I have been baking Napoleon according to this recipe for 10 years now and this cake has become my signature dish!!! In our family, Napoleon cake is always a holiday! If anyone has a different opinion regarding this famous dessert, I can say with complete confidence that you have not tried the real Napoleon. All the quick options made from ready-made puff pastry are not even close to it. Tasty, but not that good.

Unfortunately, in our time, the store-bought equivalent bears little resemblance to the classic Napoleon cake, so the only option to try a real, most delicious layer cake with delicate custard is to prepare it yourself at home. It's a hassle, but it's worth it!

I hope my step-by-step photo recipe is useful to you.

To prepare you will need very simple and affordable products:

Ingredients:

For the test:
- Wheat flour (premium grade) - 6 cups,
- Margarine or butter – 2 packs (200 grams each),
- Chicken eggs – 2 pieces,
- Salt – 1 teaspoon,
- Water - 450 ml.

For the custard:
- Chicken eggs – 4 pieces,
- Granulated sugar – 0.5 kg,
- Butter – 0.5 kg,
- Wheat flour – 4 tbsp. spoons,
- Cow's milk – 1 liter.

Preparing the cakes:

Please note that the cake dough must be kneaded using a knife. This way, cold butter will not melt from the warmth of your hands and will take the amount of flour that is needed. Otherwise, if you overdo it with flour, you risk getting a very hard dough. Whereas, ideally, thin cakes should be crispy and at the same time tender.

Lightly freeze margarine or butter, this will make it easier to work with. Sift flour onto a work surface. Finely chop the frozen butter into the flour with a knife, adding it from the edge to the center. As a result, you should get dry crumbs.

Now take a half-liter jar and break two chicken eggs into it, fill the rest of the jar with water. Shake the contents thoroughly with a fork, adding salt.

We form a slide from the resulting flour crumbs, make a depression in it and begin to add liquid from the jar.

Again everything will need to be “chopped” with a large knife,

Those. You don’t even have to get your hands dirty in the dough.

We add the liquid mixture in parts until it runs out and work with a knife all the time.

Before your eyes, the sand crumbs turn into a homogeneous dough.

As a result of this work, you should get a homogeneous lump.

The finished dough for the Napoleon cake needs to be divided into 16 equal lumps, placed on a board, wrapped in cling film or a bag, and placed in the refrigerator for 20 - 30 minutes. Or freeze slightly in the freezer.

Then we take the dough out of the refrigerator and roll each lump into a thin flat cake, using a minimal amount of flour to sprinkle the table.

The cake should be as thin as possible, literally translucent. Any form. It's easier to roll out rectangles to fit the baking tray. With round cakes it is a little more difficult; they need to be cut raw or ready, and the quantity will be larger.

The dough is quite elastic, don’t be afraid to tear it when transferring it to a baking sheet. Even if this happens, there is nothing terrible about it. The cakes can be pricked with a fork in several places so that they swell less.

Place the baking sheet in the oven, which needs to be preheated to 180 - 200 degrees. Bake the base until a beautiful golden color. While one cake is baking, roll out the next one.

As a result, you should have 16 ruddy puff pastries, rectangular or slightly more round.

Preparing the custard:

Don't look for a better recipe, I assure you, this one is perfect!

To prepare it, you need to beat chicken eggs and wheat flour in a deep bowl until smooth. It's easier to use a blender.

In a separate tall saucepan with a thick bottom, heat the milk and dissolve the granulated sugar in it. There is a lot of cream, the dishes should be capacious. And under no circumstances use an enamel or aluminum saucepan. In the first it will burn, in the second it will color the cream gray when whipped with butter.

Pour the egg mixture into the hot milk and sugar in a thin stream. Stir constantly while doing this. Cook the custard over low heat with constant stirring.

Cook until pureed. Cool the custard mixture to room temperature. Stir several times while cooling to prevent a crust from appearing.

The butter must be removed from the refrigerator in advance so that it becomes soft. Before combining with the cream, the butter must be whipped until smooth.

Only then add the cooled cream to the butter in small portions. Not the other way around!

Beat with a mixer until smooth.

All that remains is to assemble our gorgeous cake.

Assembly:

I'll show you how to make sure your cake plate stays clean when you assemble it. A sheet of baking paper - this small detail is the little secret of your accuracy. Line the bottom of a dish or tray with parchment or paper.

