Try a new dessert this fall with this Pumpkin Spice Crepe Cake. Crepes layered with spiced pumpkin and browned butter cream cheese frosting.
Have you ever had crepe cake? If you've never heard of it, it's basically what it sounds like - a cake made from many layers of crepes.
That's right, the same kind of crepes you might have for breakfast, usually with a fruity filling, and/or buttercream or frosting between the layers.
For this version of a crepe cake, I used Fall as my inspiration and made a Pumpkin Spice Crepe Cake.
And I threw in my Browned Butter Cream Cheese Frosting (it's been called "life-changing" by one reader), for good measure.
How do you make a crepe cake?
Making a crepe cake involves preparing 2-3 different components, in this case, the crepes, the pumpkin spice filling, and the browned butter cream cheese frosting.
Once these components are all prepared, the cake is assembled by layering the ingredients together.
While it sounds like a lot of work, don't worry, because crepe cakes are very make-ahead friendly.
The crepes can be wrapped and refrigerated once they're made until you're ready to assemble the cake. Then, once the cake is assembled, it can (and should) be refrigerated until you're ready to serve it.
Pumpkin Spice Crepe Cake Ingredients:
Crepes
- All purpose flour
- Granulated sugar
- Salt
- Large eggs
- Milk
- Vanilla extract
- Melted butter
Pumpkin Mixture
- Pumpkin puree (canned or fresh)
- Brown sugar
- Ground cinnamon
- Nutmeg (for best flavor, grate whole nutmeg with a microplane)
- Ground ginger
Browned Butter Cream Cheese Frosting
- Unsalted butter
- Cream cheese
- Vanilla extract
- Powdered sugar
Want more Pumpkin Spice Recipes?
Pumpkin Spice Crepe Cake Nutrition Notes:
The nutrition information in the recipe below assumes that you use all of the pumpkin filling and buttercream in the recipe.
If you have any leftover (I had about ½ cup of buttercream leftover when I made it), this will affect the nutrition information. There will be fewer calories, fat, etc. per serving of crepe cake in this cake.
Pumpkin Spice Crepe Cake
Ingredients
Crepes
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- ¼ cup granulated sugar
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 4 large eggs
- 3 cups milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 Tablespoons melted butter Plus additional butter for the skillet
Pumpkin Mixture
- 1 cup pumpkin puree (canned or fresh)
- 2 Tablespoons brown sugar
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon ground or grated nutmeg
- ¼ teaspoon ground ginger
Browned Butter Cream Cheese Frosting
- 8 Tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter
- 8 ounces cream cheese softened
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 cups powdered sugar
Instructions
Crepes
- In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, and salt. Set aside.
- In a medium bowl or large measuring cup, whisk together the eggs, 1 cup of the milk, and the vanilla. Whisk the egg mixture into the flour mixture until smooth. Slowly pour in the remaining 2 cups of milk while whisking constantly, until smooth. Stir in the melted butter.
- Heat a 10 inch non-stick skillet over medium heat. Brush a very thin layer of butter on the skillet. Pour about ¼ cup of the batter into the skillet and tilt the pan so that the batter covers the skillet. Cook for about 2-3 minutes until the bottom of the crepe is spotty brown and releases easily from the skillet. Flip the crepe with a spatula and cook for an additional 10-20 seconds until the other side is spotty brown. Transfer to a flat surface to cool completely.
- Repeat with remaining batter, greasing the pan with a small amount of butter each time. You should get 14-16 crepes. The crepes can be wrapped in plastic and refrigerated for a day before assembling the cake.
Pumpkin Spice Filling
- Stir the pumpkin puree, brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger together until uniform. Set aside.
Browned Butter Cream Cheese Frosting
- Place the butter in a small skillet or saucepan over medium heat. Cook until butter is lightly browned and smells toasted. Transfer to a heat-proof bowl and place in the fridge to cool. Once it begins to solidify, remove it from the fridge and keep it at room temperature until you're ready to make the frosting. You want it to be the consistency of softened butter.
- Place browned butter and cream cheese into the bowl of a stand mixer. Cream together on medium-high speed until light and fluffy. Add powdered sugar and mix at low speed until incorporated. Increase speed to medium-high and beat until fluffy. Add vanilla and continue to beat for another minute. Use immediately or store in fridge until ready to use.
To Assemble the Cake
- Place one cooled crepe on a platter or cake board. Spread about 1 Tablespoon of the pumpkin filling all the way to the edges, followed by about 2 Tablespoons of the cream cheese frosting. Place another crepe directly on top of the first. Spread on more pumpkin filling and frosting.
- Repeat with all but one of the remaining crepes, pumpkin filling, and frosting. On the last (top) crepe, skip the pumpkin filling, and instead, cover it with an extra thick layer of cream cheese frosting. While the cake can be eaten immediately after assembly, it is much easier to cut and serve if you chill it first for at least 2 hours in the fridge.
Kim says
Yum! This looks absolutely delicious.