Recipe for homemade "Napoleon" with custard. Napoleon Cake with Custard - Recipe

In the Soviet Union, and later in the post-Soviet space, this cake broke records of popularity compared to any other dessert. At least in many families, it is the Napoleon cake that is the most holiday option. It is traditionally baked for holidays or birthdays.

Initially, the classic Napoleon was puff pastry cakes with custard. By the way, such a “thousand-layer” dessert is still baked in France. Today we will look at this recipe. But most of all I want to show you my Napoleon cake from my childhood. I hope someone likes it.

Zealous Soviet housewives have greatly simplified the cake. They changed to a simpler and faster version with cold chopped butter. In it, a layered structure is achieved due to a large number cakes. Also, custard is often replaced with condensed milk.

Soviet-style cakes taste just as good. The search for options to simplify and reduce the cost of the cake has given rise to a huge number of recipes that can be found on the Internet. What’s more, there are even no-bake versions of the Napoleon cake, so you can choose any of them to your taste.

A little about the history of the famous dessert

The origin of the name of this cake has already acquired a whole bunch of legends, and many associate it with Napoleon Bonaparte, in honor of the victory over which this dessert was baked. When serving, it was cut into triangles, which supposedly symbolized the cocked hat of soldiers. But it's not.

Moreover, the cake puff pastry with custard was invented several centuries before the birth of Napoleon himself. However, the French really came up with it. It was the French confectioner who first thought of wrapping butter in a layer of dough and rolling it out many times, getting a puff texture.

This confectioner went to improve his knowledge in Naples, where his recipe was stolen in a banal way. But the invention of the cake does not end there, since the first idea to smear puff pastry cakes with custard came to the mind of Neapolitan confectioners. So, the dessert was called Neapolitan. Under this name, it was prepared in many European countries, including Russia.

So what does Napoleon have to do with it?

For the ears of the inhabitants Russian Empire the names "Neapolitan" and "Napoleon" sounded about the same, so the triangular cake changed its name and became very popular. However, its popularity soon faded away, since cunning restaurateurs, serving an expensive dessert to tipsy merchants, shamelessly saved on food.

AT Soviet time this cake was the pinnacle of the confectionery art of many housewives. It was indeed a feat to bake it, especially given the food shortage, when it was very difficult to find high-quality butter. Maybe that's why it tasted so good birthday cake from my childhood.

Never replace butter margarine!

Serving such a dish to the table has always met with a stir, and the guests meticulously counted the number of layers. The more there were and the thinner they were, the more compliments the hostess received.

Today we have the opportunity to bake home cake Napoleon from ready-made puff pastry. But I want to show you a quick way to prepare the dough. Try it and make sure that there will be no less layers in it than in the purchased one.

What you need for cakes:

Cooking:

1. For the preparation of quick puff pastry, only chilled ingredients are used. Therefore, before starting cooking, place butter and water in the freezer. Yes, and the flour does not hurt to hold in the freezer for half an hour.

2. First, sift the flour and grate the frozen butter. Pour a mixture of water and vinegar into the resulting mass.

Depending on the quality of the flour, the amount of liquid that the dough will take may be different. Therefore, do not pour out all the water at once.

According to the recipe, the liquid must be added to the flour mixture in portions, gently mixing the ingredients to obtain an elastic dough.

3. We roll the resulting dough into a bar, wrap it in cellophane and place it in the freezer for half an hour.

Cream preparation:

4. If all the products are cold for the test, then the opposite is true for the cream. Remove milk, eggs and butter from the refrigerator in advance and let them lie down at room temperature for several hours.

5. Preparation of the cream begins with mixing the ingredients. We place regular and vanilla sugar in a container, beat in the eggs. Beat everything well, adding flour. Now carefully introduce a glass of milk without stopping stirring with a whisk.

6. Grind the contents of the pan until smooth and heat over low heat. As it heats up, add the remaining milk and prepare the cream, gently stirring it until it thickens. In the cooled mass, we introduce whipped butter.

To prevent the cream from burning, you can put the pan not on fire, but in a water bath. This is exactly what you should do if you are preparing the cream for the first time.

A water bath will allow you not to constantly watch the cream, but to knead the dough in parallel. This will also save time.

7. We take out the chilled dough and divide it into the required number of parts. Their number can be either 6 or 8. It depends on the diameter of the future cake. At this stage, turn on the oven to heat up.

8. Roll each piece of dough into a thin layer and immediately cut it to size. To do this, you can use an ordinary plate.

9. Cakes are baked at a temperature of 200 degrees. within 5-10 minutes. It will not take too long to bake the cakes, because while one cake is baking, the next one can already be rolled out. We also bake the dough scraps after the cakes. They will be needed to make crumbs.

10. Finished cakes grease with cream and form a cake. We cover the top and sides with the rest of the cream and sprinkle them with crumbs - it is in this form that we all know this famous dessert.

If desired, you can additionally sprinkle the cakes with nuts, pieces of fruit.

Alternatively, mashed prunes can be added to the custard, Orange juice, cocoa or other flavoring additive that will provide a pleasant nuance in classic buttercream.

Classic Napoleon at home

The classic Napoleon is still being prepared from. It will have to be prepared by yourself. This option is not for lazy housewives, because puff pastry quite tricky and time consuming. Since after each rolling out the dough must be sent to the refrigerator.

To speed up the process, you can buy ready-made puff pastry and bake cakes from it. It will take much less time, and the result will be almost the same. I will make a reservation right away that the dough should be bought only from trusted manufacturers.

This video walks you through the steps of making a classic cake from scratch, in case you decide to spend the whole day making a great dessert.

