“This is a manageable way to serve crêpes without fiddling around making individual serves. The crêpes can be cooked and layered together ahead of time, and the sauce can be made in advance too. Ricotta, mascarpone, marmalade or jam can be substituted for the caramelised condensed milk. I like to finish the cake with candied orange zest.” You’ll need to begin this recipe a day ahead.
Ingredients
Crêpe batter
Suzette butter
Method
Main
1.For crêpe batter, combine flour and rind in a large bowl and form a well in the centre. Combine milk, butter and sugar and 1 tsp salt in a saucepan over high heat until butter melts (5-6 minutes). Whisk eggs and oil in a bowl until combined, add milk mixture, then gradually pour into flour, stirring with a whisk until blended and smooth. Stir in beer, stand at room temperature for 30 minutes, then refrigerate to rest (overnight).
2.Heat a non-stick crêpe pan with a 21cm-diameter base over medium-high heat, add 60ml crêpe batter, swirl to coat pan, cook until golden (2 minutes), turn and cook until set (30 seconds). Transfer to a plate and repeat, stacking crêpes as you go. Makes about 25 crêpes.
3.Spread 3 teaspoons of caramelised condensed milk on each crêpe except the top one, stacking crêpes on an ovenproof serving plate as you go. Set aside at room temperature.
4.For Suzette butter, cook butter, sugar, rind and orange-blossom water in a saucepan over medium heat until sugar dissolves and bubbles (4-5 minutes). Add orange juice and 20ml Cointreau and simmer until slightly thickened (7-8 minutes; the sauce can be made ahead up to this stage and reheated when ready to use).
5.To serve, preheat oven to 180C. Warm crêpe cake in oven (5-8 minutes). Meanwhile, add orange segments to Suzette butter, warm over low heat (3 minutes), spoon a little Suzette butter with orange segments over cake, and transfer remaining to a serving dish. Return pan to heat until warm, add remaining Cointreau, carefully ignite alcohol with a long match, tilting pan away from you (be careful as alcohol will burst into flames), then pour over cake while still lit. Serve warm with whipped cream and Suzette butter.
Note Caramelised condensed milk is available from supermarkets. Alternatively, boil an unopened can of condensed milk for 3 hours, ensuring it is continuously covered with water and a lid, taking extreme care as can may explode. Cool completely in water before opening, as caramel may spit and is very hot.
This recipe is from the September 2010 issue of Australian Gourmet Traveller.
