Durian Mille-Crepe Cake with Coconut Milk Jelly

Remove the flesh from ripe durian, discarding all seeds and tough fibers.

Mash with a masher or fork until soft and smooth; you can leave a little fruit texture.

Put the mashed durian in a covered container and refrigerate until assembly.

Soak 3 g sheet gelatin in cold water until soft; meanwhile, warm 100 g coconut milk with 6 g granulated sugar to about 50°C.

Squeeze out the gelatin, add it to the warm coconut milk and stir until the gelatin and sugar have dissolved.

Stir in 30 g whipping cream, then pour into a 5-inch ring with the base sealed with foil or suitable food wrap.

Refrigerate for at least 4 hours, until the jelly is firm and lifts out in one piece.

Beat 5 eggs very gently so they stay low in foam, then strain once through a sieve.

In another bowl, sift 90 g cake flour, 50 g cornstarch and 45 g icing sugar into 430 g milk and whisk until there are no lumps.

Strain the milk mixture into the eggs and whisk until evenly combined.

Add 25 g melted butter that is no longer hot, mix well and strain the finished batter twice.

Heat a flat-bottomed nonstick pan over low to medium heat.

Stir the batter gently before each ladleful, pour in a thin layer and tilt the pan right away to coat the base evenly.

Cook on one side only, until small bubbles appear and no wet spots remain, then turn the pan over so the crepe drops onto a clean surface.

Repeat until the batter is used up, let the crepes cool completely for about 20 minutes, then stack them neatly and trim into even circles with a 6-inch ring.

Mix 100 g mascarpone with 30 g caster sugar until smooth.

Add 300 g cold whipping cream and whip until the mascarpone cream is light and smooth, holds whisk marks and is firm enough for filling.

Place one crepe on a flat plate, then layer in this order: mascarpone cream, crepe, mascarpone cream, crepe, mashed durian, crepe.

Repeat this order until the lower stack has about 6 crepes, spreading the fillings evenly and keeping the edges straight.

Unmold the firmly set jelly, support the whole disk and place it in the center of the lower stack.

Pipe mascarpone cream around the jelly to fill the gap between the 5-inch jelly and the 6-inch crepes, then spread a thin layer over the jelly.

Add about 6 more crepes on top in the same order: two layers of mascarpone cream, then one layer of mashed durian.

Finish with a flat crepe on top and gently straighten the layers.

Set aside some white frosting for the borders and rosettes in the next step.

If you like, tint the remaining frosting with yellow food coloring.

Cover the top and sides, smoothing with a palette knife without pressing hard enough to push out the filling.

Refrigerate for about 20 minutes, until the frosting feels firm to a light touch.

If using white drip glaze, let it cool until no longer warm and test a small drip before applying it around the top edge of the chilled cake.

Use the reserved white frosting to pipe a shell border around the base and rosettes on top.

Place drained red cherries on the rosettes and add a few rainbow sprinkles if you like.

Refrigerate for about 1 more hour to firm the filling, then cut into 8 portions, wiping the knife between cuts, and serve cool.