Yes, I know. This is so last season! So I jumped on the bandwagon a little too late. Regardless, a good cake must always be acknowledged.Early this year, I came across Boo’s recipe for a Chocolate Crepe Cake. Mind you, I can cook a mean chicken curry, and some say that my Penang acar (mixed pickled vegetables) ranks quite high, but ask me to make a chocolate souffle, and I pee in my pants from fear. My excuse is that I don’t have the right oven and the right mixer, but I am constantly reminded of how the Bald Eagle’s grandmother used to bake her cakes – on a charcoal stove. Seriously, a charcoal stove made of aluminium! And I bet she didn’t pee in her pants while doing that.
So anyhow, when I saw the recipe, I was immediately inspired to try it out despite being warned that it was a time-consuming task, simply because there was no baking involved! I knew that due to my busy schedule, I had no choice but to sacrifice 3 hours of precious, much-awaited-weekend-sleep to work on the cake. Bear in mind that it is a tiring job – I stood at the stove, highly alert for almost an hour, making sure that I didn’t burn my crepes. I had never made crepes before, so it was quite hilarious. For the first couple of crepes, I timed myself – 45 seconds one side, 30 seconds on the other. Very precise. It was tough keeping time and flipping the crepes, so I resorted to counting one-mississippi, two mississippi, three…. By the tenth crepe, I was a pro. Swishing the liquid mix around the pan was a breeze, and I was able to judge whether it was done just by looking at it. Well, what I’m getting at is that if one monkey can do it, so can the rest of the brood. As you can see from the picture above, my chocolate crepe cake turned out quite pretty.
Alternatively, instead of toiling over a hot stove, for a mere RM50, one can purchase a mille crepe cake (original flavour) from Nadeje Patisserie in Malacca. I count myself blessed for having a friend in WMW who not only offered to purchase a cake for me about a month back, but also delivered it to Shah Alam, where I live.
If one doesn’t have generous friends like WMW, fret not, as the cake is also available at the Food Foundry in Section 17, Petaling Jaya. Priced at RM70+ for a vanilla flavoured mille crepe cake, it is significantly more expensive than the cake from Nadeje, but throw in your fuel cost and toll charges, and I can bet you will be more inclined to make that short trip to Section 17.
Both cakes are very light and fluffy with a mousse-like creamy filling that doesn’t sit in the stomach and make you feel like throwing up. I found the cake from Nadeje a little more moist than the one from Food Foundry, but nevertheless, the difference was not very noticeable.
The packaging at Food Foundry is delightful, albeit somewhat off-season (Santa Claus and Christmas trees?) seeing that we’re way past Christmas, Chinese New Year and Easter. Nevertheless, I am quick to forgive as the boxes are not only pretty, but functional too.
Nadeje Patisserie
G-23 & 25, Jln PM4,Plaza Mahkota, 75000 Melaka.
Tel : 06 – 283 8750
Food Foundry
BG-8, Happy Mansion, Jalan 17/13, 46400 Petaling Jaya, Selangor.
Tel: 03-7955 3885
