Napoleon cake made from chopped puff pastry with custard

To make “Napoleon” from chopped puff pastry with custard, the following ingredients will be useful:

How to make a Napoleon cake from chopped puff pastry with custard:

First, let's prepare the dough and bake shortcakes for Napoleon. In a deep and wide container, combine flour and butter. Add salt.

We pour water in there...

And we begin to chop the dough with a knife.

Chop for about 10 minutes until no large pieces of butter remain and the dough comes together into a sticky lump.

Then we quickly gather the dough into a ball with our hands.

Divide into 12 parts and put in the refrigerator for an hour.

Roll out the cooled lumps of dough one at a time thinly on parchment.

Cut out round shortcakes with a diameter of 18-20 cm, using a suitable sized plate as a template.

Prick the shortcakes thickly with a fork so that they don’t swell during baking. We bake the scraps together with the shortcakes.

Bake the shortcakes in the oven at 180˚C for about 10 minutes until golden brown. When baking, the shortbreads shrink slightly in diameter - this is normal. We collect the trimmings in a separate container.

Now you can prepare the custard. To do this, combine the eggs with sugar, vanilla sugar and flour.

Again, mix well and cook over medium heat until thickened (do not boil, do not even bring to a boil!). Always stir the cream during the process - it is not allowed to be distracted, it burns instantly. Remove the thickened cream from the stove.

And add cognac.

We need the custard base for the cream to cool to a slightly warm state, but not to dry out. To do this, cover it with cling film “in contact” so that the film lies on the surface of the custard milk mass. In this form, we leave our cream preparation to cool.

At this time, you can remove the butter from the refrigerator so that it warms up and softens at room temperature. When the custard mixture has cooled, beat the soft butter.

Continuing to beat, little by little add the custard base to the butter.

The cream will be fluffy, homogeneous and light.

You can collect the cake. We stack the shortcakes on top of each other, coating any layer with cream.

We don’t cover the top crust with cream, but leave a couple of spoons of cream – we’ll spread it on later. Place the assembled cake in the refrigerator for a couple of hours so that the cream is little absorbed into the cakes. Then we place a pressure on the cake (a flat plate of a suitable size with a small load - up to 1 kg) so that the cake is better soaked and the cakes are leveled. The cream will not leak out - it is quite thick, and the cakes have already absorbed some of the water. We leave the cake under pressure at night (that is, in the dark) , or even better - during the day. Then remove the pressure, grease the top cake with the remaining cream and sprinkle the cake with crushed scraps. Enjoy your tea!

Everything you need to know about the Napoleon cake + recipe from the pastry chef of the Pushkin cafe

How do you realize that this is a faithful “Napoleon”, what should the cream be like, should the dough be crunchy and why is this cake so popular? We asked these questions to Alexey Serebryakov, the pastry chef at the Pushkin cafe, and at the same time found out the usual recipe for a dessert beloved since youth.

Pastry chef at the Pushkin cafe

What exactly is “Napoleon” and when did it arise?

It is believed that the dessert was first prepared by the court confectioners of Nicholas II for a reception in honor of the centenary of the victory in the Russian War of 1812. The cake, shaped like a bicorne, consisted of only two main components: custard and yeast-free puff pastry cakes. At the reception, naturally, they saw that the cake looked like Bonaparte’s headdress, so the dessert was immediately called “Napoleon.” The title stuck.

Most likely, the cake prepared at the reception was spotted in Napoleon’s homeland. At that time, French cuisine already had a similar cake, mille-feuille, which means “million petals.” The main difference is that French confectioners prepared custard using egg yolks, and the cake itself was served immediately after production, due to which it came out crispy; Russian chefs, in turn, prepared the cream with flour and left the dessert overnight (that is, in the dark) so that the shortcakes had time to soak thoroughly. As a result, “Napoleon” came out softer and more airy than its French counterpart. Although in Russia mille-feuille is sometimes called “Napoleon,” guests are more accustomed to it.

Is it possible to experiment with a traditional recipe?

