You beat me to it! I’ve been thinking about doing a remake of the crepe cake disaster, it’ll happen yet, especially with your success as encouragement.

“kick Marth’s … ass” LMAO!!! Why Ivonne - I’m going to have to reacess my impression of you. I totally love it!

Sembra buonissima…
Brava.
Ciao.

What an amazing cake! This is the one to make! You are soo good!

Holy crepe that looks good. Lame joke, lovely cake.

STUNNING! I can’t wait to try this.

Trish

Wow!

You are amazing.Fancy you going all the way looking for this recipe. I am glad you did. Glad to read the nice story about it and also for feeling encouraged to give it a go since I didn’t succeed with the challenge . It looks truly amazing. I have a very dear Australian friend who told me that when she was young she used to have crepe cakes for special occasions. I must ask her if they are similar to this one here.

Hi Ivonne,
this crepe cake looks exquisite. Im definitely bookmarking it!
xxx
- fanny

Looks great Ivonne! I may have to try my hand at it.

oh what a piece of work. Just seeing the pile makes me think hot hot, on a day like today! But your perseverance pays off! Great result for a long research, eh?

I’ve just found your site and it is very inspiring! I’m definitely going to try the crepe cake!

Oh, Martha.

I love Martha, but that has happened to me before, too.

A lot of her recipes come out just fine, but others … suck.

And your crepe cake looks magnificent! Totally professional it is!

WOW! This certainly does look like it beat Martha’s … how very daring of you to go for it so soon again. Looks lovely Ivonne!

Ivonne,
I am so impressed! I remember reading about the crepe cake on several “daring bakers” sites and I can’t believe that after that experience you went through the effort of not only seeking out the original but then actually making it! It is absolutely beautiful! And thanks for sharing it with us (although I won’t be attempting it), I’ll be looking around to see who else is brave enough to follow your lead!

That looks great! I have been to Lady M, actually, which is in a very posh section of the Upper East Side. I think I paid more than $6 for my slice of crepe cake, and it was worth every cent. Now that I’m living far from NYC, I’ll have to try it at home, too (maybe even a green tea one, like the article mentioned).

That crêpe cake looks gorgeous, Ivonne!

I have been meaning to do that for a long time. I’ll have to try your recipe real soon…

Fanfarkingtastic, my friend!!! You make me laugh - bless your cotton socks. I KNEW you would be trying that damn cake again and I KNEW you’d end up finding the perfect recipe for it. It’s kinda fun kickin’ The Martha’s arse, isn’t it? teeee!

I can’t tell you how beautiful your crepe cake turned out and I can’t imagine one at Lady M Cake Boutique looking even 1/2 as good as yours. =)

Well done!!
xoxo

Beautiful!
You go girl - kick that first cake in the butt for all of us!

Amazing your research.But I think this is the only way to make the things works.The crepe cake looks wonderful !!!!

Ivonne, your crepe cake looks absolutely divine! Brava!

I can’t believe you attempted another crepe cake, you brave, brave woman. And you did amazingly. That is so beautiful and I love the bruleed top.

That is beautiful!
I’m so glad you tried again, and with an obviously superior recipe! What a show-stopper.

Gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous, Ivonne! I love it!

I have actually seen a few crepe cakes pop up over the internet since the Daring Bakers attempted Martha’s cake, and I am convinced that recipe must have just been a bad one as no one else has had the problems that that cake seemed to cause! Your cake is gorgeous. It makes me want to make one!

Looks exquisite, superb

I saw a show about this cake and I believe that the crepes were, after cooked and cooled, pressed with a sugar or maple syrup with a hot iron, before layering it with the pastry cream. i imagine it would give a lot different texture.

oh such wonderful bream-puffery! what the heck is that? a crepe cake, YUM. looks so tenderoni!

i of course meant cream-puffery!

Beautiful & elegant for Christmas! Will you make one for me, too?

It’s lovely. Simplicity at it’s finest.

Stunning cake! I always think it’s so much work, but 20 crepes is not that bad….

Your cake beats theirs hands down! Scrumptious! Delicious! what a tower of creamy goodness!

I’m a huge Martha Stewart Fan! But most of the time I don’t try her recipes because the ingredients she uses to my opinion are too excessive.

Like with the chocolate crepe cake, the amount of butter for my opinion is way too much i mean i wouldn’t enjoy eating that cake knowing how much butter i’m eating eeck! I tried making her apple pie which is great.

After reading different Daring Bakers blogs re: the chocolate crepe cake I was actually about to try it and as I read the recipe further it seems like too much of an effort with such a bad review. so I didn’t. But I’m going to try this one !

