Green Tea Red Bean Crepe Cake

The best part of this recipe is that no baking is required and certain steps can be done few days in advance. However, lots of patience is required.

Several key notes:

- Decent green tea powder is necessary for this recipe. Buy the made in Japan ones.

- There is A LOT of whipped cream in this recipe. To make it less sinful, spread the cream/red bean within each layer as thin as possible.

- It's okay if red bean is run out at the end. Just use cream only, or spread red bean on every other crepe. No one will notice.

- Let the crepes cool down completely in the fridge before assembling the cake or the whipped cream will melt.

- The cake tastes the best when it's served within the same day.

Ingredients

Crepe (this recipe x1.5 + green tea powder, quantities as noted below) Note that the picture shown here was not x1.5 portion and I found the cake was too "flat".

12 eggs

3 cups milk

1.5 cups flour

3 tbs green tea powder

Filling and topping

4 cups 35% cream, cold

1 cup icing sugar

2 cans sweet red bean

1 tsp. green tea powder for dusting

You will also need a 12" cardboard cake base. This will make transferring the finished cake easier. If a cardboard cake base is not available, a flat plate that can hold a 12" cake will work fine too.

How

1. Make the crepes by following the same steps as this recipe except mixing the green tea powder into the flour before adding the flour into the wet mixture. When done, freeze the crepes in an air-tight Ziploc bag for up to a week if not being used immediately. Make sure to lay them flat in the freezer. If used within a day or two, keep them in the fridge, lay flat.

   

   There will be a lot of green tea lumps in the batter, but they will be gone after 3 sifts.

2. Make the whipped cream right before assembling the cake: In a clean dry bowl, whip the cream until it holds its shape. Add in the icing sugar and whip to combine well.
   
3. To assemble the cake, have all you need ready on the counter-top: red bean (cans opened!), a long bread knife to spread the cream, the whipped cream, the cardboard cake base, a small sharp knife, and a clean pair of hands.
4. Place one crepe on the cardboard cake base, spread cream and a bit of red bean on top, then cover it with another crepe and press down the crepe gently to even out the filling. Repeat this step until you use up all the crepes. Try to handle the crepes as gently as possible to avoid big tearing. However, it's no big deal if they tear a little. No one will notice.

   

   Spread as little as possible between the crepes.

5. Give the crepe cake a final press on the top to even out everything. Using a small knife, trim the edge of the cake and discard the trims (a great snack for later!).
6. Pour the remaining whipped cream on top of the crepe cake. Using the bread knife, gently spread the cream to cover up the top and side. The trick is to do this as light as possible and never let the bread knife touch the crepe cake.
7. Use a sieve to dust some green tea powder over the cake. Serve immediately or keep in the fridge for serving later within the same day.