Grease the first cake with custard, cover with the second and press to make the cake denser.

Repeat until all layers have been laid down. Don't forget to compact it. Napoleon must be tight!

It's time to remove the sheet of paper, hold the cake with one hand and pull out the sheet with the other.

You need to make crumbs from scraps or one cake. You can crumble them with your fingers, or you can put them in a bag and roll it with a rolling pin. Sprinkle the top and sides of the cake with the resulting crumbs. My sides are not sprinkled with anything. You can add chopped walnuts or chocolate grated into the crumbs to this crumb according to your taste, this will not make the cake any worse.

We leave the finished cake in the refrigerator for soaking and hardening of the cream, this may take at least 3 hours, it is better to wait overnight.

I think I’ve convinced you that making Napoleon at home is quite simple and affordable, the main thing is that you have the desire!

In the Guinness Book of Records, sweet Napoleon is mentioned as the largest cake weighing 1.5 tons, it was baked by culinary specialists in the city of Zelenograd.

This layer cake can be found in many cuisines around the world, but it will be called differently. For example, in England you will be served a “Vanilla slice”, but in Italy and France you can order a “Millefeuille” in any cafe and they will bring you a piece of an airy multi-layer cake, known to you as “Napoleon”, by the way, in translation Mille-feuille means "Thousand Layers". But Americans, like us, know this layer cake called “Napoleon”.

There are a great many stories about the creation of this famous dessert, but I would like to tell you one of the most unusual and, in my opinion, the most piquant. As you know, Bonaparte was a big fan of hitting on pretty girls. So one day, while flirting with another cute maid of honor, his wife caught him. And in order to get out of this very spicy situation, Napoleon told her about how he whispered in the ear of a beautiful girl about his newly invented recipe for a delicious cake, which, it turns out, is what made the girl so flushed! The wife pretended to believe her husband, but demanded proof. Bonaparte hastily dictated the recipe for the cake, a complete improvisation. Of course, Bonaparte's cook made some adjustments to the recipe. As a result, for breakfast, the couple had an extraordinary cake on the table, which got its name - Napoleon, in honor of its author.

Well, if we talk about the plausible history of the creation of this beloved cake, it was baked for the first time in 1912 by Moscow confectioners for the 100th anniversary of the victory over the French and gave it the name Napoleon.

All you have to do is defeat your “Frenchman” in the kitchen; the step-by-step photo recipe presented today will help you. Perhaps this cake will become your signature sweet dish, like mine. I have been baking it for more than 10 years, and I thank Natalya Pyatkova for the recipe.

Hooray! It has been found - the simplest recipe for Napoleon cake! There is a minimum of products, minimal labor, but no difficulties at all! According to this recipe, even a novice housewife can easily bake a delicious homemade Napoleon. Tested repeatedly - by my friends and by me personally!

I love Napoleon cake!! This is my favorite cake since childhood, and when I was little (and not so little, up to 20 years old for sure!) I always asked my mother to make this particular cake for my birthday! And now I delight my family with my favorite delicacy. Everyone in our family loves Napoleon, and I think that many readers agree that this is the most delicious cake in the world!

Just one thing - Napoleon also seemed to me one of the most difficult recipes. I tried several of them: starting from the classic one, made from homemade puff pastry, continuing with a simplified shortbread version - also tasty, but lighter; and ending with a quick cake made from ready-made puff pastry - with strawberries or cherries. All of these options are tasty and good in their own way. But one day I was treated to a delicious, delicate cake, soaked in aromatic cream, sprinkled with delicate crumbs, and the cakes just melted in my mouth!

And how the recipe for the simplest Napoleon surprised me with its minimalism. It turns out that the pinnacle of culinary skill and the crowning glory of a gourmet’s fantasy can be baked easily and quickly! I suggest you try it too! The cake turns out very big and delicious.

Glass volume 200 ml, flour = 130g, sugar = 200g.

Ingredients:

For the cakes:

• 3 cups flour (390-400 g);
• 250 g butter;
• 100 ml water.

For the custard:

• 1 liter of milk;
• 2 eggs;
• 300 g sugar (1.5 cups);
• 2 packets of vanilla sugar or a couple of pinches of vanillin;
• 2 heaped tablespoons of flour.

