Chocolate pecan mille crepes torte

A recent article in the New York Times’ Thanksgiving Food section suggesting alternative pecan recipes to the traditional pie reminded me of this Chocolate Pecan Mille Crêpes Torte I made for Mama’s 94^th birthday. Mama’s birthday on November 18 was for many years my annual kickoff for holiday baking. Each year it was a warm-up for Thanksgiving and other winter holidays, and I would plan a nice dinner and rummage in my cookbooks and recipe database for special desserts. That particular year, crêpes tortes, featured in many food magazines, caught my fancy. So I decided to combine the recipe for a crêpes torte with a nut and chocolate torte, a favored celebration dessert in our family.

Ukrainians love multilayered chocolate nut tortes that require hours of uninterrupted time for baking cake layers, preparing several buttercream fillings and assembling the ultimate luscious creation. But I wanted to make a simpler dessert that would incorporate similar ingredients and could be prepared in small steps over several days.

The choice of chocolate, caramel and pecans was inspired by chocolate turtles my mother-in-law Solveig Johnson used to make and often send us in a cookie care package. Solie’s recipe was simple and included only five ingredients: pecans, purchased caramels, water, chocolate and butter, it was quick to make and delicious. So I decided to replicate the chocolate-caramel-pecan taste profile in this crêpes torte.

This Chocolate Pecan Mille Crêpes Torte is made in four steps over several days: preparing pecan crêpes, preparing chocolate ganache filling, preparing caramel filling and preparing chocolate glaze. Then this torte can be assembled the day before the event and glazed and garnished early on the date of serving. I divided torte preparation over three days. Day one, I made the crêpes. Day two, I prepared the two fillings, layered the crêpes and refrigerated the torte overnight. Day three, serving day, I brought the torte up to room temperature, prepared the chocolate glaze and poured over the torte, garnishing with pecans a few minutes later before the glaze had a chance to set. I kept the torte unrefrigerated but covered until serving.

A word about crêpes: While this torte is called “mille crêpes” (French for a thousand crêpes), it only consists of as many crêpes as the recipe makes. In my case, this was about 18, 7.5 inch crêpes, but it could be more or less depending on size of the crêpe pan. These crêpes are very versatile and a torte can be made with any finely ground nuts (hazelnut, almond, walnut) and any sweet filling (chocolate or coffee buttercream, raspberry or apricot jam). Martha Stewart has an all-chocolate recipe; Scandinavians fill the layers with berries and whipped cream for a mid-summer night treat.

A word about fillings: Ganache is the French word for a mixture of equal weights chocolate and cream, melted together and used to glaze or fill a cake, whip into a fluffy frosting or fill truffles. The simplest recipe is 8 ounces chopped chocolate whisked with 8 ounces hot heavy cream until totally combined and shiny; this ganache will be easily pourable, and will be very soft when set. For this torte equal proportions of chocolate and cream make a too soft filling so ganache may be made thicker by adding a higher percentage of chocolate; keep it shiny by adding a bit of butter or corn syrup. Ganache can be flavored with various liqueurs, coffee or extracts compatible with the main theme of the torte.

The caramel filling is used in this torte is quite simple. It can be made several days ahead with only 3 ingredients and takes about half hour. It can be refrigerated and softened in the microwave or over warm water to spreadable consistency.

The resulting torte, a wonderful combination of caramel sweetness and chocolate bitterness, is a wonderful addition to the holiday table.

Chocolate Pecan Mille Crêpes Torte

For crêpes:

1 cup (145 g) plus 1 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 cup (90 g) pecan meal or finely ground pecans
2 cups (475 ml) cold milk
½ cup heavy cream
3 large eggs plus 3 yolk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
½ teaspoon salt
4 tablespoons melted butter, plus more for brushing on pan

For chocolate ganache filling:
8 ounces (285 grams) 60% bittersweet or semi-sweet chocolate, finely chopped (I used Ghirardelli bittersweet.)
6¾ ounces (296 ml) heavy cream

For caramel filling:
1 cup sugar
3 ounces (6 tablespoons, 85 g) salted butter, cut into pats
½ cup plus two tablespoons (150 ml) heavy cream, at room temperature
½ cup pecan meal

For chocolate ganache glaze:
4 ounces (115 g) 60% bittersweet or semi-sweet chocolate, finely chopped
½ cup (120 ml) whipping cream

To make crêpes: Mix all ingredients until smooth in a blender or with a whisk. Refrigerate for 1 hour. Heat a non-stick frying pan over medium heat. Brush with melted butter.
Pour 2 to 3 tablespoons of batter into the center of the pan and then tilt the pan in all directions to cover the bottom evenly. Cook about 1 minute, or until browned on the bottom. Turn and cook briefly on the other side. Cool on a rack or plate as you finish making remaining crêpes. Crêpes can be made ahead and once cooled, wrapped in plastic and refrigerated for several days before filling.

Making chocolate ganache filling: In a medium saucepan over medium heat, bring the heavy cream to a simmer. Place chopped chocolate in a medium bowl. Pour heated heavy cream over chocolate and let sit for 1 minute. Whisk until smooth and cool on counter for at least one hours before filling crêpes.

Make caramel filling: Melt sugar over medium to moderately high heat in a tall 2 or 3 quart pot, whisking sugar as it melts to ensure even heating. Cook liquefied sugar until it becomes the color of a dark copper penny. (Watch boiling sugar carefully as, once it starts to color, it can burn quickly.) Add butter all at once and stir in. Remove post from stove and pour in heavy cream, whisking constantly until you get a smooth sauce. (The mixture will foam aggressively, but will settle down as you whisk.) Cool caramel for five minutes, then stir in pecan meal. Makes 1⅓ cups (500 g).

Cool caramel down before you use it as filling or store in a tight-lidded jar in the refrigerator for up to two weeks. Caramel will thicken when cold, but a few seconds in microwave or in hot water makes it pourable again.

Cake assembly: Lay one crêpe on cake plate. With an offset spatula, spread 1¾ tablespoons of chocolate ganache filling evenly over the surface within a quarter inch from crêpe edge. (Each filling layer should be not thicker than a crêpe. Please resist the temptation to add more filling to each layer as the torte will be unstable.) Cover with another crêpe and spread with 1¾ tablespoons of caramel filling. Alternate chocolate and caramel fillings until you have no more crêpes are left, leaving top crêpe bare.

Preparing chocolate glaze: Place chocolate in a medium bowl. In a saucepan, bring cream to a boil. Pour over chocolate; stir carefully until smooth so as not to incorporate air into the glaze. Let cool until thick yet pourable, 4 to 5 minutes. Carefully pour glaze over the top crêpe, dripping over side if desired. Makes ¾ cup (160 ml). Garnish with pecans halves.

Yield: One 8-inch cake; Serves 8.

* Pecans for this torte can be finely ground in a manual nut grinder. It takes a few minutes. But pecan meal can be purchased on-line at Amazon, King Arthur Flour or www.nuts.com.

Note: Cake may be stored in the fridge for a few days. It never lasts that long in our house.