Mille Crepe Cake With Step By Step Instructions

Mille crepe cake is a Japanese dessert made from stacks of ultra thin pancakes layered with deliciously sweet fillings like cream and fruits. It’s light and soft with every bite melting in the mouth as the evenly balanced layers of crepe and filling blend seamlessly together. Only simple ingredients are needed to make this delicious crepe cake and the flavour, toppings, and fillings can be easily modified to suit you!

What is Mille Crepe Cake?

As the name suggests, Mille crepe cake consists of many layers of thin crepes stacked together with sweet fillings like custard or fresh whipped cream. The name comes from the word “mille” meaning 1000 in French and is inspired by thin French crepe pancakes, however, “Mille crêpe cake” was actually invented by a Japanese pastry chef in Tokyo.

Japanese mille crêpe is one of those “Yōgashi” (western style confectionaries) which has foreign roots but was created in Japan, such as Castella. This mille crepe cake is another example of over the top innovation. If you’re familiar with the Japanese Extra Thick and Fluffy Pancakes then you’ll know Japanese people go to both extreme ends creating either extra thick or extra thin. And it always turns out delicious. This crepe cake is also soft and delicate so it’s perfect for anyone who doesn’t love overly heavy or decadent desserts.  

What Do You Need?

This crepe cake is simple. You only need a few ingredients that you probably already have in your fridge and pantry.

For the crepe batter: 

 Eggs – large eggs each weighing about 50g 

 Milk – I used whole milk 

 Plain flour and sugar 

 Melted butter – you can use the microwave melting function to melt unsalted butter 

For fillings

In this recipe I used fresh cream and fruit to fill but you can be adventurous and there are many other filling and topping options.

Cream – fat percentage over 35% cream.

Fruits – strawberries, banana, and kiwi are great options. I also used red currants from our orchard in Tasmania for decoration.  

Other popular fillings- 

– Matcha (Japanese green tea) – matcha powder can be mixed with cream for the filling and mixed into the batter to create a matcha mille crepe cake.

– cream cheese

– lemon curd

– Nutella

– custard cream 

– cocoa powder – this can be dusted on top of the crepe cake and mixed into the batter to make it chocolate flavoured.

– caramel

How to Make Mille Crepe Cake

1. Whisk the eggs in a large bowl. 
2. Add milk to the large bowl and combine. 
3. Sift in the flour and sugar.
4. Add melted butter and mix together.
5. Strain the mixture and refrigerate for at least one hour.
6. After one hour, heat a frying pan or crepe skillet over low heat to medium heat and pour 1 ladle (I used 1/3 cup) of the mixture and spread thinly and evenly to make paper-thin crepes.
7. When bubbles appear, turn it over and fry it briefly. The turned side should be golden brown.
8. Repeat the process until all the mixture is used. 
9. Place the crepes on a sheet of parchment paper and cover to allow each crepe to cool before stacking with fillings.
10. Prepare the toppings you wish to use. Cut the fruit and whip the fresh cream with sugar till soft peaks form.
11. Spread the whipped cream using an offset spatula on one crepe and place fruit pieces. Stack the next crepe and spread cream over and repeat the process. 
12. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least an hour.
13. Top with more fruit to serve.

How to Whip Fresh Cream for Mille Crepe Cake?

There are many types of cream to whip. Choose one with a fat percentage above 35%. It is considered a low fat type and when it is whipped, it contains a lot of air in it making the whipped cream light and fluffy.  Whip until soft-medium peaks form. When whipping the cream, pay attention to the temperature by placing the whipping bowl over a bowl of ice water. Also whisk halfway with a an electric hand or stand mixer, then switch to a manual whisk in order to prevent over whisking.

How to Cut the Cake Clean?

We want the cake to be beautifully presented and show all the nice layers of crepes when the cake is cut. So we need to cut it clean and nicely. How to do it? 

1. Warm the knife so that the cream melts lightly. 
2. Wipe off the cream on the knife after every cut. 
3. Insert the knife diagonally from the tip of the knife and use the weight of the knife to let the knife slide.

FAQ