The Rally
Welcome to this month’s Ratio Rally! If you haven’t read a post that is part of this event before, welcome! This blog event, founded by Shauna of Gluten-Free Girl and hosted this month by TR of No one likes crumbly cookies. In this rally, we all start with the same ratio (usually found in the book that inspired us Ratio by Michael Ruhlman). We modify and adapt the ratio, work out a flour blend and invent recipes.
This month promises to be full of delicious treats. There are at least 2 versions of buckwheat crepes (gallettes de sarassins – I have a recipe for those already), a couple of other crepe cakes and a wide variety of fillings. If all you want is a basic, sweet crepe, perfect for filling with Nutella, check out my second post for the rally, Gluten-Free Vanilla Bean Crepes Sucrees.
The Ratio
This month’s ratio caused me a little displeasure. Mostly because this lady cannot live on crepes alone (no matter how much she wanted to). My vanilla bean crepes pretty much follow the ratio to a T. My chocolate ones, do not.
There is also a great flexibility when it comes to your choice of gluten-free flour in this type of batter. The eggs and milk are what is holding the batter together, not gluten strands, so replacing the flour is no big deal. What is a bigger deal is what you do with your liquid. According to Julia Child, the mistress of french cuisine, you need to replace about half of your milk with water for a delightfully light and delicate crepe. And, if like me, you like your crepes lighter and without so much bite, you need less egg.
One final note about crepes
Less egg makes for a delicate and easier to tear crepe. The secret has 2 parts. First: low heat. On my stove, I kept the heat at about 2.5. I pretty much let the crepes cook through on the first side, and then flipped them over briefly. By waiting until they were cooked through, the crepes were less delicate.
Second: A well buttered/awesome non-stick pan. I happen to have a non-stick crepe pan, but you can make gluten-free crepes even if you don’t. You just need to make sure there is a bit of butter in your pan (but not so much that you are frying the batter). You want a thin pat of butter every few crepes.
The dessert
The part you have been waiting for: a gluten-free Chocolate Peanut Butter Crepe Cake. This is worth every calorie in it. The peanut butter mousse is incredibly decadent, the chocolate crepes are light and airy. A crepe cake is easy to put together (but time consuming because of all the different parts). It is not for a perfectionist to make. Your crepes are not going to all be perfectly round. Some edges are going to curl. But that lack of perfection is what makes it so great. You can hide a torn crepe in the middle and no one will know!
The Rally
A special thanks to TR for hosting this month’s rally! Other posts for this month can be found below:
| Peanut Butter Chocolate Crepe Cake |
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- For the Crepes
- 4 large eggs, at room temperature
- 1 1/2 cups milk
- 1 to 1 1/2 cups water
- 280 grams (2 cups) gluten-free all purpose flour*
- 25 grams (1/4 cup) cocoa powder
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- For the Peanut Butter Mousse
- 255 grams (about 1 cup) peanut butter (preferably smooth)
- 175 grams (about 1 cup or 1 recipe) [url href=”http://wp.me/p1HfLM-o5″]Pâte a Bombe[/url]
- 1 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream
- Combine all ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth. If the batter is thicker than heavy cream, add water a tablespoon at a time until it is the right consistency.
- Let the batter stand for 30 minutes or overnight to let as many air bubbles as possible out.
- In a crepe pan, pour 1/4 cup of batter into the pan for 8″ crepes. Cook over low heat for about 2 minutes (until the edges start to look dry), flip crepe and cook for about 30 seconds on the second side.
- Warm your peanut butter in the microwave for about 30 seconds and then whisk it with the pâte a bombe.
- Whip your cream using the whisk attachment for your stand mixer. It should take about 2 minutes or less.
- Stir a dollop of whipped cream into the peanut butter mixture to loosen it up, then fold in the remaining whipped cream 1/3 at a time.
- Alternate layers of mousse and crepes until you are out. Dust with cocoa powder or drizzle with semi-sweet chocolate
* I used Cup4Cup to test these crepes. You could also use a mixture of half brown rice flour and half sweet rice flour.
This post was submitted to Slightly Indulgent Tuesdays and Allergy Friendly Monday
a classic combination of chocolate and peanut butter, love the pattern on top for a gorgeous photo!
A perfect crepe cake! Always love a good peanut butter and chocolate combination 🙂 Sounds great!
Love the insight about low heat cooking. And the photos (and the recipe, of course) look fabulous!
This is gorgeous!!! And looks delicious – great job! I’d love a slice.
A beautiful crepe cake, how did you get that pattern on the top?! I love chocolate and peanut butter, a classic combination.
I put a doily on top and shook cocoa powder through a mesh strainer. Once there was an even coating, I carefully lifted up the doily, and voila, lace!
Whoa, that cocoa stencil is beautiful! This crepe cake sounds amazing! I really want to try it.
Oh my, this is fabulous. Beautiful photos and terrific recipe–and gluten free!
so pretty!! your crepe cake looks much less messier than mine. and who doesn’t love peanut butter and chocolate?! perfect!
Beautiful! I have _no_ doubt that it would be worth every single calorie. 🙂 Thank you for sharing, Mary Fran!
Peanut butter, chocolate, and crepes? Count me in!