mille crêpe cake.

tuesday was D's birthday. though it was not a milestone birthday, i still try to make things special.

when it comes to his birthday, D has always been a diva about it. he is not a selfish, self-centered person; he's actually quite the opposite of that. and because he always puts me, his family, and his friends ahead of himself, he reasons that his birthday is the only day he allows himself to be a diva, and i let him get whatever he wants.

this year, we decided to throw a little birthday party at the apartment. since we moved a couple months ago, it was also a great way for our friends to visit and check out the new place. instead of slaving myself over catering the whole party, we ordered some of D's favorite chinese-korean dishes from a local restaurant.

since we were ordering in the food, i decided to take on the birthday cake making myself. i bounced back and forth on making a traditional sponge cake, to something with buttercream frosting, and then to cupcakes…and thought to myself that since i've never baked a cake by myself before, wouldn’t be too big of a risk? after shopping and browsing online, i found it. why haven’t i thought of this earlier: a crepe cake! it required no new tools (eg, buying a cake pan) and looked easy, but elegant enough to impress.

 crepe making station, with jake in the middle of the action.

i literally straddled him while i was at the stove.

the mille crepe cake is a signature cake for the lady m bakery in nyc. while one of their 9” cakes will cost you about $80, mine took way less, replaced with a couple hours of prep and assembly.

after making around 25 (really, i lost count) perfectly round, uniformed thin, lightly browned crepes, i was out of batter, and out of parchment paper. i was hoping to aim for a 34 layer crepe (the age D was turning), but really, who would count the layers?

ta-da! 

the cake was beautiful, and even more beautiful when sliced. it was just the right touch of sweetness and not too heavy on the tongue. of course i couldn't compare mine with the real lady m, but it was pretty damn good and was completely devoured by our guests. i set the bar high on dessert this year…i’ll have to think of something else to make next year!