You can add vanilla, rum or cinnamon to the cream. Previously, at Pushkin, we added salted caramel to the vanilla custard on the yolks - there was a contrast of crispy dough, sweet vanilla and slightly salted caramel. In principle, the cream can even be made from sugar or condensed milk and butter; in Russian times, almost everyone did just that. Naturally, this will not be a traditional “Napoleon” at all. But it’s better not to add berries to the cream, they are very juicy and will ruin the texture. They can be used as decoration.

You can’t really experiment with the dough - it has to be flaky, that’s all. You can work with the texture, for example, caramelize it by adding sugar - then you will get a layer of puff pastry with a thin golden crust, which will enhance the taste and crunch. In our confectionery they make a version of “Napoleon” from filo - the thinnest dough from which baklava and other oriental sweets are made. The texture of phyllo is reminiscent of puff pastry, so it can be used for Napoleon, although it is unlikely that you will be able to prepare phyllo in your kitchen.

Why is “Napoleon” one of the most popular cakes in Russia?

The secret of success is a win-win combination of taste and texture. Crispy dough together with rich, enveloping custard is difficult to spoil. Besides, “Napoleon” is an ordinary cake, there are only two main ingredients, and you can almost always find everything to make it at home.

Napoleon cake made from chopped puff pastry with custard

To make “Napoleon” from chopped puff pastry with custard, the following ingredients will be useful:

How to make a Napoleon cake from chopped puff pastry with custard:

First, let's prepare the dough and bake shortcakes for Napoleon. In a deep and wide container, combine flour and butter. Add salt.

We pour water in there...

And we begin to chop the dough with a knife.

Chop for about 10 minutes until no large pieces of butter remain and the dough comes together into a sticky lump.

Then we quickly gather the dough into a ball with our hands.

Divide into 12 parts and put in the refrigerator for an hour.

Roll out the cooled lumps of dough one at a time thinly on parchment.

Cut out round shortcakes with a diameter of 18-20 cm, using a suitable sized plate as a template.

Prick the shortcakes thickly with a fork so that they don’t swell during baking. We bake the scraps together with the shortcakes.

Now you can prepare the custard. To do this, combine the eggs with sugar, vanilla sugar and flour.

And add cognac.

Napoleon cake made from ready-made puff pastry - the most common recipes for a delicious dessert

If you don’t have the time or desire for a long and painful baking of cakes for your favorite dessert, prepare a Napoleon cake from ready-made puff pastry. The result will pleasantly amaze and amuse you with the excellent, gentle taste of the acquired sweetness.

How to make Napoleon from ready-made puff pastry?

Making Napoleon from ready-made puff pastry is not difficult even for an inexperienced housewife. To do this, you just need to follow the advice of the selected recipe and follow the general rules that accompany virtually any of them:

The puff pastry is thawed and rolled out on a greased surface using an oiled rolling pin.
From the rolled out base, cut out blanks of the desired shape and size and bake until lightly browned.
After cooling, coat the cakes with cream and leave for several hours to soak.
The finished napoleon from purchased puff pastry is sprinkled with crumbs. For their production, scraps left over from the design of the cakes are used. They are baked independently and crushed in a blender.

Shortbreads for Napoleon from ready-made puff pastry

To understand how to bake a napoleon from ready-made puff pastry, you first need to familiarize yourself with the intricacies of choosing and processing a puff base:

When purchasing dough in a store, you need to pay attention to the freshness of the product.
It is advisable to use sheets on a yeast-free base.
Before use, the frozen dough is placed on a table to thaw.
The base is rolled out, and shortcakes of the desired shape and size are cut out of it.
Yeast-free rolled out dough pieces are pricked around the perimeter with a fork and baked on parchment on a baking sheet at 200 degrees for 10-15 minutes.

Cream for Napoleon cake made from puff pastry

A successfully selected and correctly prepared puff pastry Napoleon cream completely and completely describes the final taste of the dessert. Its mixture must be gentle, not watery and at the same time moisturized, so that the puff base is perfectly saturated, and the cake comes out soft and indescribably tasty. Below is a list of acceptable fillings and aspects of their use:

The “Napoleon” cake made from puff pastry manages to have a very harmonious taste from the cream on the custard base. This can be made with or without the addition of butter.
Alternatively, you can soak the product with condensed milk cream and butter.
A dessert with protein cream will be breathtakingly tender and immediately crispy, which can be decorated as an Italian meringue with syrup or by whipping it in a water bath.