Quick no-bake cake

We will make this super fast cake from ready-made cookies. Let's just make the custard. Although, even it can be replaced with condensed milk. Instead of kneading dough and baking cakes, we bought half a kilo of puff pastry "ears". And now I'll show you how to make a cake out of them.

The popularity of no-bake cakes is undeniable, since such recipes guarantee success and do not require much time.

And although it will not be a real Napoleon cake, it is certainly his close relative.

What you need:

From these ingredients, 1 kg of cream is obtained. It is quite enough to assemble a quick, puff cake from 0.5 kg. puff "ears". And no one will forbid us to call him Napoleon.

Cooking:

1. Preparation of the cream begins with mixing eggs, sugar and starch - mix all the ingredients until smooth.

2. At this time, milk must be poured into a saucepan and put on a small fire to warm it up.

3. Then, in small portions, pour hot milk into the egg-sugar-starch mixture. Gently mix the future cream so that lumps do not form. It is necessary to stir the resulting mixture until the sugar is completely dissolved.

4. After that, pour the semi-finished product back into the saucepan and put on fire. Stir the mixture constantly.

To prevent the cream from burning, the fire should first be medium, and then the smallest.

5. As it heats up, it begins to thicken. Look at the photo for the result. This is how thick cream should be brewed.

6. After removing the cream from the heat, you need to cool it a little and add softened butter - mix the mixture with a mixer until smooth.

7. Whip 200 grams of cream in a separate container until a stable foam is obtained. Next, the brewed cream and cream must be combined. Mix them together and get the custard Plombir

8. The cream keeps its shape perfectly and has a smooth, uniform structure, and tastes like creamy ice cream. Hence the name Plombir.

9. To assemble the housewife's cake, special culinary talents are not required - just put the cookies on a plate, smearing each layer with a portion of cream.

10. Do not forget about the design, so we lubricate the rest of the side cream and upper part cake and sprinkle with crumbs.

There is one nuance in the preparation of this dessert: classic version the manufacture of Napoleon involves the combination of unsweetened cakes and a fairly sweet cream. In our quick recipe the ears themselves are sweet, so the amount of sugar in the cream is less than in the classic recipe. Otherwise, the cake will be too sugary.

11. It will take no more than an hour to prepare such a cake, while most of This time will be spent preparing the custard. We leave the finished cake for impregnation for at least 3-4 hours, after which you can start tasting.

In fact, the resulting dessert only remotely resembles the classic Napoleon.

This cake is great option for those who do not want to mess with the oven and baking cakes. This is especially true in hot weather.

The same French cake Mille Feuille or "1000 layers"

If you want to try the same dessert that became the prototype of the well-known puff pastry Napoleon cake, follow the instructions from this video. It seems to be both a classic dough and a creamy cream, but the result is still noticeably different. It is this cake that is prepared in all pastry shops in France.

After such a solemn dessert, I have nothing more to say about Napoleon cakes. If you have any questions, ask them in the comments below the article.

Thanks to everyone who cooked with me today!

To prepare the dough, sift the flour, add the room temperature margarine (or butter) cut into pieces and sour cream, rub the whole mass with your hands until smooth.

Separately, beat the egg with sugar and salt.

Bake a thin cake in a preheated oven at a temperature of 190-200 degrees for 3-5 minutes (until a beautiful ruddy color). When baking, I grease only for the first cake. Then thinly roll out the next ball of dough and bake it in the oven too. In this way, bake all the cake layers for the Napoleon cake.

To prepare the custard, beat the eggs with sugar and vanilla sugar.

Pour about 1 liter of milk into the resulting mixture and mix well. I cook my custard in a saucepan. Add the milk-egg mixture and the remaining milk to the saucepan, stir and cook, stirring all the time, over medium heat. At first, the mass will be liquid, but after 10 minutes it will begin to thicken. As soon as the cream begins to boil (puff like semolina), let it boil for another 2-3 minutes. Remove the cream from the stove, let cool slightly. In a warm cream, add butter at room temperature and beat with a mixer. Custard for homemade "Napoleon" is ready.

We begin to collect the cake "Napoleon". Apply custard to each cake (chop 1-2 cakes and leave to sprinkle the cake) and lay them on top of each other. Spread the last cake with cream too and sprinkle the top and sides of the cake with chopped pieces set aside for sprinkling.
The cake does not need any oppression, it is already soaked perfectly. Leave "Napoleon" for 1-2 hours at room temperature, then put it in the refrigerator for drinking (preferably overnight).

This recipe for homemade "Napoleon" with custard is a very successful, time-tested recipe. I hope you also appreciate this cake and it will become a frequent guest at your holiday table. I strongly recommend trying my recipe for cooking nai delicious cake!

Bon appetit!

The hero of our today's meeting is the Napoleon cake - classic recipe with custard. This recipe of the Soviet era, I got from my namesake, Aunt Lena, sister my dad. She is now a lady of advanced years and is unlikely to make such masterpieces, which is a pity, in her performance he turned out simply magnificent.

I also get delicious, as everyone who has tried it says, but to be honest, Aunt's is tastier, or maybe it's just childhood memories.

Now you may start throwing me slippers or something, because just the other day I was talking about a diet, and now I’m tempting you to Napoleon cake, and even with butter custard. But wait, don't close the page.

Firstly, this is one of the best cakes in my collection of recipes and it had to appear on the pages of my blog, this is a kind of gratitude to my aunt, Elena Dmitrievna, for this wonderful cake.

Secondly, the next holidays are coming soon - Valentine's Day, February 23rd. Of course, socks and shaving foam are gifts for all time, classics of the genre, one might say. But maybe, at least sometimes, we will move away from stereotypes and make a gift in the form of best cake for all time with the male name "Napoleon".

