Passion Fruit Crepe Cake

Here’s the recipe, which is a variant of my other crepe cakes recipes.

1. Passion Fruit Crepes: [25-30 8in crepes] 

• 650 g milk, at least room temperature!
• 240 g flour
• 10 g passion fruit puree (I buy frozen puree from Mexican supermarkets and reduce down)
• 90 g sugar
• 4 eggs
• 50 g butter, melted 

1. If milk isn’t at room temperature, put into a medium saucepan and heat briefly.
2. Sift flour into a large bowl.
3. Add sugar and whisk briefly.
4. Add in eggs and mix. The batter is a bit thick at this point.
   • If you want to reduce the yellowness of the eggs, you can first mix the egg yolks separately with the sugar, then add that + egg whites to the flour.
5. Now add the milk to the batter, slowly at a time. Once about half the milk is added, take time to mix thoroughly. Add the rest of the milk and mix.
6. Add the seedless passion fruit puree (sieve it) and mix. I only wanted the slightest bit of passion fruit here since I knew it may mess up the consistency. The flavor will mostly come from the diplomat cream.
7. Add melted butter and mix fully.
8. Pour mixture through a sieve. The batter will be a runny consistency. Cling wrap and throw into fridge for at least 30 minutes. Longer is better.
9. Use two pans or more (you’ll thank me later). You want to make sure your pan is always greased before adding batter. For my greaser, I use a spatula wrapped in a napkin that’s taped on top and dip it into melted butter. On low heat, allow pan to warm up, grease, and add some butter and add a small amount of batter. I use a 1/3 cup scooper and fill it 2/3 of the way up (so 2/9 cup). It takes some trial and error to figure out the right amount to cover your pan. Between crepes, I take the pan off an place it only a wet kitchen towel, so that when I add the crepe batter, it’s able to spread a bit before cooking.
10. When the edges of the crepe become dry (a minute or so), flip over and cook for a short while longer (<1 minute).
11. Repeat.
12. To get a consistent size, place a bowl or something circular over the crepe and cut off excess scraps.
13. Let crepes cool completely before assembling. 

2. Passion Fruit Diplomat Cream:

• 5 large egg yolks
• 46 g cornstarch
• 425 g milk
• 125 g sugar
• 60 g reduced passion fruit puree (sieved) or to taste
• 281 g heavy cream
• 12.5 g powdered sugar 

1. You need to make a custard and a whipped cream. Take your large bowl and whisk that you’re going to make the whipped cream with and throw that into the fridge before you begin. You want it cold.
2. First prepare the custard component. In a large bowl, combine egg yolks and cornstarch. The longer you beat them, the less yellow your mixture will be.
3. In a saucepan, high heat, combine milk and sugar. At high temp, the passion fruit can cause the milk to curdle, so don’t add yet.
4. Bring to boil and remove from heat.
5. While whisking constantly, slowly add to bowl with yolks and cornstarch. You are tempering the egg yolks so that they won’t scramble.
6. Return the mixture to the saucepan on high heat. Bring to rolling boil, while whisking/ mixing constantly. Mix mix mix. Once it starts to come together, take off heat and keep mixing. The mixture will become custard like and you should be able to coat a dipped spoon easily.
7. Now let cool a slight bit and add in the passion fruit until you’re happy with the taste. The reduction that I had wasn’t that strong, so I had to add about 60 - 70 g. It will vary on your own though, so just taste.
8. Sieve through a fine mesh into a bowl and cover the bowl with cling wrap. Chill (and whisk every 10 minutes to make sure it’s actually starting to chill).
9. Now prepare the whipped cream component. Take out the chilled bowl, whisk, and cream.
10. Add cream and powdered sugar and whisk until firm peaks. I stabilize with a small amount of piping gel.
11. Take out the custard and whisk a bit to loosen it up. I add 1/4 of whipped cream and whisk this into the custard. I then take another 1/4 and whisk this in to lighten it even more.
12. Slowly fold in the rest of the whipped cream, making sure not to overfold (will deflate the cream). I’ve found that for this, whisking to get rid of clumps is fine and even if it deflates, it’s not bad. 

3. Passion Fruit Ganache:

• 40 g heavy whipping cream
• 40-50 g white chocolate
• 20 g passion fruit puree with seeds 

1. If you can, it makes it easier for the white chocolate to melt if it’s been chopped up. Add that to a bowl.
2. Heat the cream until it just starts to simmer. I zap it in the microwave for two spurts of 15-20 seconds.
3. Mostly melt the white chocolate over a double boiler and then add the cream.
4. Let sit for a few seconds, then stir together to incorporate. When it cools slightly, add in the passion fruit puree. If it splits, add in more warm cream and stir. 

4. Assembly:

1. Assemble the cake on whatever you want it to be served on. A cake board works nicely (or you can make your own (which I used to do).

2. I started using a turntable for decorating these and it makes your life way easier. Lay down a crepe and then add some diplomat cream. I’ve found that an ice cream scoop provides the perfect amount. Spread it out to an even, level layer.

3. Add another crepe. Then some more diplomat.

4. Repeat.

5. Every few crepes, monitor how dome shaped the cake is becoming. If it’s doming, use something that’s flat to press down onto the cake to help even it out. The edge of the cake will inevitably have less dipolmat cream than the center. A turn table and a nice offset spatula helps with spreading. Using a consistent amount of diplomat cream also helps. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Mario (@mariozeats) on Jun 4, 2018 at 5:11pm PDT

6. Once assembled, refrigerate for a few hours (will make it so much easier to cut into).

7. I added some white chocolate dust/ chunks to the center. Before serving, you can pour the passion fruit ganache and finish it off with some more white chocolate shavings/ chunks. To make colored white chocolate, mix some food coloring with vegetable oil before you add to your melted white chocolate (prevents it from freezing up).

8. Enjoy. It’s going to take forever, but it’s super delicious!

-Mario