Crêpes

sweet to savory

Pastel drawing by Vicki Smith

Hello,

For a family birthday in early December, I picked up an adorable 8” round cannoli cake at our supermarket. I was attracted to its diminutive size. I could easily picture it on a china cake stand or in the pages of a lushly illustrated children’s book. It was screaming out to be painted. I was even more pleased when it was packaged in a cardboard bakery box instead of the hideous plastic bubble packaging that is so ubiquitous. Since you know where I purchased the cake, you probably know where I am going with this. The cake was mediocre at best, and I had to reconcile to the notion that the thought is what counts. (Or does it?) Everyone graciously ate their slice. My first mistake was buying a cake at the supermarket, and one that didn’t even seem to hint at mascarpone.

Fast forward to the weekend before Christmas when my son and his wife arrived with the grandbaby and a pecan buttercream cake from Lady M. Lady M Cakes, of which I was oblivious, feature alternating layers of paper-thin crepes reminiscent of a Napoleon and a luxurious cream filling between each of the twenty layers. One of the creators of this particular style of Mille Crepe cake in 1985 was Emi Wada. She sold them in her Paper Moon Cake Boutique in Japan and later brought her cakes to a bakery she opened on Madison Avenue in New York City. The company's current CEO is Ken Roaniszyn. Roaniszyn grew up in Pennsylvania but spent summers in Japan with his grandmother, where he developed an appreciation for desserts that were not overly sweet. Their website describes the cakes as combining French pastry and Japanese sensibilities. Lady M sources the best ingredients for the cakes from all over the world, and this attention to detail is present in every bite. Our son picked up the cake in lower Manhattan, but an online search turns up boutique bakeries across the United States that could easily be mistaken for luxury jewelry stores. The design of the bakeries is sleek and simple, allowing the pretty cakes to shine. The cake was scrumptious, but I’m glad I didn’t know the price until after I had sampled it!

On New Year’s Day, my husband and I got the year off to a good start by swimming laps and coming home to make buckwheat crêpes topped with a fried egg. The buckwheat crepes are gluten-free and hearty enough to support an egg, very different from the delicacy of the cake crêpes. I had experimented with various recipes, some with part buckwheat and part white flour, before finding the ones on the website From Scratch Fast. This recipe was a success, and I altered little other than the size of my fry pan and the amount of milk. The batter is rather gelatinous but still very easy to work with. We also tried a couple with blackberry jam. Check out the link for additional ideas.

Buckwheat Crepes

Ingredients

1 cup milk + 2 T.

3 eggs

½ t. salt

1 t. sugar

1 T. butter, melted and cooled slightly, plus more for cooking

1 c. buckwheat flour

Directions

Combine one cup of milk, eggs, salt, sugar, and melted butter. Whisk until smooth. Add the buckwheat flour and whisk until well combined. Refrigerate overnight. Add the extra 2 T. milk. Whisk well before making crêpes.

Place a small quantity of butter (or oil) in a 10-inch nonstick pan over medium heat. Once hot, use a paper towel to rub the butter on the bottom of the pan to lightly coat. Swirl in 1/4 cup of the batter, lifting and tilting the pan to evenly coat the bottom. Let cook until golden brown and bubbles appear, about 1-2 minutes (your first crêpe might take a little longer if your pan isn’t hot enough). Use a spatula to loosen the edges of the crêpe, and then flip. Cook about 30-60 seconds on the flip side. Slide the crêpe onto a plate.

Repeat with the remaining batter, whisking the batter and rubbing the pan with more butter/oil between batches. Stack the crêpes as they’re cooked.

Yield: 10 crepes

Photo by Vicki

Only after drawing my fried egg did a bit of research show me how popular it is as a subject matter for painters. The smell of the egg made me hungry, but I persevered and finished until the egg was cold and no longer a temptation.

Thanks for reading,

Vicki