Now the network offers many recipes for this cake from ready-made puff pastry. Honestly, I didn’t try to make this option, but for some reason I’m sure that the classic recipe of those Soviet times will still be better. Of course, this cake will require some effort and time from us, but it's worth it, believe me, and step by step recipe with a photo to help you.

Napoleon cake - a classic recipe with custard

Ingredients:

I will say right away that the Napoleon cake from the number of ingredients that I indicate in the recipe is not small, keep this in mind. If you need a smaller cake, then reduce the number of products, but at the same time respect the proportions.

Cake dough:

• flour - 4 cups
• butter (can be replaced with creamy margarine) - 400 grams
• water - 1/2 cup
• vinegar - 1 teaspoon
• egg white - 1/2 protein
• a pinch of salt

Cake cream:

• eggs - 2 pieces
• milk - 2 cups
• sugar - 3 cups
• flour - 2 tablespoons
• butter - 500 grams

The advantage of this recipe is that its preparation can be divided into stages and done on different days. You can bake cake layers in advance, they are dry and will calmly wait for you for a couple of days. And just before the desired date, drink the cakes with cream and decorate the cake, but here you also need to plan time to improve the taste. I usually put it in the fridge to soak overnight.

Napoleon - cake classic recipe with photo

Stage 1 - make the dough for the Napoleon cake and bake the cakes:

Stage 2 - prepare the custard for the Napoleon cake:

Stage 3 - we decorate the Napoleon cake according to the old classic recipe of the Soviet era:

Napoleon cake is a classic custard recipe - as I said, this is one of the best cakes in our family collection of recipes. It is old, time-tested, so do not hesitate, it always turns out. But do not forget that in addition to a step-by-step recipe with a photo, your desire to please your loved ones will help you.

You will definitely succeed. Happy baking!

Watch the video - professional advice from a pastry chef can come in handy.

P.S. Do you know how and where the Napoleon cake appeared?

One of the versions that appeared is this new pastry in 1912, when they celebrated the centenary of Napoleon's expulsion from Moscow. In the form of a cake they began to make later, namely on this day they were new puff pastries smeared with custard, having a triangular shape. According to the confectioner, the shape of the cake symbolized Napoleon's cocked hat, and thin, crumbling cakes symbolized French army, which crumbled under the onslaught of the Russian army.

Another version is that this puff cake has nothing to do with Napoleon Bonaparte, this confection was invented during the time of Napoleon III, it is baked now, it is called differently - “Millefeuille”, which means “thousand layers”.

There are other versions, as well as different ways cooking with different creams, layers and additives, but the classic Napoleon cake recipe with custard, which is familiar to many since Soviet times, is considered the best.

Elena Kasatova. See you by the fireplace.

For the centenary victory over Napoleon, a delicious cake was invented in Russia. It was made in a triangular shape, which symbolized the cocked hat of the great leader. Eating it meant victory over the emperor. They liked this delicacy so much that over time they began to cook not only cakes, but also a cake.

Cake Napoleon, a classic recipe at home

For many years of preparation of this sweet dish, many recipes have been invented. But the classic Napoleon cake recipe remains the most common. Many, having prepared a dessert, will say that the taste is like in childhood with their grandmother. This delicacy is easy to prepare. The cakes give the main taste, it is they who need to be given all the attention. According to this recipe, the cake will be airy, weighing about a kilogram.

Cooking steps step by step

Ingredients:

• egg - 2 pcs.;
• margarine - 300 g;
• flour - 150 g;
• water from the refrigerator;
• lemon juice - 0.5 tsp;
• flour - 450 g.

For cream:

• vanilla sugar;
• egg - 2 pcs.;
• unsalted butter - 300 g;
• milk - 180 ml;
• sugar - 1.5 tbsp.

Cooking:

1. Margarine put in the freezer for two to three hours.
2. Cool the flour for a couple of hours in the refrigerator, sift on the table.
3. Cut margarine into thin strips.
4. Mix with flour (150 g) and chop again with a knife. Squeeze well with your hands.
5. Press down on the mixture until it forms a tight ball.
6. Put away in the cold.
7. Prepare another dough. Pour flour (450 g) into the container, but it is better to leave a little so as not to overdo it. The dough will be soft and not sticky to your hands.
8. Pour in lemon juice.
9. Pour into a glass very cold water to top, add eggs.
10. Stir with a fork until dissolved.
11. Sift flour on the table.
12. Pour egg water into flour.
13. Stir with a spoon, knead with your hands. If there is not enough flour, add. So that the finished, baked puff pastry does not become tough, an excess amount of flour should not be added to it.
14. Roll out the dough, which was prepared second in turn, into a rectangle. If you roll it too thin, it will tear.
15. Place the dough you made first in the middle. Now wrap the first dough with the second, like an envelope. First wrap one end, then two opposite sides and cover with the remaining end.
16. Sprinkle the dish with flour, put the dough envelope down with a seam and place in the refrigerator for half an hour. To avoid condensation, do not cover it from above.
17. Transfer the chilled product to the table in the same position as on the plate. Roll out into a small square.
18. Roll up again and refrigerate for half an hour.
19. Roll out again and send for the same time to rest in the cold. After these manipulations, you can start making the cream.
20. Keep the oil without cold for several hours so that it becomes completely soft.
21. Break the eggs into a small bowl. Beat with sugar until the mass becomes white.
22. Add vanillin.
23. Pour milk into a saucepan and pour in the egg mixture. In order for the cream to be uniform, without lumps, it is necessary to constantly stir with a whisk. Wait until it boils and remove immediately.
24. Set aside and chill.
25. For now, back to the test. Envelope cut into six equal parts. Roll out circles of equal shape. You can make one large layer and use a baking sheet.
26. To make it convenient to roll out and the dough does not stick, dust the table with flour.
27. Place the rolling pin on the edge of the dough, lightly roll the mass onto it. Transfer to the form. Roll out the dough according to its size.
28. Poke holes with a fork.
29. Bake for approximately 10 minutes. Pay attention to the appearance, if it turns red, then it's ready.
30. Bake the cakes.
31. Let's go back to the chilled cream mass. Break up the butter with a spoon.
32. Add the cooked mass in butter in small parts, mixing well. Added - mixed and so on until you enter the entire cream.
33. The finished cream is appetizing, monophonic. Oil must not be released from total weight and peel off.
34. Lubricate the cakes with cream.
35. To make the cake uniform, press each subsequent layer with your hands over the entire area of ​​​​the cake.
36. Cut the resulting delicacy with a knife along the edges, forming an even round dish.
37. Crush the resulting cut parts with your hands and sprinkle upper layer.