You conquered the crepe cake Ivonne. Well done. It does look delicious.

Cream Puffs proves it true. There simply is no way to knock the stuffing out a Daring Baker.
Beautiful cake!

Ivonne, this is absolutely gorgeous! And I’m glad you discovered the REAL crepe cake and that it exceeded all expectations

what an ambitious project!! and you pulled it off too! i have done something similar..but never something this huge! you got patience and determination..and the results seem so tasty and visually stunning too!

my version was…even though it is not seasonal for now: crepe cake with chestnut-vanilla paste as the filling. of course, you can simply purchase the paste in tins instead of making it..i spiked the smooth chestnut paste with grand marnier and lightened it with whipped double cream..like a bastardised and corrupted version of a bavarois. the accompanying sauce was orange juice, sweetened and enriched with butter.

That looks so heavenly delicious. I have to try that out. I usually eat my crepes with a layer of cream of chestnuts spread. Very delicious.

What an original idea on both Martha’s part and yours to try and master it. A cake has never looked sooo good! Well done, and GREAT pictures!

Ivonne, I love that you wouldn’t give up on the crepe cake! Excellent sleuthing and what a beautiful payoff! Your family is very lucky indeed!

I’ve been meaning to try my hand at this for a while, since seeing pictures of the Lady M cake online… I was hesitant, but you made it look so easy! I’ll definitely be giving this a try soon. Thanks!

Nazca- we’re both lame because I thought of the same joke!

This cake looks stunning and I think I am going to have to give it a go!

Congratulations. I am glad that you took on the challenge and won! I am not surprised at all. I think you could out do Martha anyday of the week. In fact she should be calling you for the next cover of her book. Ha! The crepe does look so yummy.

ha! That’ll teach Martha. Your crepe cake looks absolutely stunning Ivonne, almost like a bunch of flower petal crepes wafted down (from a crepe tree? mmm…) very gently into a crepe cake shape all by itself

That cake looks beautiful! I’ll have to try this recipe as soon as I tackle Mt. Martha Crepe Cake.

Well done indeed. Love the intrigue and the story. I can fully relate to investigating and following up when a recipe gets the better of you. And to think you call yourself a cream puff! Tamed that recipe into submission I daresay from the lovely result.

This looks absolutely beautiful! If only I could taste it too! =P

That looks a thousand times better than what we made!

you’re right! that one blows martha’s out of the water

Bravo bravo! Talk about success! This certainly looks and sounds better (and easier) than the first one Good for you for pushing on!

Speechless - I am looking at the photo! Kudos!

What a pretty cake

I think this one looks superior to the choc crepe cake. IT certainly sounds easier to make. It looks simple and elegant all at the same time.

I love the mille crepe. I am so glad you posted this! You’ve inspired me to tackle this recipe.
Thank you!

Gorgeous! You did such a great job. I love this recipe so much, I made it for my own birthday cake a few weeks ago! It’s so wonderful in every way, and you did a fantastic job with the brulee-ing!

I saw that the DB’s had struggled with that Martha crepe cake a while back, and knew instantaneously that it was Martha and not any of your skills, as her recipes have burned me before. This cake goes far to prove that less is more.

Oh My Gawd~this is fantastic! When can you come to my house and show me how do make this! Fit for a Queen~

Well, I FINALLY got around to trying this recipe and it was fantastic! Although my pastry cream was a bit on the thin side the taste did not suffer. A bit labour intensive, but worth it.
And I have totally fallen in love with the crepe batter recipe! - the crepes are beautifully thin and flavourful, and the batter quite forgiving if your flipping technique is a little rusty! Excellent post!

Congrats! Your cake looks awesome. So delicate. You did a brillant job.

I just did this cake last night…
Ingredients: $15
My hourly charge: $12
Cries of extacsy from my husbands coworkers who are my guinea pigs: Priceless….

I got a lot of good reviews on this recipe… My first attempt… I kept half the cake at home for my kids to try and was told that I had to send the other half in as ransom payment to get my husband back lol… Too bad we’ve already eaten it…

yay for you! i’m glad you found this delicious crepe cake that finally was worth all of the effort! beautiful photos!

