Cheese blintz crepe cake

Traditional cheese blintzes are given a makeover and re-assembled into this beautiful and delicious crepe cake. Perfect with fresh fruit for a springtime dessert.

Shavuot favourites

Which is your favourite Shavuot dessert?

Cheesecake? Strudel? Mine has to be cheese blintzes – transparently-thin golden pancakes wrapped around a sweet cream cheese filling. Ideally, served with apple sauce and a dollop of sour cream on the side.

As much as I love them, cheese blintzes can be a bit fiddly and time consuming to make – all the filling, rolling, frying a second time and so on. So in the name of efficiency I decided to combine the pancakes and the filling into a beautiful stacked crepe cake instead.

Genius, right?! (I’m pretty sure I’m not the first person to have thought of this.)

What is a crepe cake?

The crepe cake, also known as gâteau de crêpes in France, or mille-crêpes (1000 crepes) in Japan, is a type of cake created by stacking thin pancakes with layers of sweet filling or cream in between.

This French dessert became popular in the 1980s, when patissier Emy Wada began to sell the cakes at her patisseries in Japan. In 2001, she expanded to New York City where she supplied crepe cakes to several popular restaurants and delis.

Advance planning

This is a great recipe because you can make the crepes and the filling in advance. Then, assemble into a cheese blintz cake when you have time, and pop it into the fridge till you need it. This crepe cake is actually better if you make it in advance and give it some time to ‘set’ before serving. 

Cheat’s crepe cake?!

It’s also a fantastically easy ‘cheat’s’ recipe, as you can simply buy a pack of ready made crepes and then just make the filling (takes 20 seconds) and do the assembly yourself. I’m pretty sure it will taste just as good.

Dust your cake with icing sugar for that proper homemade look.

Cheese blintz crepe cake ingredients 

The ingredients for this cheese blintz cake recipe are simple and straightforward. Mostly they are store cupboard staples, plus some fresh dairy ingredients. To make this crepe cake you will need:

• Eggs
• Milk
• Plain flour – also called all-purpose flour
• Butter (or oil)
• Vanilla extract
• Icing sugar – also called powdered sugar or confectioners sugar
• Cream cheese
• Natural yogurt
• Blueberries or other fresh berries to decorate and serve alongside.

Simple!

Child-friendly crepe cake

My daughter Kipper, who is not normally a huge fan of cheese blintzes, adored this cake version, so it’s possible that it’s a more child-friendly arrangement of the same ingredients. Who knows?

She got the last piece in her lunchbox as a treat – lucky girl! 

Fresh fruit FTW!

We had our blintz cake with some fresh blueberries and it was delicious, but the traditional accompaniments of apple sauce and sour cream would also be great. I think anything fresh and fruity would go well. I’m planning to serve it with strawberries next time, or perhaps a fresh raspberry coulis. 

Cheese blintz crepe cake – lots of layers

Finally, this cake was made with around 12 crepe layers, but if you want a really tall cake, simply double the recipe and stack up 24 crepes for a towering cheese blintz crepe cake extravaganza!

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📖 Recipe

Cheese blintz crepe cake

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Lacy golden crepes are stacked with a delicious cream cheese filling to create this beautiful and delicious cheese blintz crepe cake.

5 from 3 votes

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Total Time 45 minutes mins

Course Cake, Dessert

Cuisine European, Jewish

Servings 8

Calories 207 kcal

Ingredients

 

US CustomaryMetric

 

1x2x3x

For the crepes

• 125 g plain flour
• 2 eggs
• 225 ml milk
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil or melted butter
• ¼ teaspoon vanilla extract
• pinch salt
• Butter or oil for frying

For the filling

• 170 g tub of cream cheese
• 3 tablespoon natural yogurt
• 50 g icing (powdered) sugar
• Few drops vanilla extract (optional)

To decorate

• fresh blueberries (optional)
• icing (powdered) sugar (optional)

Instructions

 

To make the crepes

• Put the flour into a large jug. Add the eggs, milk, oil, vanilla and salt and whisk well to give a smooth batter – alternatively use a stick blender till everything is smooth and well combined.
• Set aside to stand for at least 10 minutes.
• Heat a heavy based 20 cm (8 inch) frying pan over a medium-high flame. Lightly grease the pan by sweeping an oiled piece of kitchen paper over the surface.
• Add a generous spoonful of batter to the pan, quickly tilting the pan and swirling the batter over the hot surface to create a crepe. Cook for 30-45 seconds until the top of the pancake appears dry and the edges are just starting to brown and lift away from the pan. Slide a spatula under the crepe and flip it over. Cook the second side for 20-30 seconds, then remove the crepe from the pan and allow to cool.
• Continue making crepes in this way until all the batter is used up. You should make 10-12 crepes.

To make the filling

• Combine all the filling ingredients and beat until smooth. Cover and refrigerate until ready to assemble the crepe cake.

To assemble the cake

• Place the first crepe on a serving plate. Add 1-1½ tablespoon filling and spread evenly over the crepe.
• Place a second crepe on top. Add another 1-1½ tablespoon filling and spread over. If the crepes are slightly thicker in the centre, put more filling around the edges to compensate and make the cake even.
• Continue adding crepes and filling in this way until all the crepes are used up. The top layer should be a crepe.
• Decorate with blueberries and dust with icing sugar, if desired. Chill in the fridge until ready to serve.

Notes

For an impressively tall stack, simply double the recipe and keep adding more crepes for a super-high cake!

 

Nutrition

Nutrition Facts

Cheese blintz crepe cake

Amount per Serving

Calories

207

% Daily Value*

Fat

 

11

g

17

%

Saturated Fat

 

7

g

44

%

Trans Fat

 

1

g

Cholesterol

 

68

mg

23

%

Sodium

 

100

mg

4

%

Potassium

 

110

mg

3

%

Carbohydrates

 

21

g

7

%

Fiber

 

1

g

4

%

Sugar

 

9

g

10

%

Protein

 

5

g

10

%

Vitamin A

 

398

IU

8

%

Vitamin C

 

1

mg

1

%

Calcium

 

70

mg

7

%

Iron

 

1

mg

6

%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

Keyword cream cheese, pancake

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More delicious dessert recipes

You’ll find all of my Shavuot recipes, including both savoury and sweet dishes, here.

If you’re after a recipe for gluten-free crepes, check out these delicious gluten-free savoury mushroom blintzes.