In order for the dough for puff pastry to turn out, all products must be cold.

With vanilla custard

The melt-in-your-mouth cake has a delicate taste. Of course, compared to other types of desserts, Napoleon with custard takes a long time to cook. But the efforts will not be in vain, because the recipe for cooking Napoleon at home cannot be compared with industrial products.

This is the most common delicacy at the holidays, not only for children, but also for adults. There are many options for the cream used, each housewife has her favorite. Consider the option with custard.

Ingredients:

Dough:

• milk - 250 ml;
• margarine - 300 g;
• flour - 4.5 cups;
• soda - 1 teaspoon.

Cream:

• milk - 1.5 liters;
• eggs - 4 pcs.;
• sugar - 500 g;
• butter - 250 g;
• flour - 6 tbsp. spoons;
• vanilla sugar - 1 sachet.

Decoration:

• nuts;
• powder.

Cooking:

Cakes:

1. Finely chop cold margarine.
2. Mix with flour, soda and rub with your hands.
3. Add cold milk to flour mixture. Knead.
4. Roll up several balls, depending on how many layers you want to get.
5. Roll out cold balls on a powdered table.
6. Place in a form.
7. Prick with a fork.
8. Bake in a hot oven until golden brown.

Cream:

1. Beat eggs with sugar.
2. Sprinkle flour.
3. Boil milk separately.
4. Pour the mass into the hot liquid.
5. Cook over low heat, stirring until it thickens.
6. Add oil and vanilla. Cool down.

Cake:

1. Lubricate each layer with cream, sprinkle with nuts.
2. When assembled, cut off the edges.
3. Lubricate the sides with the rest of the cream.
4. Grind the scraps and sprinkle on the top cake.
5. Dust with powdered sugar.

Homemade cake Napoleon on quick puff pastry

Since Soviet times, this delicacy has been a welcome dish on the table. An ordinary day turns into a holiday with the advent of a sweet dessert. Previously, the hostess had to stand idle for hours in the kitchen to cook it. Now, in modern world you can go to any store and buy ready dough, which is not inferior in taste and quality to a home-made product. The result is the same, but time is saved.

The finished dough must be stored in the freezer, it must not be defrosted several times. To make the cake delicious, do not use oil for baking cakes, cover with parchment paper.

Ingredients:

• walnut - 300 g;
• egg - 6 pcs.;
• puff pastry - 1.5 kg;
• milk - 1500 ml;
• flour - 6 tbsp. spoons;
• fine sugar - 3 cups.

Cooking:

1. The best way to defrost is time. Of course, modern ovens and microwaves have a special defrost function, but they often toast the product.
2. Most often in the store you can buy dough in rectangular. Makes about six sheets per the right amount weight. Cut them in half.
3. Roll out each piece to a thickness of 3mm.
4. Line a baking sheet with baking paper.
5. Put a crust on it.
6. Prick with a fork. This is necessary so that the dough does not swell or deform.
7. It does not take much time to cook, five minutes is enough for each cake.

Cream:

1. Whip eggs and sugar until stiff peaks form.
2. Boil milk.
3. Pour the sweet mass into milk.
4. To avoid curdling of eggs, it is necessary to constantly stir the mass.
5. After boiling, immediately remove from the burner and add vanilla.

Assembly:

1. Choose the most unfortunate shortbread, chop.
2. Chop nuts.
3. Lubricate the cakes with cream.
4. Sprinkle a layer of nuts in the middle of the dessert.
5. Collect the cakes to the end, sprinkle the top with the rest of the nuts.

Honey Napoleon

This recipe is not quite a traditional cake. The honey included in the composition gives an amazing taste to this delicacy.

Ingredients:

• lemon - 1 pc.;
• egg - 4 pcs.;
• baking powder dough - 1 package;
• honey - 4 tbsp. spoons;
• unsalted butter - 150 g;
• sugar - 250 g;
• flour - 600 g;
• sour cream - 250 g;
• powdered sugar - 300 g.

Cooking:

1. Build a water bath: placing a small saucepan in a large one, so that the top one is immersed in water.
2. Put butter, sugar, honey in the upper bowl. Melt.
3. Beat eggs separately.
4. Mix the melted mass, eggs, baking powder with flour.
5. Divide into ten pieces and roll into balls. Send to the cold.
6. Grate the lemon with zest to add to the cream.
7. Whisk sour cream and powder.
8. Mix with lemon.
9. Mix everything together and chill.
10. Roll out balls of any shape. It depends what the cake will be.
11. Bake individually until golden brown. There should be no burnt areas so as not to spoil the taste of the cake.
12. Cool down.
13. Spread each layer with cream.
14. Crumble the last cake and sprinkle on top of the cake.

Napoleon "Family Tradition"

Ingredients:

Dough:

• baking powder - 1.5 tsp;
• flour - 450 g;
• cold water - 200 g;
• margarine - 250 g.