[…] and better that both. I’ve been fawning over the crepe cakes that recently blew up the food blogosphere.   In 2005 the New York Times reviewed The Lady M’s Boutique Crepe Cake.  Martha Stewart […]

[…] friends of mine. Nothing big or special, I just … felt that a bbq was in order, and I found a recipe for a crepe cake that I want to try, and I need testers, and, well. We’re sending out invitations and hitting […]

[…] or maybe just a crepe cake (from Cream puffsin Venice) […]

[…] recipe that was supposed to make about thirty crepes … we got about fifteen, three of which were […]

[…] I will very likely be making this showstopper as the grande finale of holiday desserts, it certainly doesn’t hurt to give other desserts […]

[…] I will very likely be making this showstopper as the grande finale of holiday desserts, it certainly doesn’t hurt to give other desserts […]

Cranberries are lovely. Can you please tell me how you prepared them? I assume they are sweetened?

Sorry, I just read how they are currants.

I love it. I’m going to cook it this very day. Can’t resist.
Yvonne

Warning to those mere mortals who might attempt this recipe who aren’t the food-blog elite (and who’ve read all the way down here): don’t overcook the pastry creme. It will turn into a candidate for a science project. Also: I’m no crepe novice but this recipe gave me some trouble. Of course, the only down side of that was that I had to eat several less than perfect crepes. Boohoo. Definitely the final product needs to be served with some sort of fruit/sauce, otherwise it’s an unadulterated butter-egg-milk assault.

I just made this crepe cake and for any who have just looked at the picture and have not tasted, it is time to taste, it is simply divine. I served it on top of a raspberry sauce that I made. I simply put the raspberries through a sieve to remove the seeds, added some raspberry and pomegranate juice, added sugar to taste leaving it on the tart side, and thickened just a bit, it was syrupy in consitency. Then for a bit more eye appeal, I also served it with a few fresh raspberries and fanned strawberries.

The crepes are on the delicate side so I had a few problems when I started cooking them. I could not be bothered to fuss so I warmed up a second skillet, flipped the one crepe into the second skillet to finish, this solved the problem of flipping these delicate crepes the standard way.

Greetings from Belgium !
I was fascinated with the Lady M Crêpe Cake for quite a while now ,so I was thrilled to find the recipe on this site !
I’ve made the cake today and it was super delicious - and easy to make actually !
Thanks a lot !!
Ciao ciao !!

I put very think slices of mango in between the crepes and cream… It’s heavenly good!

I tried this- and liked it. I want to use it for a cooking demo that I am hosting for a group of women at church. But my problem was the same as Sarah- is there a way to lighten this up? It was very buttery-eggy. Not bad, but thick. I thought I would wait till immediately before cooking to serve- maybe that would help? Cook the crepes more thoroughly? Did I cook the cream to long?

Also, we have a crepe maker- it is a convex electric frying pan. You dip it in the batter and you get a delightfully thin perfect crepe everytime. It was great with this recipe. It made at least 50- that is how many layers the cake had. And we ate several!

[…] The Real Crepe Cake from Cream Puffs in Venice […]

A friend and I just tried making this crepe cake last night. It tasted truly delightful! One of my favorite special desserts to date!

Omg. My cake looks so different from yours! My crepes are horrible. Omg omg omg. Yours look yummy whereas mine looks like somebody threw up over it. ): Any tips?

[…] The Real Crepe Cake from Cream Puffs in Venice […]

[…] Recipe Crepe Cake […]

I am an american student studying in japan at the moment and our dorm doesnt have an oven so i decided to try this out cause i really miss baking as it is a hobby and helps me when i get depressed. yes i back when im upset ^^ my exs used to love it.

But i didnt read the whole page before i went shopping and forgot to get the stuff for the whipping cream. So since i didnt wana run back to the store i used the 6 egg whites that i seperated from earlyer and made a merang using 1tbsp. of sugar per egg and just used that.

Just a suggestion for people who dont want all the calories from the whipping cream or forget stuff from the store like me ^^

Turned out great

I also cant spell sorry ^^

You have no idea how excited I was to find this site!! i saw a picture of Lady M’s crepe cake in some foodie mag I get years ago and was instantly fascinated. I, too, looked up their site and thought that maybe one day, I would order one, just to see if it was as delicious as it looked - and did a little digging on other recipes, but never got around to making one. I can’t remeber what I was looking up when I happened by total accident onto this site, but THANK GOD! My fascination with the crepe cake was reborn, I fell in love with you for your persistance and similar appetite and made the cake for myself for my birthday. It was a lovely, lovely birthday :). Thank you!!

Amazingly awesome looking desssert!!!! I make crepes often for my kids. They would be overjoyed if I made this beautiful cake for them!!!

