Darkest Chocolate Crepe Cake (aka Ashley Cake)

So this cake was supposed to be like Martha Steward's "Darkest chocolate Crepe Cake" but along the way I decided that Martha Steward and I are not friends, and I don't think we'll be friends any time soon. So this definitely has a Jessica touch to it. While making it I just could not stop thinking about my sister Ashley, hence I think this cake should be called the "Ashley Cake". All her favorite things in one place, Yum!

So there are 4 main parts to making this cake, and I'm not going to lie, it might be hard and confusing and very time consuming.

PART I making the crepes

You'll need:

• 3/4 cups butter (cut it up into 2 Tbsp pieces)
  
• 1/4 cup water
  
• 8 oz semi sweet chocolate
• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 1/3 cup sugar
• dash salt
• 2 1/2 cups milk (I used whole milk, 2% could work just as well)
• 6 large eggs
• 1 Tbsp vanilla

bring the 1/4 cup of water to a boil in a medium sauce pan and then add the butter one piece at a time. Once all the butter is melted remove from heat and add the 8 pz of chocolate. let cool.

in a bowl mix the flour, sugar, salt. in a separate bowl whisk together milk, eggs and vanilla. Slowly add the wet to the dry mixture. Then add the chocolate mixture until smooth. You'll need to drain the mixture. I just did that in my salad drainer.

Refrigerate the mixture for at least 3 hours.

Now it's time to make the crepes.

Take your mixture out of the fridge and get your crepe pan hot. Pour 1/3 cup of the mixture on the pan and cook both sides about 45 seconds, or until done. Let cool on cooling rack.

PART II the filling

You'll need:

• 2/3 cup heavy cream
• 6 large eggs whites
• 1 2/3 cups sugar
• 1 /3/4 cups butter (melted but not hot)
• 1 Tbsp vanilla
• 1/2 cup Nutella

Beat the heavy cream and then refrigerate for an hour.

Then take it back out of the fridge and set it a side while you prepare the rest.

Beat the egg whites until they form soft peaks. (Same process then meringue) Slowly add the sugar to it. Then add the vanilla and the butter slowly as well. Now add the Nutella slowly as well. Once well mixed (don't over do it) fold in your heavy cream.

This needs to be used immediately.

Get your crepes ready. Lay one down on your cake tray (what ever you like to serve cake on). then put some of the filling on it, don't be shy, the crepes will absorb some of the filling so you need to make sure you have enough so that it still looks good when you serve it.

Top with another crepe, then filling, then crepe, then filling, you get the picture.

make sure you finish with a crepe on top.

Refrigerate for about 30 minutes.

PART III the frosting

you'll need:

• 1 1/4 cup heavy cream
• 1 Tbsp light corn syrup
• dash of salt
• 10 oz semi sweet chocolate

Bring the heavy cream, syrup and salt to a boil. Then remove from heat and mix in the chocolate until smooth. Make sure you let it cool for about 30 minutes.

Now cover your cake with it.

PART IV sugared hazel nuts

You'll need:

• about 16 hazel nuts (more if you LOVE hazel nuts, less if you not such a fan) on skewers
  
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/8 cup water
• drop of vanilla sugar

Boil the sugar, water and vanilla on medium heat for about5 minutes. then dip the hazel nuts in the mixture and let them dry. I do this over my counter and let them drip off on newspaper.

Once dry I just cut them up and sprinkle them on to the cake.

and Voila! Refrigerate for about 30 minutes and serve fresh!

Crepes

This recipe has been most requested, so here it is. It's super easy and very delicious! My Mother has been using it for years and I promise, there's no better recipe! It makes about 20 10" crepes! You'll need:

• 6 eggs
• 4 1/4 cups milk (1 liter)
• 3 Tbsp oil
• 3 cups flour (450 grams)
• dash of salt

Mix the ingredients in a bowl. Heat your pan you are going to use. (I have a 10" crepe pan, but you can use a regular 10" frying pan and you'll be fine, any seize you have will be fine) For a 10" pan you'll take 1/2 of the batter and pour it on the pan. Let sit until the side facing you is no longer runny and then flip (to be honest, I use a pancake turner, I'm not the best flipper, especially when I'm cooking with a baby on the hip) and then when the crepe is ready it'll slide right off the pan.

Toppings: The best topping is NUTELLA but of course you can use whatever you like: peanut butter, sugar, jam, honey, butter, strawberries, bananas, etc...

ENJOY!