If you’re looking for a show stopper of a dessert, look no further than this Blackberry Cannoli Cream Vegan Crepe Cake! This insanely delicious Vegan Crepe Cake is sure to impress everyone!
Go ahead and make it next time you have guests over because everyone can enjoy this as it has NO DAIRY, NO EGGS, yet NO WORRIES – ’cause this one’s a doozy baby!
I love making crepes. My recipes for classic French crepes and chocolate crepes are very popular on the blog and they make for some easy and impressive French desserts. And I’m always looking for an excuse to make crepes for breakfast or brunch, especially on weekends!
But on special occasions I love to elevate those basic crepes for something show-stopping and decadent. Like this salted caramel chocolate crepe cake, or this blood orange crepe suzette (perfect for a valentine’s day treat!), and even these unique sweet coconut stuffed crepes (Sri Lankan pani pol).
Vegan crepes
For the recipe, I made a few changes to make my classic crepes dairy-free and vegan. This is super easy to do, as the crepes taste delicious even without eggs.
The eggs give those crepes richness (which I compensated for using vegan butter), stretch and lightness.
These vegan crepes were just as light, but weren’t as “stretchy” as the non-vegan version. That took NOTHING away from the taste however.
I made them slightly thicker and they came out light, fluffy, slightly sweet and totally addictive!
For the cannoli cream, if you’re not looking to make this vegan, you’re more than welcome to use regular ricotta from the grocery store. Since I wanted it vegan (and dairy-free), I made soft, creamy, vegan “ricotta” from cashews and tofu. You can find my creamy vegan ricotta recipe here.
For this vegan crepe cake, I wanted FIRM RICOTTA, so I made the ricotta using firm tofu only (did not use silken soft tofu here). I used blackberries instead of raspberries like their recipe calls for, because blackberries were what I had at home. 🙂 Also, I like purple.
Since I was shooting for spectacular with this vegan crepe cake, I decided to give it that lovely crunch, which I love in cannoli. So I gave this cake a Caramel and Pistachio topping!
This is completely optional of course, you can just top it with some berries and nuts, but I wanted to go OVER the top with this one. 😉
Recipe tips for covering the vegan crepe cake in caramel
- Freeze the vegan crepe cake for about one hour (or more) before you pour the caramel on top.
- I added a layer of cannoli cream on the top most layer of the cake before pouring the caramel. That is NOT a good idea if you want the cake to last longer. You’re better off pouring the caramel straight on the crepe and this way the caramel will remain crunchy for longer. If you pour it on cannoli cream however, the cream will make the caramel go soft quickly.
- Sprinkle the pistachios on top as soon as you pour the caramel, so that the nuts stick to your cake.
- Before you pour the caramel, keep the cake on a cake mesh, which in turn is placed on top of dish/metal tray to catch the excess caramel drip. It goes without saying that the caramel will be super hot at this point and SHOULD NOT BE TOUCHED until it has hardened.
That’s it. Like I said, it’s an optional step, but you make this for guests and you’re going to be one super cool kid on the block! 🙂
What can I say? We loved this cake. Everybody loved it! Combining the delicious flavours of cannoli with those of a rich, scrumptious vegan crepe cake is exactly the type of thing I love to do on this blog!
As you can see there’s a creamy “ricotta” filling between the crepe cake layers and I loved the berry flavours in the cake and the filling. Layer upon layer of creamy berry flavoured ricotta, sandwiched between light and fluffy crepes – what’s not to love?
But then as you crack that caramel on top, and then savour the crunch of the caramel and the pistachios… that’s what takes this baby to a whole other level of awesome. Plus all this is vegan and dairy-free. Like my husband would say, it’s a slam dunk baby!
Recipe
Cannoli Cream Vegan Crepe Cake
US based cup, teaspoon, tablespoon measurements. Weight measurements are recommended for accurate results whenever available.
