“Anything with dulce de leche takes me to a very happy place. It reminds me of my mom and also where I was born: Uruguay,” says chef Claudio Aprile of his crepe cake recipe. “This dish brings me back to my apprenticeship where I would make hundreds of sweet and savoury crepes.”

INGREDIENTS

• 6–8 whole eggs 
• 2 cups of all-purpose flour
• pinch of salt
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 oz unsalted melted butter
• 3 cups whole milk
• 4–5 bananas
• 2–3 cups of store-bought dulce de leche
• Icing sugar to garnish

METHOD

1. Place the first 6 ingredients except for the melted butter into a stainless bowl, whisk until all ingredients are combined.
2. Whisk the melted butter into batter, strain and allow 1 hour to rest in the fridge. The batter should coat the back of a soup spoon. Tip: if the batter is too thick simply add more milk and whisk together. 

To make crepes:

1. Heat more butter in a small non-stick pan over medium heat, add your crepe batter and swirl batter evenly to coat the pan. 
2. Cook crepe batter for 2–3 minutes, flip and cook for an additional 1 minute. 
3. Repeat with the remaining batter. Allow crepes to cool before assembly. 

To assemble:

1. Place dulce de leche into a small saucepan. Heat on medium heat until dulce de leche is the consistency of a light custard. This will allow for easy spreading and crepes will stay intact and not tear. 
2. Cut bananas into ¼ inch round pieces. 
3. Place one crepe in the centre of a cake pan and evenly spread a generous amount of dulce de leche onto the crepe. 
4. Randomly place your sliced bananas onto crepe and repeat until you have your 18 layers. 
5. Place crepe cake into the fridge for 2–3 hours to set. 
6. Finish with a dusting of icing sugar and enjoy.