack set over a rimmed baking sheet. Spread with about 3 tablespoons hazelnut filling. Top with another crepe. Continue layering with hazelnut filling and crepes, using about 32 crepes and ending with a crepe on top. Refrigerate until firm, about 15 minutes. Spoon glaze and spread to coat; refrigerate: Spoon 1/2 cup glaze on top of the cake, spreading to edges. Spread remaining glaze around sides of cake, coating completely. Refrigerate until glaze is firm and set, about 20 minutes. Cake can be made ahead and refrigerated up to 3 days. Garnish and serve: Garnish with toasted and candied hazelnuts before serving. 4 More Crepe Cake Recipes to Try: Raspberry and Chocolate Crepe Cake Tropical Fruit Crepe Cake Lemon-Marscapone Crepe Cake Green Tea Crepe Cake Originally appeared: Martha Stewart Living, January 2006 Rate It PRINT