Cream:

• starch - 2 tbsp. spoons;
• cream 10% - 600 ml;
• flour - 150 g;
• butter - 250 g.

Cooking:

1. Sift flour into a deep mold.
2. Put margarine in its center.
3. Leave for half an hour.
4. After a while, grind with a small crumb with a spatula.
5. Pour in the baking powder and pour in the water.
6. Knead.
7. The dough loves the cold. To get the desired end result, place in the cold for half an hour.
8. Cut into seven pieces.
9. Form a ball.
10. Roll out separately.
11. Prick the dough with a fork in the form.
12. Bake until golden brown.

Cream:

1. Pour 400 ml cream into a saucepan, adding sugar.
2. Boil.
3. Separately mix flour with starch.
4. Pour in 200 ml of cream (cold).
5. Mix well. There should be no lumps.
6. Pour the cold mixture into the hot sweet milk in a very thin stream. Keep stirring with the other hand.
7. When the cream has cooled down, add the oil, which has lain in the room for some time and has become soft.
8. Beat with a mixer.

Lubricate each layer with cream. Leave in the kitchen for five hours to soak. To achieve the perfect taste, put in the refrigerator for another four hours.

The Slovak version of Napoleon, who is known there as Kremes

This cooking option differs from other recipes in that there is no oil as an ingredient in the cream. Instead, starch (corn) is used.

Prepare the dough according to any favorite recipe or do it easier and buy a ready-made semi-finished product.

Ingredients:

• corn starch - 200 g;
• powdered sugar - 400 g;
• yeast-free puff pastry - 500 g;
• cow's milk - 2 liters;
• eggs - 8 pcs.

Cooking:

1. Defrost the dough naturally.
2. Divide into four parts.
3. Roll out thinly.
4. Put the dough on a baking sheet, bake for five minutes.
5. So cook all the cakes.

Cream:

1. Mix 500 ml of milk with starch and yolks, beat well.
2. Boil 1000 ml of milk.
3. Sprinkle with half the powder.
4. Pour cold milk with starch. Stir.
5. Stirring quickly, hold on fire for a minute.
6. Beat with a mixer until a thick, fluffy foam proteins with powder.
7. Pour hot milk into egg mixture. Stir.
8. Wait for complete cooling.

Fold the cakes in layers, smearing with cream. It is necessary to soak the cake for several hours. The cream used in the recipe turns out to be thick, therefore, compared to the Napoleon cake prepared according to the classic recipe, it is placed between the layers in a much larger amount.

Cake Napoleon simple and very tasty at home

Even if you have absolutely no experience in making homemade cakes, according to this recipe, the cake will turn out the first time. For baking, the most minimal amount of products is used and very little time is spent.

Ingredients:

• oil (ice) - 250 g;
• flour - 450 g;
• water (cold) - 100 ml.

For cream:

• milk - 1 liter;
• egg - 2 pcs.;
• sugar - 300 g;
• vanillin;
• flour - 4 tbsp. spoons.

Cooking:

1. For the dough, be sure to sift the flour.
2. Take a large grater and grate the oil.
3. Rub with hands.
4. Fill with water.
5. Blind the ball.
6. Let rest in the cold for half an hour.
7. Roll up sausage.
8. Cut into eight pieces.
9. Now the main thing is to roll out a thin layer, get the same thickness. The thinner you roll, the tastier the cakes will turn out.
10. Send to the oven.
11. Prepares instantly. Five minutes and the cake is ready.
12. While one is being prepared, prepare the other.

Cream:

1. Warm up 500 ml of milk.
2. Beat 500 ml of milk, eggs, sugar, flour, vanillin with a mixer. You can use a whisk. Just make sure that there are no lumps left from the flour.
3. As soon as the milk boils, pour the whipped mixture in a thin stream.
4. Stirring constantly, cook until thickened. Mix well, touching the sides and bottom of the pan, otherwise the cream will burn.
5. In appearance, it should resemble a thick semolina. When it cools down, it will get thicker.
6. To assemble the cake, you need the cream at room temperature.

The skins are brittle and brittle. Carefully assemble the cake, smearing the layers with cream. Trim the edges and sprinkle over the top of the cake. Be sure to soak the night. Experienced housewives it is advised to place a cutting board on top, where to put a container of water. Under the weight of the cakes, they are better saturated with cream.

With custard cream

Ingredients

Dough:

• salt - 1 teaspoon;
• vinegar - 2 teaspoons;
• butter - 200 g;
• flour - 450 g;
• milk 150 ml;
• soda - a pinch.

Cream:

• vanillin;
• sugar - 250 g;
• sour cream - 500 g;
• walnuts;
• milk - 600 ml;
• starch - 2 tbsp. spoons;
• egg - 3 pcs.

Cooking

Dough:

1. Grind the cold butter with flour to make crumbs.
2. Mix with remaining products.
3. Knead.
4. Divide into 16 parts, roll into balls.
5. Dust the table surface with flour.
6. Roll out the dough.
7. Prick with a fork.
8. Bake five minutes.

Cream:

1. Add starch to a glass of milk.
2. They have eggs. Whisk.
3. Boil the rest of the milk.
4. Pour into cold milk. Whisk.
5. Put on fire. Boil.
6. Add sour cream. Mix.

Cake shaping:

1. Put the cake on the bottom of the plate, coat with a layer of cream.
2. Lubricate each subsequent cake with cream, alternating layers.
3. Trim the edges.
4. Grease top and sides with cream.
5. Shred the scraps and sprinkle over the top and edges of the cake.

Napoleon cake in a pan

In this version, it does not take much time to impregnate the cakes. After half an hour, the cake is ready to eat.

Ingredients:

• baking powder;
• flour - 450 g;
• salt;
• sugar - 250 g;
• butter - 50 g;
• egg - 3 pcs.