How to bake:

Let's knead the dough for the cakes: after sifting the flour into a bowl, grate cold butter into it on a coarse grater.

Grind it into crumbs with your hands and pour in cold water.

Quickly mix the dough with your hands and form it into a lump - well, even if it is not uniform, the main thing is that it sticks together! You don’t need to add a lot of flour, so you can add more flour than normal, but flour comes in different varieties; At first it seems that the dough is sticky, but then you will realize that the dry and liquid ingredients are just in balance.

After rolling the dough into a ball, place it in the refrigerator for 30 minutes. That's how simple it is! Much lighter than puff pastry.

While the dough is cooling, prepare two sheets of parchment, a rolling pin, a baking sheet, a knife and what you will use as a template for cutting the cakes: a lid from a large pan, a plate or a cardboard. The cake can be given a round, square or rectangular shape.

Having taken out the dough, roll it into a thick sausage and cut it into 8 parts. To make them equal, it is convenient to do this: cut in half, then each half in half again - into quarters; and halve them again - into eighths.

Turn on the oven and let it heat up to 200C.

Place a sheet of parchment on the table and sprinkle with flour. Place one piece of dough on the paper, sprinkle it with flour and roll it out, dusting it with flour and turning it over, into a thin crust. The thinner the better - so that it directly “glows”! Just try to roll it out more evenly, otherwise it may bake unevenly: in thin places it’s already fried, and in thick ones it’s still not baked. So roll it out evenly and thinly, about 2 millimeters. And prick it with a fork so that it doesn’t swell during baking. It’s even more convenient to roll out the cake between two sheets of parchment.

Transfer the cake directly with the parchment to a baking sheet and put it in the oven.

Thin cakes are baked very quickly: 5 minutes at 200C, and you're done! There is no need to over-dry, because they will become brittle. Gilded - and that’s enough!

In the meantime, one cake is in the oven, on a second sheet of parchment we roll out the next one, as when baking a honey cake - thanks to this “conveyor”, things go cheerfully and cheerfully.

Having taken out the cake, immediately, while hot, apply the template and cut it to shape. If you hesitate, it may crumble. But that’s okay, the broken cake layers can be placed in the middle of the cake. For now, put the scraps in a bowl - they will be needed for the crumbs. And carefully place the cakes in a stack on a dish.

Now all the cakes are ready! You can make custard. I usually make a special “Napoleonic” cream for this cake, but here the recipe is a little different, but I liked it for its simplicity.

So, divide a liter of milk in half. We put one half on the fire in a non-stick saucepan and let it heat up.

In the second half liter of milk add sugar, eggs, vanillin, flour and beat everything with a mixer or whisk so that there are no lumps left.

When the milk on the stove begins to boil, pour the whipped mixture into the boiling milk in a thin stream. Stir before pouring in if the sugar has had time to settle to the bottom of the bowl after whisking.

And cook the cream, stirring all the time, until it thickens. I cooked for 5-6 minutes over medium heat and then, after boiling, for another minute or two on less than medium heat.

At first the cream is liquid, but don’t let this worry you: in the end it will turn out to be the desired thickness. At first it flows like milk; then, starting to boil, it becomes thicker and gurgles like semolina porridge. The finished hot cream may still seem runny, but as it cools, it becomes even thicker. Room temperature cream is just the right consistency to coat and thoroughly soak the cakes.

We coat the cakes, placing them on top of each other. Handle the cakes with care - they are very fragile.

We also grease the top cake and sides of the cake with cream. Crush the trimmings into fine crumbs with your hands and sprinkle the top and sides of the cake.

Now, a little patience... lick the cake and wait for it to soak.

Ideally, until the morning, but if you really want to, you can taste it after a couple of hours.

But it’s better to cultivate willpower, since the soaked cake is much tastier!

This is exactly the “same” taste familiar from childhood, the taste of real “Napoleon”! And I’m very glad that making my favorite cake turned out to be so easy. I am happy to share with you; It’s great if your family loves the recipe too!

If Napoleon cake becomes the crowning recipe among desserts in your kitchen, then you will capture all the hearts of connoisseurs of this culinary creation.

The delicate taste of custard combined with cakes that melt on the tongue is truly a pleasure for your guests and loved ones.