I made this today! I’d put in lots of time and effort and didn’t change a thing about the recipe - except I used whipping cream instead of heavy cream and added that to my pastry cream. The end result was runny but I went ahead and smeared them on the crepes anyways. My crepe stack ended up sliding off each other and I just wanna cry.. It was a mess… *sob*

I had to use a 9″ baking mould to put my stack of crepes in so that it could at least hold its shape… I really need to get my hands on some heavy cream for my 2nd attempt! (The 1st is still in the chiller, have yet to slice, fingers crossed!)

Thank u SO much for the recipe

The cake was wonderful….it was my first time making it and i succeeded….it is delicious..thank you for the recipe

I am obsessed with crepes at the moment, and will give this a go. And will some how work in Nutella. Maybe every second or fourth layer. Cannot imagine crepes without nutella!
Thanks for the recipe.

This is just beautiful. I am now going to make it for my husbands birthday (our first one married). He loves crepes. Any recommendations? I’ve never made them…
but I can’t wait to start!

This was so good lookin’ that my mom and I just had to make it. There was a little learning curve making the crepes, but we managed.

What I really love is that the icing isn’t super super sweet, which I hate. It’s light and creamy. We’re making a berry sauce to pour over it.

I have tried the crepe cake for the first time at caffe Falai in New York. It is an amazing dessert. When i came across the picture in this website I couldn’t resist and decided to give it a shot. And I have successfully made it at home just today, it is so good that I will keep making it for holidays. The struggling part was for me the realization of the pastry cream. I am pretty happy about the result…

Hi Ivonne
Thanks for this lovely recipe. I have more than a thing to ask:

1. I am planning to make this cake for my boyfriend’s bday which is on this wed. While I am not much of a baker, do not have much experience with cream/frostings etc., would you still suggest to go for this one? Or something simpler but equaly irresistable?

2. I am allergic to egg yolks, it doesnt hurt much if they have been cooked, but raw eggs (for eg. if they are used for frosting etc.) give me a lot pain. Is there any subtitute??

Best,
eN.Be

PS: 1st visit to this post and I am absolutely loving it

Hi Ivonne,
eN again. I tried the crepes today!! You know, just ‘trying’ a sample version before I go for the more elaborate one. It is still sitting in the chiller. But from what I could sense, my crepes turned out to be pretty fine (i didn’t even waste one!!), but my cream was the dampener. It didnt turn out to be a as thick, smooth & consistent as I expected it to be be. And hence, it did not look as pretty. And also it tasted more like a custard than the pastry creme where am I going wrong?? Any idea?? Please help!

I am also planning to put in canned sliced fruits (peaches, pineapples, plums, kiwis) in between the crepes when I go for the final version (my boyfrnd really like the fruit cake). What is your take on that?? Would fuits go with the crepes and the creme or would they spoil the cake??

I would start the final project tomorrow. Expecting some help from you on creme part. Thanks a lot again!! Would write in again when I am done with the cake. Hope it turns out to be just as great as it looks.

Best,
eN.Be

I tried the recipe and let me tell you, I could not have been more pleased with the results! Thank you so much for this wonderful recipe.

Hi there! I just tried out this recipe this Thanksgiving weekend and it came out to be fabulous! This last spring I took a trip to NYC and first tried the Mille Crepe cake in Pershing Square restaurant in front of Grand Central Station. I ate one with my mom and we had to have seconds. The waiter looked at us sort of funny, maybe because the stereotype is that NYC girls watch their diet, but who cares, it was delicious. I didn’t know the name back then of the cake and I forgot the restaurants name so I began a frantic search of cafes outside of Grand Central Station. I found it! ha ha and I looked at their online menu and there it was. Mille Crepe Cake. Then I searched it online and found the recipe here at your site. Instead of kirch I used two tablespoons of Grand Marnier and a tablespoon of marachino cherry juice. Like I said phenomenal. I was really patient and it paid off. Too bad my family finished it all in one day and I only had a slice. It will definitely be made over and over again!
Thanks So Much for bringing back NYC memories.

[…] time, to reproduce a crepe cake. I scoured the internet for good recipes, and chanced upon this site. It had […]

I’ve been looking for an excuse to bake this cake ever since I had it during a tea with my grandmother at Lady Mendl’s in NYC. This year for my birthday I took the plunge and I was soooo pleased with the results (as were my guests!) This was my FIRST EVER attempt at making both a custard and crepes, but it turned out fabulously despite my inexperience. I substituted gran marnier for kirsch and it was a huge hit. I’m still working on creating thin enough crepes and stacking them prettily, but I’m absolutely coming back to this recipe whenever I need to impress!

I feel deprived…. so many people in the comments have had something similar to this and I don’t think I ever had- it looks great! Question- how do you make the crepes all the same size? I feel that could be tough.