WELL guys, have you heard the big news? Besides Tokyo’s current butter shortage crisis pushing 450g of Hokkaido butter to a WHOPPING $15+, The ChefCharette is MOVING! That’s right, on July 11 I’ll be moving from Tokyo to Los Angeles. But don’t worry! I’ll get my feet back into my next kitchen (wherever that is?) and continue concocting recipes there too! It’s been a damn busy, emotional month of farewelling, finalizing drawings, prepping, and packing before I leave my Tokyo home. (Please forgive me for the delay in posts/responses) As I’m giving away bowls, sending my ceramics and utensils off, I share and end all things sweet with you in Tokyo: Matcha milles crepe cake with almond chantilly.

It seems quite tedious to cook and stack crepes as perfect discs, but once you practice and figure out the right hand swings with some classy jazz (and while getting your hands dirty, some rachet hip hop – if you will) you’ll find the whole pouring batter + pan rotating + crepe flipping + crepe stacking = a very delightful process. You don’t need an electric mixer (though preferred), nor a special crepe pan. Just use good quality butter (even if it costs you a horrifying $15), sift your dry ingredients together, stir them vigorously to rid of any pimply bubbles, let this happy batter rest in the fridge overnight, get your circular pan HOT, and find your own comfortable crepe preparing hand motions to make perfect discs! Of course I still have my own traumatic disasters in the kitchen (see below, figure 1) but as my 3rd grade classmate always reminded me, patience is a virtue; and as my dad always told me, practice makes perfect. (…as close to perfect as I could, figures 2 and 3).

I end Tokyo with matcha milles crepes for 3 major reasons.

1. I love matcha (the color, the texture, the taste, the aroma).
2. Rotating, flipping, and stacking crepes for hours into a milles crepe cake is very therapeutic to me.
3. I wanted to leave Tokyo by ending and sharing a sweet cake recipe to all my Japanese friends.

In making this recipe, I tweaked my favorite crepe recipe, Julia Child’s master crepe, by adding tablespoons of matcha and sugar. I also spread almond chantily (adapted from my last chantilly recipe) in between each of the 16 layers, and dusted this 16 layer matcha milles cake with extra matcha powder and confectioners sugar. So there, you have it…. Tokyo, I’ll miss you truly, love you always.

Matcha Milles Crepe Cake

Ingredients

Preparation Time

6.5 hours/overnight

Cooking Time

About 30 minutes

Ready In

Immediately

Serving Size

About 8

• 6 Large eggs
• 1 1/3 cup Cold milk
• 1 1/3 cup Cold water
• 1 tbsp Vanilla extract
• 6 tbsp Melted butter (plus more for brushing on pan)
• 2 cups Flour
• 6 tbsp Sugar
• 1/2 tsp Salt
• 4 tbsp Matcha

Directions

Step 1.

Beat the eggs in a large bowl. Then stir in milk, water, melted butter、and vanilla altogether until well incorporated.

Step 2.

Sift the flour, sugar, salt, and matcha into the egg mixture. Mix altogether until well incorporated.

Step 3.

Tightly close the mixture with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 6 hours or overnight.

Step 4.

Pour in 2-3 tablespoons of batter into the center of the pan, and then tilt the pan in all directions to cover the bottom evenly. (Keep the batter at the outer edges to keep the weight from the center for flipping ease).

Step 5.

Cook about 2-3 minutes on each side, or until browned on the bottom. Turn and cook briefly on the other side.

Step 6.

Cool on a rack or between baking sheets as you finish preparing the rest.

Almond cream chantily

Directions

Step 1.

To make the cream chantilly, mix all the 1 cup of 47% heavy whipping cream, 1 tablespoon of confectioner’s sugar, and 1 teaspoon of vanilla in a metal bowl with a stand or electric mixer on high speed until stiff peaks form.

cream Chantilly

Ingredients

Preparation Time

5 min.

Ready In

5 min.

• 1 tbsp Confectioners sugar
• 1 cup 47% Heavy whipping cream
• 1/2 tbsp Vanilla extract
• 1/2 tbsp Almond extract

Directions

Step 1.

Bring the first layer of matcha crepe onto a cake stand or a plate large enough in diameter to hold the cake.

Step 2.

Carefully spread a layer of cream chantily over this crepe and continue to stack the cake, continuing to spread the chantily in between each layer.

Step 3.

Dust with a mixture of 2 tsp of sugar, 1 tsp of matcha powder over the top. Carefully cut slices into desired sizes and serve immediately.

Thank you Tomizawa for always promising me good quality flour. Jiyugaoka’s Today’s Special for supplying me with winning plates. Farewell, love always.