I’ll tell you with confidence that Napoleon cake is a win-win dessert that will always appeal to many people; you just need to choose the best recipe for yourself, or feel free to experiment. Unfortunately, the equivalent of this cake in the store is completely far from the classic Napoleon cake recipe. Therefore, if you want to treat your loved ones to the most delicious layered dessert, then the only way out is to make this cake yourself at home. A little troublesome, but your efforts will not be in vain.

Since our childhood, we remember the wonderful taste of this homemade cake, the recipe for which was carefully passed down in notes from generation to generation, from mothers to daughters. And even then, housewives boldly experimented with types of dough, creams and additives such as nuts, condensed milk or whipped cream. Feel free to try the Napoleon oven and look for your favorite recipe for you and your family!

Classic Napoleon cake with custard

For the cream you will need:

• 4 things. egg
• 1.5 tbsp. sugar
• 3 tbsp. milk
• 4 tbsp. l. flour
• 250 g butter

For the test you will need:

• 3 tbsp. flour
• 250 g creamy margarine
• 1 PC. egg
• 2/3 tbsp. water
• 1 tbsp. vinegar

Cooking method:

Grate chilled or frozen margarine into the sifted flour on a coarse grater.

Separately beat the egg and add water and vinegar to it

Make a well in the flour and margarine and gradually add the egg mixture, mix with your hands or a fork.

Gradually adding all the liquid, knead the stiff dough, form 11-12 balls for future cakes

We send them out into the cold

While the dough is cooling, beat the eggs and sugar with a mixer until smooth, pour in the milk and mix

You can adjust the amount of sugar in the custard yourself, more or less - to taste!

Lastly, add the butter in pieces, dissolve, cool

We take out one piece of dough (the rest remain in the cold), roll it out on a sheet of baking paper

Along the edge of a plate or other shape, cut the edge of the cake with a knife

Be sure to make 10-12 punctures with a fork in each cake

We bake it together with the scraps, they will be useful for sprinkling the cake.

Spread each layer generously with chilled custard.

Sprinkle the cake with coarse crumbs from the cake scraps

The cake is ready! Bon appetit!

Cooking Napoleon cottage cheese cake with cream

The dough for this cake contains cottage cheese as the main component. The taste of this Napoleon is simply delicious - crispy cakes combined with delicate cream! An indescribable feast of taste!

For the test you will need:

• 1 tbsp. granulated sugar
• 100 g margarine (or butter)
• 400 g cottage cheese
• 2 pcs. egg
• 1 pack baking powder for the dough
• 1 pack vanilla sugar
• 0.5 kg flour

For the cream you will need:

• 1 l milk
• 1 tbsp. Sahara
• 4 things. egg
• 200 g softened butter
• 1 pack vanilla sugar
• 3 tbsp. l. (with a small slide) flour
• 2 tbsp. l. (slightly heaped) starch

Cooking method:

Rub the cottage cheese through a sieve, add vanilla sugar, sugar, eggs and softened butter (or margarine)

Place the finished dough in the cold for 30-40 minutes to cool, covering it with cling film

Dust the table with flour, knead the dough a little and cut off a small piece - this is the first cake

Roll out a circle 2-3 mm thick, cut the required diameter of the cake with a knife using a lid, add the trimmings back to the dough, carefully transfer the cake onto a baking sheet lined with baking paper

Already on the baking sheet, often prick the cake with a fork, bake the cakes at 180 degrees for 8-9 minutes until lightly browned, you should get 12-13 cakes in total

We also bake the leftovers from the last two cake layers for future topping of the cake.

Beat the eggs, add 200 ml of milk, starch and flour, stirring with a whisk

Add the milk-egg mixture into the boiling milk in a thin stream, stirring continuously so that the eggs do not cook

Cook, continuing to stir, until thickened.

Remove the cream from the heat, cover its surface with cling film to prevent a crust from forming when cooling, cool to room temperature

Add softened butter to the cream, beat with a mixer

Generously coat the cakes with cream, placing them on top of each other on a platter.

If the cakes slide on the dish, then place a spoonful of cream under the first cake on the dish - this will secure the cake on the dish and it will be easier to form the cake!

After 3-4 layers, very carefully press the cake with a tray, slightly pressing it on top

Sprinkle coarse crumbs over the top and sides of the cake.

Bon appetit!

Recipe for Napoleon cake with custard and condensed milk

Another great recipe is Napoleon cake with custard with condensed milk. Such a pleasant taste of a delicacy that everyone has loved since childhood! Simply delicious for both adults and children!