Puff pastry napoleon with custard

The most popular version of the beloved dessert is Napoleon made from puff pastry without yeast, soaked in custard. The nutritional value and calorie content of sweets directly depends on the amount of butter added to it. If desired, the average rate suggested in the recipe can be increased or halved.

puff pastry – 1 kg;
milk – 1 l;
sugar – 2 cups;
eggs – 4 pcs.;
flour – 4 tbsp. spoons;
vanilla sugar – 20 g;
butter – 100 g.

Defrost the dough, roll it out, cut out the shortcakes, bake them until ready.
The trimmings are baked separately and crushed.
Beat eggs with sugar, add flour and milk.
Heat the substance with continuous stirring until it boils and thickens.
Cover the cream with film and allow to cool.
Beat the mass, adding soft butter.
Coat the shortcakes with cream and sprinkle with crumbs.
After a few hours, the Napoleon cake from the prepared puff pastry will be soaked and ready.

Napoleon with condensed milk from ready-made puff pastry

Napoleon with condensed milk made from puff pastry will be no less tasty. Both convinced gourmands and those who are most indifferent to various kinds of sweets will not be able to give up this dessert. The cream present in the cream will give it inimitable tenderness and airiness, and thanks to the butter it will pleasantly melt in the mouth.

puff pastry – 1 kg;
condensed milk – 500 g;
sugar – 50 g;
heavy cream – 250 ml;
butter – 200 g.

The dough is used to shape and bake shortcakes and crumbs.
Whip the cream until stiff, adding sugar in the process.
Beat soft butter in another container, adding condensed milk evenly.
Mix the cream into the cream and coat the shortcakes with it.
Assemble the Napoleon cake with condensed milk from the prepared puff pastry and let it soak.

Napoleon with puff pastry protein cream

Often the Napoleon cake is made from ready-made puff pastry on a yeast-free base. But if you only have a package of yeast product in your refrigerator, as an exception you can use it to make dessert. For impregnation in this case, you can create a protein cream, which is prepared quickly, comes out light and has less calories than other analogues.

puff pastry dough – 1 kg;
egg whites – 4 pcs.;
sweet powder – 1 cup;
vanilla - to taste.

Shortbreads are cut out from the rolled out yeast dough and baked at 180 degrees.
Beat the whites until stiff, place in a water bath, add vanilla, and run the mixer for another 7 minutes.
Remove from heat and continue whisking, adding powder, for 10 minutes.
Make a napoleon from puff yeast dough, coat the shortcakes with cream, and leave for soaking.

Lazy Napoleon from ready-made puff pastry

A frisky Napoleon made from ready-made puff pastry does not require any preparatory rolling and is prepared in three minutes. For impregnation, you can create any cream of your choice: custard with milk with or without butter, with condensed milk, protein or even sour cream, simply by whipping a thick product with added sugar and adding vanilla for flavor.

puff pastry – 1 kg;
cream of your choice – 1 kg.

The puff pastry is cut into equal squares on parchment, pricked with a fork and baked until done.
While still warm, cut the layers lengthwise into 2 parts.
Coat the pieces generously with cream and stack them on top of each other.

Puff pastry snack napoleon

A Napoleon cake made from ready-made puff pastry can be not only sweet, but also a snack. As an impregnation for cakes, you can use various multi-component mixes based on boiled or fried meat, fish, vegetables, mushrooms with the addition of cheese, herbs, herbs and spices. The recipe below shows a version of the dish with canned fish.

puff pastry – 1 kg;
canned food - 2 cans;
boiled eggs – 5 pcs.;
onions and carrots – 2 pcs.;
mayonnaise – 400 g;
oil, salt, pepper.

Shortbreads are baked from the dough.
Sauté onion and carrot tenderloin in oil, combine with grated eggs and mashed fish.
When making a fish napoleon from puff pastry, coat the shortcakes with mayonnaise, cover with the entrails, stack on top of each other, and allow to soak.