Cream:

• milk - 1 liter;
• egg - 3 pcs.;
• flour - 2 tbsp. spoons;
• sugar - 250 g;
• vanillin;
• walnuts.

Cooking:

1. Beat eggs and sugar.
2. Add salt, baking powder, butter, 400 g flour (the rest will be needed when rolling out the dough).
3. Knead the dough.
4. Let stand for half an hour.
5. Roll out thinly 14 shortcakes according to the diameter of the pan.
6. Roast on a dry surface.
7. If you need perfectly even edges, hot cut to the shape of a plate.
8. Lay in layers, soaking with cooled cream.
9. Sprinkle with crumbs from scraps and nuts.

For cream:

1. Mix eggs, milk, sugar. Add flour.
2. Stir without lumps.
3. margarine - 250 g;
4. salt;
5. butter in cream - 300 g;
6. chocolate bar;
7. condensed milk - 400 g.

Cooking:

1. Cool all products, freeze margarine.
2. Pour cold flour into grated margarine.
3. Mix water and egg.
4. Knead the dough by mixing the ingredients.
5. Roll into a sausage.
6. Divide into six parts.
7. Refrigerate for half an hour.
8. Roll.
9. Bake, after piercing each piece with a fork.
10. Whisk the butter. Pour condensed milk in a thin stream. Beat together for 10 minutes using a mixer.
11. Lubricate the cakes with the resulting cream.
12. Decorate the top with crumbs from the cakes.

Various delivery and formatting options

Any hostess wants the cake to be not only tasty, but also beautiful, so it’s worth decorating it in a special way.

The most common and familiar design option is a crumb from the remnants of cakes.

You can use sugar sprinkles. She happens different colors and forms. You can sprinkle a thick layer of decoration on the cream, draw a picture or post a congratulation.







With the help of a stencil, beautiful risks are created. Shabby chocolate is sprinkled on the stencil, when it is removed, a festive pattern remains on the surface.

Any nuts are suitable for decoration. Sprinkling with a thick layer, get a beautiful appearance and exquisite taste.

Protein cream can be painted in any color and create a culinary masterpiece by decorating with different colors.

A less common way to decorate a cake at home is to apply mastic. With its help, you can create amazingly beautiful culinary works. Cover the cake and decorate with thematic figures, but this method requires certain knowledge and skill.

Recently I wrote about a recipe (not a classic version!). And I thought, why is there no traditional Napoleon recipe on my culinary blog?

The same legendary recipe from Soviet times, which was passed from hand to hand, was carefully recorded in culinary notebooks and in some regions was even a kind of “trade secret” - after all, some housewives baked it to order. And don't hesitate to share the recipe...

I can only explain this omission on my part - my blog is very young. I'm just starting to fill it with recipes. And the first places, of course, must be given to the classics. And nothing is more classic in the culinary theme than detailed recipe cake "Napoleon", it is impossible to imagine. So, it's decided, today's article is entirely dedicated to the traditional, classic "Napoleon"!

The main "secret" of Napoleon cake, cooked at home

I'll open it for you right away. secret secret” of this delicious cake: “Do not save, citizens, on products!” Well, everything is right according to the old Jewish joke - “My children, do not spare tea leaves!”

After all, what does a zealous hostess usually save on? It is written in the recipe - "butter", yeah, so let's take margarine! It is written - "add 2 tablespoons of cognac" - replace with vodka .... Well, you can not add vodka at all, and it will do without it ...

But for a real classic Napoleon, these ingredients are very important. Butter is indeed cheaper to replace with margarine, but the taste will be different. Vodka must be added to the dough - for its better "layering", and cognac to the cream - for the subtlety of taste and aroma. Then Napoleon will turn out deliciously delicious, as in ancient Soviet times!

Another feature of this recipe is if you use not one type of cream, but two- the cake will turn out especially tender! But about this just below and I will write in detail in a step-by-step recipe.

I summarize:

Products and composition of the recipe

For test:

• 5 cups flour
• 300 grams of butter
• 1 egg
• half a glass of sour cream
• half a glass of water
• 2 tablespoons of vodka
• a third of a teaspoon of salt

For custard cream:

• 3 eggs
• liter of milk
• 3-4 tablespoons flour
• 1 cup of sugar
• 200 gr. butter
• 2 tablespoons brandy
• 1 sachet of vanillin

For sour cream cream:

• fat sour cream (30%) - 1.5 -2 cups
• sugar 1 cup (it is better to grind into powder)

Cooking dough for cakes.

I must confess that one of the secrets of the classic Napoleon, I still hid from you! It's about how the test is made.

For example, I remember very well how my mother cooked puff pastry, including for the Napoleon cake. It didn’t happen often, my mother always disappeared at work. And when we asked her to make “that delicious layer cake” again, she said that it was a lot of fuss with it, and a lot of time was spent on the dough. Therefore, they made it only on major holidays.

So, that dough was made by numerous rollings, when a piece of butter was added to the base, cooled in the refrigerator, everything was wrapped in an envelope and rolled out again, and again put in the cold, repeating this procedure several times ....

This is an option I will not consider here. The dough for Napoleon that I suggest you make is much easier to make, takes less time, but nevertheless, the result will be just as wonderful and tasty! It was this recipe that was recorded by many hostesses of that time as a quick and trouble-free winning option. classic cake Napoleon.

I'll show you how to make "butter crumbs" from a mixture of flour and butter in a blender (chopper), but you can do this procedure the old fashioned way - chopping pieces of butter with flour with a regular knife, as finely as possible. And then you can still rub the lumps with your hands. Just do it quickly so that the butter does not become too soft and melt on your hands.

First, lightly chop large pieces of cold butter by hand right on the plate.

