RECIPE

Ingredients for crepes:

20 eggs

1tsp salt

600g plain flour

45g melted butter

1.3 litre water

Vegetable oil

Method

1. Break eggs into a large bowl and whisk until eggs are well beaten.

2. Add salt to the flour and sift into another large bowl.

3. Gradually whisk the eggs to the flour and salt mixture until well combined. Add the melted butter to the egg and flour mixture, followed by the water. Strain the mixture to catch any lumps in the batter and set aside to rest for at least an hour. The batter should be the consistency of thin cream coating the back of a spoon.

3. Oil a 30cm crepe pan with vegetable oil and place over medium heat. Using a ladle that holds about 120ml of batter, pour the crepe batter onto the pan, making sure that you coat the entire pan. Flip the crepe when the edges of the crepe start to come away from the crepe pan. Cook the crepe till there are brown spots of both sides.

4. Continue making crepes until all the batter is used up. Stack the crepes on a plate and cover with tea towel as you go along. The mixture makes about 30 crepes.

Ingredients for grated coconut filling:

750g grated fresh coconut

480g gula melaka, chopped

3 Tbs caster sugar

1 tsp salt

250ml water

20 pandan leaves tied into two bunches

Method

1. Dry toast the grated coconut in a fry pan on low heat until it is lightly browned and a little dry. Turn off heat and let cool.

2. Add gula melaka, caster sugar, salt, pandan leaves and water into a sauce pan and bring to a boil. Ensure that the gula melaka melts. Reduce heat to medium and let mixture simmer for 15 minutes. Remove from heat and remove pandan leaves. Pour the liquid into the fry pan with the dry toasted grated coconut, and allow to soak. If the grated coconut mixture is soggy, fry the grated coconut mixture over low heat for another 5 minutes until it dries slightly but is still moist.

Ingredients for coconut cream:

2 cups heavy cream

6 Tbs caster sugar

250g marscapone cheese

1 cup coconut milk

1 lime, finely zested

Method

1. Whisk heavy cream with sugar until soft peaks form. Add the marcarpone and whisk until well combined. Add the coconut milk and lime zest, whisk until well combined.

Assembly:

1. Line a large plate or tray round or rectangular with aluminium foil. Place a smudge of the marscapone cream mixture on the foil and then place a crepe over it. This will prevent the crepe from moving when you are assembling the mille feuille. Using a pastry knife, evenly spread some of the cream mixture onto the crepe, followed by a thin layer of the grated coconut mixture. Lay another crepe on top. Repeat until all crepes are used up, finishing with a crepe as the top layer.

2. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours to let the cream mixture set. Trim the edges so that you have a square cake if you desire. Slice and enjoy with a scoop of coconut ice cream.

Makes a 20-layer cake