June marks the start of berry picking season in British Columbia! My family visits a U-Pick farm every summer to stock up on in-season berries to eat throughout the rest of the year. Some of which ended up in this Mini Crepe Cake.
I don’t quite recall exactly when I began picking berries. Back in elementary school, my family would make a daytrip to a local blueberry field run by an elderly couple. We would bring a trunk full of empty ice cream buckets ready to be filled with plump blueberries.
By the end of our session, we would bet on who found the largest berry and then proudly place our buckets on a tattered scale, hoping to be the one with the heaviest haul. Although us kids couldn’t take credit for picking the majority of the berries, we still shared the feeling of accomplishment and the fruits of labour (Get it? Leung just made a punny.) Frozen blueberries were and still are one of my favourite summer snacks!
Then I hit my “tweenage” years, when I thought I was too cool for picking berries. I would complain about the heat and had next to zero interest in picking berries. There was one year where we took some out-of-town friends to a berry farm, planning to make it an all-day outing, only to leave with nothing in our buckets because none of us “kids” had any motivation. So harvest wasn’t very abundant those few years.
Now that I’m food-orientated, my excitement for berry picking has returned. (Not for my brother though… He just stand motionless guarding our cart.) Last year, Chew and I got to visit Krause Berry Farms together and it was tons of fun! My family came home with over 40 pounds of berries; yes we’re a little crazy. Within the first week, we had already consumed 10 pounds of fresh blueberries.
I told you we’re crazy.
The remaining berries were washed, dried, and frozen individually before being complied into a Ziploc bags. The frozen blueberries from the grocery store have absolutely no flavour compared to our hand-picked blueberries. They’re super handy to have on hand, ready to be thrown into a smoothie, baked into some muffins, or defrosted to eat with yogurt. The berry chia jam sandwiched in the Mini Crepe Cake was made by just adding chia seeds to pureed berries. Instant and healthy jam!
Created by alternating layers of mini buckwheat crepes, berry chia jam, and lemon scented coconut mascarpone cream, these Mini Crepe Cakes are dainty, elegant, and splendid for afternoon tea. One blueberry and one raspberry, let’s celebrate local BC fruit with these Summer Berry Mini Crepe Cakes!
- Crepes
- ¼ cup buckwheat flour
- ¼ cup all purpose flour
- ¾ cup almond milk
- 1 tbsp honey or maple syrup
- ½ tsp oil
- ½ tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp pure vanilla extract
- ½ tbsp ground chia seeds
- 1½ tbsp water + more as needed
- A pinch of pink salt
- Berry Chia Jam
- ¼ cup each blueberries and raspberries, one type of berry per cake
- ~1 tbsp honey or maple syrup, to taste
- Juice of ¼ lemon
- 1 tbsp chia seeds
- Mascarpone Cream
- ⅓ cup coconut cream
- ⅓ cup mascarpone cheese*
- ~1 tbsp honey or maple syrup, to taste
- 1 tsp lemon zest
- For the crepes, blend all crepe ingredients in a blender until very smooth, scraping the sides down with a spatula if needed. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour before using.
- For the jam, place one type of berry into a food processor with half of the honey, lemon juice, and chia seeds. Blend until smooth and transfer to a small bowl. Repeat with other type of berry. Refrigerate until thickened.
- Add about 1 to 2 tbsp of water to the chilled batter to reach a "half & half cream" consistency; batter should be easily swirled around pan to make crepe. Make mini crepes by scooping a scant 1 tbsp of batter onto a skillet and cooking over low heat until edges are crispy and lift up, about 2 minutes. Using a butter knife, flipper, and your fingers, carefully flip the crepe and cook the other side for another minute or so. Place finished crepes onto a cooling rack to cool completely. Repeat with remaining batter. Should yield approximately 25 mini crepes. Cooled crepes can be wrapped in plastic and aluminum foil and stored in the refrigerator for up to a few days.
- Once crepes are all cooled and ready to go, make the mascarpone cream by whipping all the mascarpone cream ingredients together in a small mixing bowl with an electric whisk or hand mixer until thoroughly combined and fluffy.
- Divide the crepes into two even piles for two crepe cakes. To construct one cake, place one crepe onto the serving platter and spread about ½ tbsp of jam on top. Layer with another crepe and top with mascarpone cream. Continue to layer crepes, alternating jam and cream. Top the final crepe with a generous layer of mascarpone cream.
- Crepe cakes cut cleaner when chilled.
*Vegan option: substitute mascarpone with more coconut cream
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