Then add the oil to the chopper bowl.

From above - all the flour, it is advisable to sift it through a sieve beforehand. We launch on high speed, until the formation of fine-fine crumbs.

This is the kind of crumb we should get in the end.

In another container, mix the crumbs with the rest of the ingredients - sour cream, water, egg, vodka and salt.

We form a bun from the dough. You need to knead the dough quite quickly, all for the same reason - the butter must remain cold in its composition, not melted. When the dough does not stick to the hands and the table, the consistency we need is reached. We cover our bun with a napkin and leave it to stand for half an hour.

After half an hour, we put it in the refrigerator for another 1 hour, but first wrap it in a film. By the way, now is the time to start preparing the cream, so as not to waste this hour.

After an hour we take it out, you can knead it a little more. And we divide by the number of koloboks that we need to get the same number of cakes. In the photo - 9 pieces, but can be divided into 12 and 15 parts.

We cover them again with a film and put them in the cold. We will take one small kolobok from there and roll it into cakes.

You can immediately cut the rolled cake in shape (for example, by attaching a plate or circle stencil). You can - just mark the cut, without removing the excess - we will remove it easily after baking.

I usually roll out such thin cakes immediately on parchment, so that it is easier to transfer to a sheet. But if you need to shift the thinly rolled dough onto a baking sheet from the table, roll it onto a rolling pin, transfer it to a sheet and roll it back. Very simple.

We send it to the hot oven for 3-5 minutes. Cookies should reach a light, golden hue, they do not need to be overcooked. Slightly seized, browned slightly - you can get it. The oven is heated somewhere at 180-200 degrees. We bake on parchment - it’s easier to remove the cakes from the sheet.

If it is good to “pierce” our shortcake with a fork in many places, no large bubbles and swellings will form, the cakes will look very even and neat. But I love it more when the dough puffs up during baking, because then additional “layered” places form in these places, and the more layering, the tastier our future Napoleon will be! Well, as in this photo -

Trimmings are also baked and stored separately, until better times. AT better times we will make crumbs out of them for sprinkling.

Cooking custard.

It is convenient to make the cream while the dough is standing in the cold. We have a whole hour of time - we will do everything in time!

Part of the milk (2/3 liters) is put to bask in a saucepan on the fire. Mix the rest of the milk with a mixer or a whisk with eggs, sugar and vanilla in a thick foam. Add flour and cognac - beat.

In a saucepan with already hot milk, add our cream base in a thin stream, continuing intensive stirring continuously. It is necessary to cook our cream until it thickens, but bubbles that indicate boiling should not be allowed. And, of course, make sure that the cream does not burn to the bottom of the pan - the taste will immediately deteriorate. If you do not have much experience in this matter, it is better to put everything in a water bath and steam the cream - this way it is easier for us to control the temperature and there is less chance of spoiling something.

We cool the cream. Butter, on the contrary, is taken out to soften at room temperature.

Now we need to connect them together. Someone starts whipping the butter into a fluffy mass and gradually adds the custard base one spoon at a time. Someone just whips everything at once in one container. I don’t see a fundamental difference here - in the presence of modern “beating” equipment in the form of mixers, blenders, etc. - everything is whipped "with a bang!".

However, maybe you have a different opinion and there is some special way of whipping the cream that gives an amazing result - share it in the comments on this article!

We are preparing the second type of cream for a delicious Napoleon - Sour Cream

There are no special secrets here, except for one thing - sour cream should be natural and high-fat, at least 25, and preferably 30%. If you do not have such sour cream, there are two options: the first is simple and fast. And the second one is slow but correct 🙂

1. We take the “Thickener for Sour Cream” (for cream, just a thickener - what can be found in your stores) - and do everything according to the instructions on the package.
2. We take ordinary sour cream - double the volume, and place it for several hours, preferably at night, in thick gauze, hanging it over a water container (or place sour cream in a small colander). The bottom line is that, under its own weight, sour cream squeezes out all excess water(and how it gets there is interesting ?!) and we ended up with a thick, real sour cream, from which you can already beat a high-quality thick cream.

As sugar, it is better to take powdered sugar, but this does not matter. Pour sugar into sour cream and beat until thick. Will short period when the sour cream thins a little, but keep whisking and it will thicken to the state we need.

Assembling and decorating the Napoleon cake

The most enjoyable moment of making cakes is collecting, smearing, decorating!

Why did we make 2 types of cream? For the best taste, of course!

• So, we put a dry cake and coat it with custard on top.
• We lay the second cake - we coat it again as well.
• We smear the third cake first sour cream and from above here - custard.
• So we repeat, lubricating every third cake additionally with sour cream, whipped with sugar, until the ingredients run out.
• We don’t smear the last layer with anything yet - we leave our cake to stand for half an hour or an hour. During this time, the cakes will soak and become very tasty and moderately soft.
• Now wrap the cake with foil on the sides and put a clean board (something flat) on top and lightly press the layers down. Put a small (about 1 kg) load on the board and put it in the refrigerator for several hours, preferably at night.

And in the morning we will decorate our soaked and infused cake completely:

Lubricate the remaining cream (any, you can use two at once) on the top layer and coat the sides.
Cover the sides and top of the cake with crumbs. I hope you did not throw away our scraps, but dried them in the air and ground them into small crumbs?

Well, our magnificent Napoleon is ready to use!

I saw on the net many options for decorating this cake with different fruits, berries, etc. , but for some reason I really like the traditional, classic look of this cake - you can immediately see the real, "Soviet" Napoleon - you can’t confuse it with anything!

Cake Napoleon from ready-made puff pastry with condensed milk cream

And now let's look at the "high-speed" method of making Napoleon cake. Fast as possible. It’s faster to just buy a ready-made cake in the store, but this is not our goal!

