Coconut whipped cream sandwiched between layers of delicious crêpes topped with rich homemade dulce de leche! Whether you call it gâteau de crêpes, mille crêpe, or crepe cake, this is a beautiful and impressive dessert!
What is a crepe cake?
A crepe cake, also known as gâteau de crêpes or mille crêpe, is exactly what it sounds like: a cake made from crepes! It's as simple as thin crepes layered with cream.
How to make homemade dulce de leche
Dulce de leche is a Latin American caramel, made from cooking down whole milk and sugar. Although you can find it in jars or cans at the store, you can make it quite easily at home! The most common way to DIY dulce de leche is to cook a can of sweetened condensed milk in a slow cooker.
For this recipe, I cooked Nature's Charm sweetened condensed coconut milk in the oven to create dulce de leche! I found this unique method here.
With the oven preheated to 450°F/230°C, pour the sweetened condensed coconut milk into a 9 inch round pan and cover tightly with aluminum foil. Place the pan in a bigger pan and add enough hot water to the bigger pan so the water reaches halfway up the sides of the round pan. Bake for 1½ hours.
Check halfway through the baking time to see if any additional hot water is necessary to keep the water level the same. Take the round pan out of the water, remove the foil, and let it cool.
How to make vegan crepes
Add all the crepe ingredients into a blender and blend until smooth. If your blender is too small or you don't have a blender, add the flour, salt, cinnamon, and baking powder to a bowl and whisk until combined and there are no lumps. Slowly add the almond milk and olive oil while whisking until it creates a smooth mixture. Pass the crepe batter through a sieve to ensure there are no lumps. Cover and let the batter rest in the fridge for an hour.
Heat a little olive oil in a nonstick pan over medium heat. Pour ¼ cup (60ml) of the crepe batter into the pan and swirl to coat the bottom of the pan. Cook for a minute or two on each side. Let it rest on a wire rack while you make the next crepe.
The crepe cake only requires 18 crepes, but the batter is enough to make 26 crepes! I made sure the recipe gave you enough room for mistakes. Crepes aren't easy! The first time I made crepes, I ruined a good handful of crepes.
And by "handful" I mean 8 or 9.
If you have beginner's luck or you're already a pro crepe maker and you didn't make any mistakes, that just means you end up with crepes that you can have for breakfast or snack! Hugo loved his at snack time with some sliced bananas and a little peanut butter!
Traditionally, the filling in a mille crêpe cake is pastry cream, but I also enjoy it with whipped cream! Vegan coconut whipped cream, that is. I really like the one from Nature's Charm, as it has some coconut oil in there to make it sturdier than pure coconut cream. You can also whip the whole can of cream, instead of scooping up the solidified coconut cream from a can of coconut milk.
I went for a conservative amount of cream in between the crepes using one can of coconut whipping cream. That said, I think it would be very delicious if you double the amount of cream and have more in each layer, or cover the whole exterior with whipped cream to make it seem like a regular cake. Wait until you see the surprise on everyone's faces when you cut in and reveal the layers of crepes!
After layering the crepes and coconut whipped cream, make sure to end with a layer of crepe and top the entire cake with your homemade vegan dulce de leche, and you've got yourself a stunning and impressive dessert! If you're looking for something different from a conventional cake, try out this vegan dulce de leche mille crepe cake!
Make sure to pin the images below the recipe and follow me on Pinterest!
Want more impressive vegan desserts? Try my vegan pumpkin pie or vegan salted caramel chocolate cupcakes!
Dulce de Leche Mille Crepe Cake
Ingredients
Dulce de leche
- 1 can (11.25oz/320g) Nature's Charm sweetened condensed coconut milk
Crepes
- 4 cups (480g) flour
- ¼ teaspoon fine sea salt
- Pinch of ground cinnamon
- 2 teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ cup (60ml) olive oil
- 4⅔ cups (1120ml) almond milk
Whipped cream
- 1 can (13.5oz/400ml) Nature's Charm coconut whipping cream, refrigerated overnight
- ¼ cup (28g) powdered sugar
- ¼ teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
Dulce de leche
- Preheat the oven to 450°F/230°C. Pour the sweetened condensed coconut milk into a 9 inch round pan and cover tightly with aluminum foil. Place the pan in a bigger pan and add enough hot water to the bigger pan so the water reaches halfway up the round pan. Bake for 1½ hours. Check halfway through the baking time to see if any additional hot water is necessary to keep the water level the same. Take the round pan out of the water, remove the foil, and let it cool.
Crepes
- In the blender, add the flour, salt, cinnamon, baking powder, olive oil, and almond milk. Blend until the mixture is smooth. Cover and let the batter rest in the refrigerator for an hour.If you don't own a big blender, add the flour, salt, cinnamon, baking powder into a large bowl and whisk together. Slowly add the olive oil and almond milk and whisk until smooth. Pour the batter through a sieve to ensure there are no lumps.
- Heat a little olive oil in a nonstick pan over medium heat. Pour in ¼ cup/60ml of the crepe batter and swirl to coat the bottom of the pan. Cook for 1-2 minutes on each side. Rest on a wire rack and cover with a tea towel to keep moist. Repeat until all the crepes have been made.
Whipped cream
- Place your bowl in the freezer for 10 minutes to let it chill.
- Pour the can of coconut whipping cream into the chilled bowl and whip using a hand mixer and whip at maximum speed for 3-4 minutes. Add the powdered sugar and vanilla and whip until combined.
Assembly
- Put one crepe on a plate or cake stand. Spread a thin layer of coconut whipped cream and top with another crepe and another layer of whipped cream. Continue until you run out of whipped cream and you end with a crepe layer on top.
- Pour dulce de leche on top and serve.
Notes
Disclosure – Thank you to Nature’s Charm for sponsoring this post! It’s a delight to be working for people and a business I find inspiring. I love the values the company is built on, and am proud to be collaborating with them!
Angela says
Omgosh, this looks dreamy! I will try this but with gluten-free flour.
Ai says
Hope you like it Angela! 🙂
Courtney says
Can you make the crepes and dulce de leche a day ahead and then assemble and serve? Would I need to re-warm the dulce and if so, how? Looks amazing. Thanks!
Ai Willis says
Definitely!You might want to microwave the dulce de leche in a microwave safe dish, maybe 15 seconds at a time, stirring after each blast to make sure it's being heated evenly.