According to this recipe, Napoleon turns out soaked and moist with a delicate milky filling. Try to cook and the result will conquer everyone!

For the test you will need:

• 500-600 g flour
• 200 g butter
• 2 pcs. eggs
• 120-150 ml cold water
• 1 tbsp. l. sugar
• 0.5 tsp salt
• 2 tbsp. lemon juice

For the cream you will need:

• 1 l milk
• 3 pcs. egg
• 6-7 tbsp. corn starch
• 2 tbsp. flour
• 120 g sugar (powdered sugar)
• 2 packs vanilla sugar
• 300 gr. condensed milk
• 50 g of any nuts

Cooking method:

Sift 500 g of flour into a bowl, add salt and sugar so that the dough is not bland

Beat the eggs separately and add cold water and lemon juice to them.

Gradually pour the egg mixture into the flour and butter and knead into a soft, plastic dough.

Divide the dough into 10-11 equal pieces for future cakes, place them in the cold, covering with cling film

Do not knead the dough for too long so that the butter does not melt! You need to work with it quickly, that’s when you will get the airy effect of the cakes that we need!

Place half the milk on the fire and heat until almost boiling.

Beat the eggs separately, add vanilla sugar (powdered sugar), flour and starch, add the other half of the milk, mix

In a thin stream, stirring continuously, add the egg-milk mixture into the hot milk.

While stirring, wait for the cream to thicken over the fire, remove from heat and cool, covering the surface of the cream with cling film or continue stirring so that a crust does not form on the cream

Add condensed milk to the warm cream, combine with a spoon until smooth.

We take out pieces of dough from the cold, roll one out with a rolling pin on a sheet of baking paper, keep the rest in the cold

We cut off the excess with a knife using a lid (diameter 22-25 cm) or another shape to get an even circle

We often prick the cake with a fork and bake together with the scraps at a temperature of 180 degrees until lightly browned.

Be careful! The cakes are thin and bake quickly, watch the time for 6-7 minutes, otherwise the cakes will burn on the paper, then ruining the taste of the finished cake!

Place a spoonful of cream under the first cake; the bottom cake is better soaked and the cake does not slide on the dish during folding.

When all the cakes are put together, generously coat the top and sides of the cake with cream.

Bon appetit!

How to make Quiche with Whipped Cream

For the cakes you will need:

• 400 g flour
• 250 ml milk
• 120 g creamy margarine
• 1 PC. egg
• 1 tbsp. cognac (or rum)
• 1/4 tsp. citric acid
• 2 g vanillin

For the cream you will need:

• 0.5 l milk
• 200 g sugar (powdered sugar)
• 200 ml cream from 30%
• 2 tbsp. corn starch
• 2 pcs. egg
• 10 g vanilla sugar

Cooking method:

Add frozen margarine, vanillin and citric acid to 200 g of sifted flour through a grater. Cut margarine and flour with a knife and grind into crumbs.

Whisk 250 ml milk and egg, add cognac and mix. Pour the egg-milk mixture into the flour crumbs, sift the rest of the flour and knead into a soft dough, refrigerate for 1 hour under cling film.

Using a mixer, beat 150 ml of milk, vanilla sugar, starch, granulated sugar and eggs.

Heat the remaining milk until hot, pour the milk-starch mixture into it, stirring constantly, cook the cream until thickened. Remove the pan from the heat and cool.

We take out the dough after cooling for an hour, divide it into 10-12 pieces, so we will get so many thin cakes, cut them with a lid or plate, with a diameter of 23-25 ​​cm.

Bake the cakes at 180-200 degrees for just 6-7 minutes on parchment paper, let all the cakes cool completely. Crumble the driest cake into coarse crumbs in a separate bowl.

Beat the cold cream with a mixer until stiff, combine it with the cream and spread the cakes together. Apply cream to the assembled cake on top and sides, sprinkle with prepared crumbs on all sides.

The cake is kept at a temperature of 22-25 degrees for the first hour after cooking, then we set it to cold for 2 hours or more. It soaks in well. The cake is ready!

Bon appetit!

