Did I ever say “I love my job”?  Heck yes!  Honestly, it’s the best job anyone who loves to cook could ever have…..Part of my job (along with my team) is formulating baking mixes for the home cook.  Our latest project to hit the grocery shelves is Fleishmann’s® Simply Homemade® Muffin & Bread Mixes:

These amazingly yummy mixes arrived at your favorite grocery store in July.  If you haven’t tried them yet, by all means, add the mixes to your grocery shopping list (especially the Double Chocolate).

In addition to creating mixes my job also entails creating recipes to go along with the newly “inventorized” mixes.  Okay, so this might really be my favorite part, I get to use my imagination and “think outside the box” (ha,ha) when it comes to inventing recipes.

I usually investigate what the “cooking/baking” trend is before I work on this part so that my recipes will be aligned with what’s cookin!  The hottest thing right now in cakes are “crepe cakes”.  These are so extremely yummy and not as filling and sweet as cakes are.  Also, best made a day in advance, but not necessary.

Below is my recipe for Lemon Poppy Seed Crepe cake, I added a little blueberry sauce for color and another flavor profile.  The basic crepe cake and filling recipe can be used for any of the muffin & bread mixes, pictures below:

If you have never made crepes before, you really need to try this, it is very easy (heck, even my non-cooking boss has made these).  The only drawback is time, takes about 30 minutes to actually make the crepes.  For the Triple Chocolate Crepe Cake, I used white chocolate pudding & pie filling, for banana, banana flavored pudding & pie filling, you can change these up and make up your own recipe, how about Double Chocolate Crepe Cake with pistachio pudding & pie filling????  You are only limited by your own imagination!

Lemon Poppy Seed Blueberry Crepe Cake

Yields: 20-24 8 or 9-inch crepes, enough for one cake
Prep time: 10 minutes
Rest time: 30 minutes
Cook time: 40 minutes

Crepes:
1 package Fleishmann’s® Simply Homemade® Lemon Poppy Seed Muffin & Bread Mix
1 ½ cup milk
4 eggs
2 tablespoons butter, melted
1-2 tablespoons butter, for cooking crepes

Lemon Cream Filling:
1 3.4 ounce Instant Lemon Pudding & Pie Filling
1 cup milk
1 cup heavy whipping cream

Blueberry Sauce:
2/3 cup fresh blueberries
1 tablespoon honey
1 teaspoon cornstarch

Topping:
1 cup heavy whipping cream
1 tablespoon powdered sugar
In a blender or bowl of a food processor, combine all of the ingredients for crepes and pulse for 10-20 seconds. Place the crepe batter in the refrigerator for 30 minutes. This allows the bubbles to subside so the crepes will be less likely to tear during cooking. The batter will keep for up to 48 hours.
Lightly butter an 8 or 9-inch skillet over medium heat. Using a one-ounce ladle (or 2 tablespoons) pour batter into prepared pan, rotating pan until batter covers bottom. When the crepe has browned slightly on the bottom, carefully work a rubber spatula underneath it and flip. Cook the second side briefly, just to set the batter. Place cooked crepe on a sheet pan lined with parchment paper. Repeat with remaining batter.

Combine pudding mix, heavy cream and milk into a large bowl, using a hand mixer whip until creamy. Refrigerate until ready to assemble the cake.

In a small pan combine all blueberry sauce ingredients and heat over medium heat until slightly thick. Remove from heat until needed.

To make the topping, place the sugar into the mixing bowl and add the whipping cream. Whisk just until the cream reaches stiff peaks. Keep refrigerated until ready to use.

To assemble the cake, layer 2 crepes with 2-3 tablespoons of filling, spreading across surface of crepe to within 1 inch of edge. Drizzle blueberry sauce over cream. Repeat until all crepes have been used. Top with piped whipped cream, fresh blueberries and lemon peel (if desired).

Lemon Poppy Seed/Blueberry Crepe Cake