A traditional French dessert, Crêpes Suzette is the ultimate decadent pancake dish, typically consisting of pancakes with beurre Suzette – a sauce of caramelised sugar, butter, orange juice, zest, and liqueur such as Grand Marnier or Curaçao.
Although the origins of the dish are disputed, one claim suggests Crêpes Suzette was first created as a mistake made by an assistant waiter at the Maitre at Monte Carlo’s Café de Paris. While preparing a dessert for the future King Edward VII, the waiter accidentally burnt the liquids, flambéing the dish while preparing it table-side. The result was a roaring success, however. Over 100 years later, Crêpes Suzette is still commonly flambéed table-side, as is the case at Le Pont De La Tour.
Overlooking Tower Bridge and the Tower of London at Shad Thames, Sir Terence Conran first opened Le Pont De La Tour at the beginning of the 1990s, with the restaurant now owned by D&D London. Over the years, Crêpes Suzette has become renowned as a speciality of the restaurant, with a new Crêpes Suzette menu of seasonal flavours having been introduced. For March 2022, traditional orange will be showcased, followed by pink grapefruit in April, then blueberry and elderflower in June. The restaurant has also shared the classic recipe from Executive Chef Tony Fleming, ideal for pancake day (Shrove Tuesday) – just exercise caution while flambéing at home.
Crêpes Suzette
Ingredients
For the vanilla ice cream (alternatively use 6 scoops pre-made ice cream)
- 70 g whipping cream
- 280 g whole milk
- ½ vanilla pod
- 35 g glucose syrup
- 70 g egg yolk
- 50 g caster sugar
For the crêpes
- 250 g milk
- 125 g flour
- 15 g caster sugar
- 8 g vegetable oil
- 1 egg
- 20 g melted butter
For the caramel syrup
- 325 g caster sugar
- ½ lemon
- ¼ vanilla pod
- Pinch of sea salt
- Zest from ½ orange (just peeled)
- 140 g butter
- 450 g orange juice
For the orange confit
- Zest of 1 orange
- 100 g caster sugar
- 100 g water
To plate
- 25 ml brandy
- 5 orange segments
- 2 crêpes
- 150 g caramel syrup per recipe above
- 1 scoop vanilla ice cream topped with orange confit
Instructions
To make the vanilla ice cream (optional)
- Begin by making the vanilla ice cream. (If using pre-made ice cream, skip this step)
- Boil the milk, cream, glucose and the vanilla pod.
- Mix the egg yolks and sugar, pour half the liquid onto the yolks, mix and return to the remaining milk.
- Cook the base to 85 degrees, pass through a fine sieve and cool over ice.
- Churn in ice cream machine.
To make the crêpes
- Mix the dry ingredients together and then add to the beaten egg and vegetable oil. Add the butter last, making sure it is not hot.
- Heat a non-stick frying pan (ideally 240mm diameter). Make sure the pan is really hot, then add a small block of butter and add a ladle of batter to create a very thin pancake. Cook on medium heat then flip and cook on the reverse side. Remove from pan and cool on the side. Continue until all batter is used.
- To make the caramel syrup
- Make a light dry caramel using the caster sugar and add the salt. Stir the caramel with the half lemon using a fork attached to the end of the lemon. Add the zest and vanilla. Add the orange juice in 3 stages and bring to the boil. Add the butter last and pass through a fine sieve.
To make the orange confit
- Peel the skin of the orange with a peeler, trying not the peel the white bitter parts. Slice to fine strips.
- Boil some water in small pan and add the orange skin. Pass it through a strainer and cool it down with cold water. Repeat this process 2 more times. Bring the sugar and water to the boil add the orange skin and simmer until the skin is candied.
To plate one portion of the Crepe Suzette
- Warm a shallow sauté pan and add 150g of the syrup. Bring to the boil and add the two crêpes. Bring back to the boil and add the brandy.
- Carefully flambé the brandy using an open flame. When the flames have disappeared carry on boiling to achieve a good syrupy sauce. Drop in the orange segments to warm through, then fold the crêpes into quarters and arrange on a plate.
- Spoon over the orange segments with the sauce and serve with the ice cream on the side.
Related: How To Make: Fluffy Ricotta Pancakes