I inherited my baking skills from my mom, who mastered her technique from my grandmother. So lately, I've been on a mission to learn and transcribe all of my grandma's recipes. We started with one of my mom's popular classics - the french crepe, or as we call it - "blinchik." The batter is very simple, but my mom is such a pro that she eyeballs all her ingredients and never uses proper measures. Us inexperienced folk are probably better off using this recipe. (Just substitute the water with milk for a tastier crepe.) I tried my hand at swirling the crepes, but it's no easy task. I definitely ruined a handful of crepes before achieving a perfectly thin and hole-less one. A stack of crepes later, we decided to make a delicious lemon-ricotta crepe cake with berry compote based off of this recipe.
Making the crepe: Crepes are very delicate, so the key is to immediately swirl the batter after ladling the mixture into the pan. Use less than a ladle-full of batter for a perfectly thin crepe. After a few seconds, once you see bubbles forming, run a sharp knife around the edges and flip with your fingers. Give the other side a few seconds before removing the crepe. And remember, the first crepe is always a disaster.
The Berry Compote: Frozen berries work just fine for this recipe. Just add half a cup of sugar and a dash of lemon zest to the saucepan and let cool. The sauce will be just fine without the cornstarch.
Assembling the cake: Spread a tablespoon or so of the ricotta spread between each layer. Don't neglect to spread filling on the crispy edges. Repeat until you have about 12 layers.
The Finished Cake: My cake came out to 15 layers. If you want a taller cake, make sure to double the ricotta filling.
Pour the cooled berry sauce over the cake and slice. Bon appetit!