It so happens that guests are expected in the evening. Or the children suddenly wanted a cake "right now" and certainly - in their mother's performance ... There are different situations, but there is only one way out - to have a supply at home right products and 20-30 minutes of free time. Well good mood, of course! Without it, in general, there is nothing to do in the kitchen 🙂

So, we will need 2 packs of ready-made frozen puff pastry, even yeast, even without, there is no difference.

We spread them out of the package immediately on 2 pieces of parchment and leave them to defrost in this form. We get 2 puff rectangles ready dough on a sheet.

While the dough comes to room temperature, we have time to make the cream.

Making cream from condensed milk (condensed milk)

The fastest cream that everyone knows and loves is butter whipped with condensed milk.

Sometimes they write about 150 grams of butter and 350 grams of condensed milk ... Why such difficulties? Who will measure these grams when we are talking about delicious cream?!

I just take a pack of good (82.5% fat) butter and one standard can of condensed milk. I think that this is the most convenient and delicious proportion for cream!

To improve the taste, you can add a bag of vanillin and a couple of spoons of cognac - the aroma will be very memorable. But even banal condensed milk with butter, just whipped into a good smooth cream, will perfectly set off our Napoleon from the finished puff pastry.

Butter cut into cubes and hold at room temperature until softened. We begin to beat, gradually adding condensed milk and vanillin with cognac (if you decide on this option) by a spoonful.

Our task is to get a uniform, thick, smooth mass, which will be our tastiest and the fastest cream for impregnation and decoration of the cake.

The cream is ready. The dough has defrosted, softened and even slightly “swollen” - it's time to bake it.

Preheat the oven to standard 180 degrees and put a sheet of dough in it. We will need 10-15 minutes for one serving of cakes. But make sure that they are not overcooked, but are of a beautiful golden hue.

Now we need to "get" a crumb to decorate Napoleon. We slightly cut off the edges of our puff plates - and we will get the crumbs, and we will align the edges of the cake. You also need to cut - remove the top baked crust from each cake. This will give us both the material for the sprinkle and soften the finished layers.

Here we have such a semi-finished product.

Now we coat each layer with cream.

Cut crusts, if necessary, dry in the air or in the oven and grind into crumbs.

Sprinkle crumbs on the sides and top of the cake. Here he is ready!

Of course, he still needs to be given time to soak in the cream - at least 3 hours, but these are already problems for those who are waiting for a tasty treat, and we are free and can do whatever our heart desires. We have already fulfilled our duty to a hungry family 🙂

For everything about everything, it will take us 20-30 minutes! And this is along with the preparation of the cream. A good, quick option for cooking Napoleon for those who do not want to spend half a day in the kitchen.

Quick Napoleon cake in a pan - step by step recipe with photo

Let's analyze another "non-classic" version of the Napoleon cake, cooked in a pan. It sounds rather doubtful, but, oddly enough, the taste is quite decent!

If you are in a place where you do not have an oven (maybe you were drawn to nature and you decided to meet New Year at the dacha) - you will definitely amaze your guests with a freshly prepared Napoleon! On the frying pan! Fantasy…

I will not disassemble the cream - take any of the above. I met another version of the cream for Napoleon - condensed milk is added to the custard with butter ... I don’t know, I’ve never done this before .. Do you think this is a suitable option? Write, please, who made such a cream - share your impressions!

But let's take a look at the dough for cooking in a pan step by step, or rather, from photographs. It's easier.

For this version of the test, we will prepare:

• 1 pack of butter 190-200 gr. (or creamy margarine)
• 3 cups flour
• 2 eggs
• 50 ml very cold water
• 1/2 teaspoon soda slaked with vinegar (or baking powder for dough - 0.5 sachet)

Some housewives are generally against soda in this recipe, they believe that it spoils the taste. If you put not 2 eggs, but 2-3 yolks, then they will serve as a good softener for the dough and may well replace soda.

Grate the butter on a coarse grater and sprinkle with flour. We mix everything quickly with our hands, grinding the butter with flour to the state of butter crumbs.

We extinguish the soda with 6% vinegar (or add baking powder for the dough), mix the ice water with the egg and add all this to the crumbs. Quickly knead our dough into a large bun. As soon as the dough stops sticking to your hands, we divide it into small koloboks (the size depends on the size of your frying pan, on which we will bake the cakes, but you can see the approximate size from the photo). We pack the koloboks in a film or bags (from winding) and place them in the refrigerator for 1 hour.

We take out one kolobok and immediately quickly roll it into a thin layer.

Here is such a thickness that the hand shines through. This is approximately 1 mm thick dough.

The lid from our frying pan will give us the right diameter for the cake. Press down the dough with a lid.

We remove the extra trimmings - then we will make another cake out of them.

We prick our layer of dough with a fork so that it does not bubble very much.

Place on a dry hot frying pan (no oil!).

Cakes are prepared in a pan very quickly - literally 1 minute on one side. And quickly turn over.

We make all the shortcakes in turn. While one is baking, roll out the other. Cool down. We roll the scraps into a common lump and also roll them into cakes.

We coat our "Napoleon from the pan" with cream. Everything is as usual, layer by layer. Leave 3 shortcakes for sprinkling - dry and grind into crumbs.

The main thing that needs to be observed is the soaking time of the cake - at least 3-4 hours, and preferably at night. The longer it stays in the refrigerator, the better it will soak and the tastier, more tender and softer it will be.

PS. By the way, I compared the dough in a pan, made from margarine and made from butter. Where I took the butter - the cakes were softer and more tender, well, it seemed to me. I didn’t have time to ask the homeworkers - everything was swept away in an instant! In my opinion, some people don’t care at all how much time and effort you spent on this cake - if only it was sweet 🙂