Vegan Darkest Chocolate Crepe Cake Recipes

Steps:

• Bring 1/4 cup water to a rolling boil in a small saucepan over medium-high heat. Add butter, 1 piece at a time, whisking to combine after each addition. Remove from heat; stir in chocolate until completely melted. Set aside.
• Whisk together flour, sugar, and salt in a medium bowl. Whisk together milk, eggs, and vanilla in another medium bowl. Gradually add milk mixture to flour mixture, whisking until smooth. Add chocolate-butter mixture, whisking until smooth. Pour through a fine sieve into an airtight container; discard lumps. Refrigerate at least 2 hours or up to overnight.
• Lightly coat an 8-inch crepe pan or nonstick skillet with melted butter. Heat over medium heat until just starting to smoke. Remove pan from heat; pour about 2 tablespoons batter into pan, swirling to cover bottom. Reduce heat to medium-low; return pan to heat. Cook, flipping once, until edges are golden and center is dry, about 30 seconds per side.
• Slide crepe onto a plate. Repeat process with remaining batter, coating pan with butter as needed. Crepes can be refrigerated, covered, up to 1 day.
• Place a crepe on a wire rack set over a rimmed baking sheet. Spread with about 3 tablespoons hazelnut filling. Top with another crepe. Continue layering with hazelnut filling and crepes, using about 32 crepes and ending with a crepe on top. Refrigerate until firm, about 15 minutes.
• Spoon 1/2 cup glaze on top of the cake, spreading to edges. Spread remaining glaze around sides of cake, coating completely. Refrigerate until glaze is firm and set, about 20 minutes. Cake can be refrigerated up to 3 days. Garnish with toasted and candied hazelnuts.

Steps:

• Double boil the chocolate, add to all ingredients in a blender, blend. Heat a nonstick 8" skillet over medium-high heat and wipe it lightly with oil before making each crepe (or spray with a spray canola or vegetable oil). Use about 3 T. of batter per crepe (stirring the batter before you make each crepe), rolling and tilting the pan until it evenly covers the bottom. Cook for a few seconds, or until the top looks dry. Carefully loosen the crepe with a spatula and flip it over. After a few seconds the other side should be dry. * * * Place all mousse ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth. Refrigerate for several hours. * * * Nutella: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place nuts in a single layer on a shallow baking pan. Toast until the skins are almost black and the meat is dark brown, about 15 minutes. Stir the nuts halfway through baking so ensure an even color. Since the skin is bitter, you'll want to discard them. Wrap the cooled hazelnuts in a clean kitchen towel or paper towel, and rub until most of the skins have come off. Don't fret if you can't get off all the skins. Process nuts in a food processor, scraping down the sides of the bowl occasionally, until they have liquefied, about 5 minutes. At first, you will get coarsely chopped nuts, and then it will turn into a fine meal. After a little while, the nuts will form a ball around the blade, and it will seem like you only have a solid mass. Keep processing. The heat and friction will extract the natural oils, and you will get hazelnut butter! When the nuts are liquidized, add in the sugar, cocoa and vanilla. Slowly drizzle in enough oil to make a spreadable consistency. Since the mixture is warm, it will be more liquidy now than at room temperature. * * * glaze: Bring milk, corn syrup, salt to a boil over medium heat. Remove from heat. Add chocolate. Swirl pan to completely cover with cream. Let stand for 5 minutes. Stir until smooth. Let cool completely.

Steps:

• Crepes: Mix all crepe ingredients thoroughly (a blender would not be a bad idea). Refrigerate at least 2 hours, and up to 12 before proceeding.
• Barely butter the inside of a hot 9" non-stick skillet. Pour roughly 2 tbsp of batter into the middle of the skillet and quickly swirl around to thoroughly coat the bottom of the skillet. When the edges are set, just beginning to brown, and a few bubbles are popping in the middle, about 30-40 seconds, flip the crepe over and cook the other side, just until it browns a little, 10-15 seconds. Turn the crepe out onto a plate and repeat until all the batter is gone. You should have 30 crepes.
• Buttercream: toast the hazelnut flour in a small skillet over medium-low heat, stirring frequently, until just barely golden. Watch carefully, as the tiny bits can burn very very fast. Turn out into a bowl to cool.
• In the top of a double boiler, combine egg yolks, sugar, liqueur and salt. Whisk over boiling water 4 min, or until thick and pale. Remove from heat and cool to room temperature.
• In a bowl, combine butter and vanilla. Beat with electric mixer on medium-high 5 minutes, until soft and fluffy and lighter in color. Slowly beat in the cooled egg yolks. Let stand at room temperature 20 minutes, until spreadable. Fold in the hazelnuts by hand with a spatula.
• Ganache: Bring cream, corn syrup and salt to a boil over medium heat. Remove from heat. Add chocolate and swirl pan until chocolate is covered with cream. Let stand 5 minutes, then stir until smooth.
• Assembly: spread a thin layer of butter cream on a crepe. Layer a second crepe on top. Continue spreading cream on crepes until all the crepes are used up. Refrigerate 15 minutes until firm.
• Place crepe stack on a wire rack set over a rimmed baking sheet. Pour 1/2 cup of ganache over the top of the cake and spread to edges. Use remaining ganache to cover the sides of the cake. Sprinkle top with toasted chopped hazelnuts and refrigerate until set, about 20 minutes. Cake will keep in refrigerator about 3 days (if it lasts that long).

Steps:

• Prepare the crepe batter: Whisk together eggs, egg yolks, milk and cream in a medium bowl. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, hazelnut meal, sugar and salt. Make a well in the center of the flour mixture and pour in some of the milk mixture. Gently whisk from the center of the well, making a thick, smooth batter. Then, while whisking, gradually add remaining milk mixture and whisk until smooth. Whisk in vanilla and butter. (Alternatively, combine all the ingredients in a blender and blend on low speed until smooth.) Cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours and up to 48 hours.
• Prepare the chocolate cream: Place chopped chocolate in a medium bowl and set a fine mesh sieve over the bowl. In a medium saucepan, whisk together sugar, cornstarch, cocoa powder and salt. Whisk in some of the milk to create a thick paste. Gradually add remaining milk while whisking until mixture is smooth and well-combined. Whisk in egg yolks and add butter.
• Cook milk mixture over medium heat, whisking constantly and occasionally scraping the bottom and sides of the pan with a rubber spatula. Once the mixture comes to a boil and becomes very thick, about 5 minutes, whisk it vigorously for 1 to 2 minutes. Press hot cream mixture through the sieve into the bowl with the chocolate. Let it stand for 2 minutes, then mix it until smooth and well-combined. Add brandy or coffee and stir to combine. Use a rubber spatula to stir the mixture until it has cooled to about room temperature and is smooth and silky. Cover with plastic wrap, pressed into the surface of the custard, and chill until ready to use.
• Cook the crepes: Melt a little bit of butter in an 8-inch nonstick skillet over medium heat and let the pan get hot. Remove the pan from the heat and immediately add a scant 1/4 cup (about 3 tablespoons) crepe batter to one side of the pan. (You don't want to use too much batter or you'll have thick crepes.) Quickly tilt and swirl the pan to spread the batter to an even thickness across the bottom of the pan and about 1 inch up the sides.
• Return the pan to the heat and cook crepe until very lightly golden and set on one side, about 45 seconds. Tuck a small offset spatula under the edge of the crepe, grab onto it with your fingers, and quickly flip it over. Cook until light golden brown on the other side, 30 seconds to 1 minute. Slip crepe onto a rack to cool. Once crepes are cool, transfer them to a baking sheet and cover with a light towel to keep them from drying out. Continue with remaining batter, occasionally wiping out the skillet with a paper towel and very lightly buttering the skillet every few crepes as needed. You should have 20 to 24. (You need 20 for the cake.)
• To assemble, stir the cream until smooth. Lay 1 crepe on a cake plate. Using an offset spatula, cover with a thin layer of chocolate cream (2 to 3 tablespoons), leaving a 1/4-inch border. Cover with a crepe and repeat to make a stack of 20, with the best-looking crepe on top. Cover with plastic wrap and chill for at least 2 hours.
• To serve, top with whipped cream, nuts and dust with cocoa.

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease one 9x5 inch loaf pan.
• Sift together the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda and salt. Add the oil, vanilla, vinegar and water. Mix together until smooth.
• Pour into prepared pan and bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 45 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool.