Coconut Taro Crepe Cake

If you could only pick one dessert for the rest of your life, what would it be? mine would definitely be sago pudding. I love the clear tapioca pearl with its fresh flavour, the added creamy and nutty flavour of the coconut cream, the sweet addition of the palm sugar syrup and the crunch of the flaked almonds. These are the components of a basic sago pudding. I’ve also had it at a restaurant, where they’ve added sesame brittle, a mango cream and other similar flavours and that was pretty delish too.

Ok so the point of me rambling about my fave dessert was to explain how this crepe stack came to be. I used all the flavours for sago pudding and transposed it into a deconstructed and reconstructed version, while still keeping the health profile in mind. So tapioca crepes instead of sago, a whipped taro flavoured coconut cream instead of just the plain unflavoured coconut cream, finished off with the same palm sugar syrup and flaked almonds.

Going back to the health profile of this dish, it is refined sugar free, gluten free, dairy free and contains healthy fats and protein. The palm sugar is made by literally taking the sap from the coconut palm blossom, boiling it down into crystals or blocks and that’s pretty much it. So it’s considered unrefined.* The crepes are gluten free because I used the Tapioca flour instead of wheat flour.** The coconut cream adds the healthy fats*** and the eggs add the protein. It’s quite a well-rounded dessert as it contains all these components.

So since you now know the back story for this dish here is the recipe, finally!

Ingredients 

Taro Coconut Whipped Cream

• 2 to 3 Cans regular coconut cream (depending on the size of the can if its large only 2 will be needed)
• 1/2 cup Taro Paste or 1/4 cup powder ****
• 1 tsp coconut oil
• 2 tbsp coconut blossom sugar crystals (or any unrefined sweetener like maple syrup or honey)

Tapioca Crepes

• 2 cups Tapioca flour
• 2 cups coconut milk
• 2 eggs
• 1tsp vanilla extract

Palm sugar syrup

• approx 3/4 cup or 1 medium sized block of palm sugar chopped
• 1/4 cup hot water

Toppings

• flaked almonds
• mixed berries (optional)

Method

Taro coconut cream

1. Let the cans sit overnight in a cool place or if the room is warm, place it in the fridge. If buying it the same day make sure not to shake the cans and you may not need to keep it overnight, this ensures that the solid cream part stays separated from the milk. Make sure that it is the regular full cream coconut cream and not the light reduced cream version because there won’t be enough cream to whip.
2. carefully open the can and scoop out the solid coconut cream from the top half of the can. Reserve the leftover coconut milk for the crepes.
3. add the coconut cream to a mixing bowl and whisk with the coconut sugar and coconut oil. whisk with an electric whisk until thickened. If the cream is not thickening place it in the fridge for 5 – 10 mins to firm up and whisk again.
4. add in the taro and whisk until the cream is an even purple colour. place in the fridge until ready to assemble.

Tapioca Crepes

1. add all the ingredients to a separate bowl and whisk together until smooth.
2. Place a non-stick pan on low heat and using a 1/4 measuring cup or a ladle of a similar size, pour into the pan and gently tilt in a circular motion till the crepe is an even-ish circle.
3. let it cook on low heat until the liquidness ( not sure if that’s a word but you get it right?) evaporates. this should take about 30 secs depending on how thin the crepe is.
4. carefully with a very thin spatula or pallet knife flip the crepe and let it cook for another 30 secs or so.
5. repeat steps 2- 4 until all the crepe batter is finished and set crepes aside ready to assemble.

Palm Sugar Syrup

1. Place the palm sugar and water in a small saucepan over medium heat.
2. wait till all the sugar dissolves and allow to simmer for 5-10 mins.
3. turn off the heat, let cool and set aside for serving.

Tip: If it crystallises or solidifies just add a dash of hot water to melt again.

Making The Crepe Cake

1. place one crepe on a serving plate add about 1 tbsp of the coconut taro cream and using a butter knife or pallet knife, spread evenly over the crepe.
2. layer another crepe on the cream layer and repeat step 1 until all the crepes are layered.
3. with the rest of the coconut taro cream, spread evenly over the whole crepe stack like the frosting on a cake.
4. clean up the excess cream from around the plate for better presentation.
5. you can now top the crepe cake with the almond flakes and berries if you want. Get creative and decorate any way you like. Mine was for easter obviously so I just took the back of a spoon to write out the letters in the cream.
6. serve in slices with a drizzle of the palm sugar syrup

Hope you enjoy this recipe as much as I enjoyed creating it!

Ayesha xx

P.S. Scroll down to see what the ** means.

*disclaimer: this does not mean you can drink all the palm sugar syrup as it still contains glucose and fructose, it just means its better for your body and won’t spike up your sugar levels compared to refined white sugar.

** There is nothing wrong with gluten. (unless you’re allergic or intolerant of course) Gluten is just a type of protein found in certain grains, including wheat, that forms when the flour is combined with water. Though some people may not be allergic or intolerant they may be sensitive to gluten without knowing it and just feel bloated after too much of it; especially if they don’t consume it too often.

*** Coconut cream and other coconut products, such as oil and milk, contain a high amount of saturated fat and cholesterol. (gasp!) don’t be alarmed though, the type of fat in coconut products is processed differently by the body and not stored as fats. Cholesterol, on the other hand, is actually essential for the production of all our cells and especially for the brain and contrary to popular belief we shouldn’t cut it out of our lives completely; A healthy source of this molecule is essential for cell repair and so many other processes in the body. Of course, don’t go crazy using it on everything every day, even good things must be done in moderation.

**** Taro is also known as purple yam or Ube. I tried looking for the powder in an Asian grocery store but I couldn’t find any so if you really want to use the powder maybe try online. I ended up heading to a Philippino grocery store and found it in paste form.

Sorry about the long post and notes, here’s a picture of some profiteroles and the last piece where you can see the layers for those who read up to here. 🙂

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