Rainbow Crêpe Cake

Serves: 8

INGREDIENTS

For the crêpes:

• 230g (1¾ cups) plain flour
• 25g (2 tbsp) sugar pinch salt
• 2 eggs
• 1 egg yolk
• 550ml (2¼ cups) whole milk
• 50g (3½ tbsp) butter, melted
• red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and violet gel food colouring
• vegetable oil, for frying
  
  

To assemble:

• 600ml (2½ cups) double cream
• 100g (scant 1 cup) icing sugar fresh fruit of your choice 
  
  

METHOD

1. Add the flour, sugar, and salt to a bowl and make a well in the centre. Add the eggs and egg yolk, and whisk slowly to start. Slowly add the milk in a steady stream, whisking in one direction only to avoid lumps. Stir in the melted butter and let the batter rest for 2 hours, if you have time (resting helps create a smoother batter and lighter pancakes, but isn't essential if time is short).

2. After the resting time, split the batter amongst six bowls and colour each one a different shade to make a rainbow. You can make them as pastel or as vibrant as you like .

3. Heat a large frying pan over a medium heat and brush with oil. Ladle half of one of the pancake batters in and swirl around to make a thin crêpe. Cook on low for 2 minutes on each side until cooked, being careful not to let it brown too much, as this will impact the colour. You should get two crêpes out of each colour, so 12 in total. Leave to cool with a sheet of baking parchment between each one.

4. To assemble the cake, whisk the double cream and icing sugar together until soft peaks form. Add one violet crêpe to the serving plate and spread evenly with about 2-3 heaped tablespoons cream. Top with the other violet crêpe and spread with more cream. Repeat the crêpe and cream layers, working through the rainbow colours, finishing with red on the top.

5. Add a final layer of cream and decorate with a circle of fruit, arranged in rainbow order too, if you fancy!