Common Measurement ConversionsIngredients:
Vegan Crepes
- 250 g AP flour
- 2 tbsp sugar
- 1 tsp baking powder
- Generous pinch of salt
- 1 ¾ cup plant based milk I used Almond milk
- 3 tbsp melted vegan butter you can use oil as well
- 1 tsp vanilla
Vegan Cannoli Cream
- 1 recipe recipe for FIRM vegan ricotta about 2cups (recipe for FIRM vegan ricotta)
- ½ cup confectioners sugar
- Extra lemon juice to taste
- 115 g of blackberries
Caramel
- 250 g white sugar
- 50 g corn syrup
- ¼ cup water
Instructions:
Crepes (makes about 12 crepes)
- Place all the dry ingredients in a bowl and whisk to combine.250 g AP flour, 2 tbsp sugar, 1 tsp baking powder, Generous pinch of salt
- Whisk the wet ingredients in a jug, and then combine with the dry ingredients while mixing. Whisk until well combined, smooth and the batter has no lumps.1 ¾ cup plant based milk, 3 tbsp melted vegan butter, 1 tsp vanilla
- Heat a non stick pan (diameter of about 5 – 6 inches) on medium heat. Coat it with some vegan butter or oil. When the oil is heated, add about a ¼ cup of the batter (about a ladle-full) to the pan and swirl the pan to coat it.
- Cook for a couple of minutes on both sides, or until it lightly browns and the edges are crisp. Stack the crepes on a plate until you need them.
For the Cannoli Cream
- Once you have made the firm ricotta in the food processor, add the blackberries and process further until the berries have blended through.1 recipe recipe for FIRM vegan ricotta, 115 g of blackberries
- Transfer to a bowl and whisk in the confectioners sugar and lemon juice (to taste). Keep it in the fridge and chill until needed.½ cup confectioners sugar, Extra lemon juice to taste
Assembly
- Place one crepe on a cake tray, and spread about 1-2 tbsp of the cannoli cream filling on it. Place another crepe on top and repeat with the cannoli cream filling. Repeat with the rest of the crepes (about 12 crepes).
- If you are serving the crepe cake without the caramel coating, finish the crepe cake with a layer of cannoli cream on top. If you do want to pour caramel, do NOT add the last layer of cream on top of the crepe cake.
- Chill the cake in the fridge (if not adding caramel), or store in the freezer for at least 1 hour to pour the caramel on top.
Caramel coating
- Sprinkle the sugar at the bottom of a saucepan as evenly as possible and add the corn syrup. Pour the water all along the edge of the saucepan (this is to help melt the sugar evenly).250 g white sugar, 50 g corn syrup, ¼ cup water
- Heat over medium heat (without stirring) to melt the sugar. If needed gently swirl the saucepan, but not too much. You can use a pastry brush dipped in water to brush the edges of the pan to remove sugar crystals stuck to the side, in order to avoid crystallization.
- Once the sugar has melted, cover the saucepan with a lid for about 1-2 minutes. Then uncover, and let the sugar caramelize (do not swirl or stir the sugar at this point) over medium to medium high heat until it turns golden.
Final touches
- When the sugar is starting to colour, take the frozen crepe cake out of the freezer and place it on a piece of cardboard or foil (smaller than the diameter of the cake). Then place it on a cake cooling tray, and place that over another metal tray/cake tin (to catch the hot caramel drip).
- Chop some pistachios and dark chocolate (vegan) and set aside.
- When the sugar is ready, carefully pour it in a steady stream, over the top of the crepe cake. Once sufficiently covered, sprinkle the pistachios on top before the caramel sets. Add some chopped chocolate as well.
- Allow the caramel to set. Leave the cake at room temp for a few hours, till the cake thaws out but is still chilled.
- Alternatively, top the crepe cake with fresh berries, chopped pistachios and chocolate just before serving. When cutting into the cake, crack the caramel on top to make it easier to cut slices.
Nutrition Information:
“This website provides approximate nutrition information for convenience and as a courtesy only. Nutrition data is gathered primarily from the USDA Food Composition Database, whenever available, or otherwise other online calculators.”
Speaking of the hubs, he doesn’t much like tofu, and he couldn’t believe this was vegan and that the creamy ricotta was, you know, not actually ricotta.
So if you’re having guests over who are either vegan or have food allergies, and you’re looking for a delicious and impressive dessert to make that’s sure to make everyone happy, this is it!
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