A crêpe cake creation from Bellecour with raspberries and vanilla Chantilly cream. Photo: Bellecour
When chef Gavin Kaysen was working at Café Boulud in New York City, he lived next door to a bakery serving crêpe cake. He knew that when he opened his own restaurant, these traditional crêpe cakes or mille crêpes (French for 1,000 crêpes) should be on the menu. The cakes are made with many layers of paper-thin crêpes with a classic whipped-style cream layered between. When Kaysen, an Edina resident, opened Spoon and Stable, he added it to the brunch menu. When it soared in popularity, he added it to Bellecour’s menu. It is now a Mother’s Day favorite. It is also a labor of love.
“Making a crêpe cake is a process that requires a lot of attention and patience,” Kaysen says. “Total hands-on time is about an hour and a half with the making of the crêpes and the cream and then assembling, but with overnight cooling, it’s nearly a 12-hour process.”
Oh Crêpe!’s Claire Corvaisier has a passion for exploring new flavor combinations. Pictured is her Tiramisu Crêpe Cake. Photo: Chris Emeott
Edina bakery Oh Crêpe! also specializes in these elegant cakes. Owner Claire Corvaisier began experimenting with crêpe cakes during COVID-19. Although she’d already mastered the art of making crêpes, these cakes were a new challenge. “I have always been very creative with different flavors and flavor profiles, so I wanted to have fun with that,” Corvaisier says. “It really was during that time where I was experimenting with flavors and also with different techniques to build the cake that would stay together and look pretty.”
To make the crêpe cake, Corvaisier first makes around 25 individual crêpes, then creates the flavorful filling. She often makes multiple fillings for one cake. For some fillings, like those with fresh fruit, it can be a longer process to make sure the texture is right.
Since opening its doors in 2024, Oh Crêpe! began selling its crêpe cake by the slice and also offers customers the chance to order a full cake. Corvaisier says she usually rotates six to eight flavors for crêpe cakes by the slice and enjoys having full creative freedom when making cakes customers order. “I give [customers] a very long list of flavor profiles I can work with and also tell them that if they have something in mind that they really want, I’ll work around that too,” Corvaisier says.
“I think it’s a good creative escape for me to work on a great cake.”
Both Oh Crêpe! and Bellecour offer special flavors for Mother’s Day. “I think Mothers really deserve a delicious cake,” Corvaisier says.
Bellecour
Instagram: @bellecourbakeryandbistro
Oh Crêpe!
Instagram: @ohcrepemn
