A little splash of tropical to combat an extra chilly Bay Area summer. 455: Passion Fruit & Coconut Crepe Cake

I somehow forgot how cold July can be in the Bay Area when I signed Ellie up for summer swim lessons. It’s been 55F and cloudy in an outdoor pool, brrrr. Shouts to industrial heaters in the locker room, and sunny slices of cake for lunch.

Everyone has that one item on their to-do list that just keeps getting pushed, but this yummy cake deserves better! I think the lengthy crepe-making process was intimidating me and I kept telling myself that I didn’t have mango puree so clearly I couldn’t do it. But it was finally crepe cake time, thanks to a late-night burst of energy and a jar of passion fruit curd from my freezer stash.

I actually made an ombre crepe cake during the first year of this blog, and I want to applaud baby baker Nicky for attempting cocoa crepes where you really can’t tell when they’re done. I’d also like to go back in time and tell her to trim the crepe edges before assembling the cake to make her life easier!

I forgot to grind the shredded coconut, so we’re fully leaning into the shag look.

Crepe-o-clock, otherwise known as 10:30pm.

A super thin batter to make it easier to swirl around to cover the bottom of the pan.

Dancing from foot to foot with my fish spatula waiting for the perfect moment to flip.

A stack of full moons, ready for a fridge nap. They already have sleep lines from the cooling rack, oops.

The aforementioned pre-trimming, using a sharp knife and the inside of a springform pan as a guide.

Patiently waiting for filling. She would twiddle her thumbs if she had any.

Filling #1: Coconut cream whipped with cream cheese, vanilla, powdered sugar and heavy cream.

Filling #2: Mascarpone whipped cream with passion fruit curd.

They ended up the same consistency, so hopefully one won’t oosh out while this other stays put.

Feeling very cool using my cookie dough scoop just like Ruby always does in her videos. Yes it makes fun sound (the ka-chunk is truly so satisfying) but it also helped me keep track of how much filling went into each layer.

So far, so good! No tilting or sliding to be seen.

I saw another layering idea where you pipe the fillings in rings with gaps between for the crepes to touch, so you get an alternating bubbled look when you slice into it. Not sure how else to describe it, but I’ll try it someday I promise! Maybe with some crazy colors for Halloween?

Experimenting with manual focus on my camera . . . I’ll get there eventually.

Swirly design brought to you by the marble turntable and holding my breath.

The joy of getting a clean cut for the first piece is only second to getting to eat that slice!

Happy munching!

Recipe from Ruby Bhogal’s Instagram