Napoleon cake in a frying pan

Do you want to please your family with Napoleon cake? Everything is in your hands - bake it in a frying pan! After all, the originality of this recipe lies in the fact that the cakes here are not baked in the oven, but rather like pancakes. At the same time, the cake does not lose its taste - still the same magnificent Napoleon

For the test you will need:

• 2.5 tbsp. flour
• 100 g butter
• 1 tbsp. sugar
• 3 pcs. chicken egg
• 1/4 tsp. soda

For the cream you will need:

• 1 l cow's milk
• 150 g butter
• 3 pcs. egg
• 3 tbsp. flour
• 1 tbsp. sugar
• 2 g vanillin

1. Beat eggs and sugar, add softened butter and soda, slaked with vinegar. Add sifted flour little by little into the liquid mass, mix without forming lumps, leave the dough under the film for the required 30-40 minutes
2. For the cream, mix sugar and eggs with a whisk, then sifted flour and cold milk. Mix everything until smooth, cook over moderate heat until thickened, stirring constantly. Remove the cream from the heat, cool it, add vanillin and butter, beat the cream with butter with a mixer
3. Divide the finished dough into 13-14 parts. Roll out, determine the diameter of the cakes using a mold, cutting off the excess edges. Bake them in a well-heated frying pan, greased with oil, over medium heat. Fry the cakes like pancakes on both sides until lightly browned
4. Generously coat the cooled cakes with custard. Grease the bottom and top cakes and sides so that our cake is not dry. Decorate with crushed nuts if desired and leave the cake in the cold to soak for several hours.

Bon appetit!

Napoleon cake classic recipe. Video0

I recently wrote about a recipe (not the classic version!). And I thought, why isn’t there actually a traditional Napoleon recipe on my culinary blog?

That same legendary recipe from Soviet times, which was passed from hand to hand, 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 they were in no hurry to share the recipe...

The only way I can explain this omission on my part is that my blog is very young. I'm just starting to fill it with recipes. And first places, of course, should be given to the classics. And it is impossible to imagine anything more classic in the culinary theme than a detailed recipe for Napoleon cake. So, it’s decided, today’s article is entirely devoted to the traditional, classic “Napoleon”!

The main “secret” of Napoleon cake, prepared at home

I’ll immediately tell you the “secret secret” of this delicious cake: “Citizens, don’t skimp on food!” Well, everything is right according to the old Jewish joke - “My children, do not spare the tea leaves!”

After all, what does a thrifty housewife usually save on? It says “butter” in the recipe, yeah, so let’s use margarine! It says “add 2 tablespoons of cognac” - replace it with vodka…. Well, you don’t have to add vodka at all, and it will do without it...

But for a real classic Napoleon, these ingredients are very important. It is indeed cheaper to replace butter with margarine, but the taste will be different. Vodka must be added to the dough - for better “layering”, and cognac in the cream - for the subtlety of taste and aroma. Then Napoleon will turn out deliciously delicious, just like in old 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 I’ll write about this in detail below in a step-by-step recipe.

To summarize:

Products and recipe composition

For the test:

• 5 cups flour
• 300 grams butter
• 1 egg
• half a glass of sour cream
• half a glass of water
• 2 tablespoons 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 cognac
• 1 packet of vanillin

For sour cream:

• full-fat sour cream (30%) - 1.5 -2 cups
• 1 cup sugar (better crushed into powder)

Preparing the dough for the cakes.

I must admit that I still hid one of the secrets of the classical Napoleon from you! We are talking about the method of preparing the dough.

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

So, the dough was made by numerous rolling out, 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, which I suggest you make, is much easier to make, requires less time, but nevertheless, the result will be just as wonderful and tasty! It was this recipe that was recorded by many housewives of that time as a quick and fail-safe version of the classic Napoleon cake.

I will 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 - by chopping the pieces of butter with flour with an ordinary knife, as finely as possible. And then you can also rub the lumps with your hands. Just do this 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 directly on the plate.

Then add the oil to the chopper bowl.

On top - all the flour, it is advisable to first sift it through a sieve. Run at high speed until fine, fine crumbs form.

This is the kind of crumb we should end up with.

In another container, mix the crumbs with the remaining 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 should remain cold in its composition, not melted. When the dough does not stick to your hands and the table, the consistency we need has been achieved. Cover our bun with a napkin and leave to settle for half an hour.

After half an hour, put it in the refrigerator for another 1 hour, but first wrap it in 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. There are 9 pieces in the photo, but they can be divided into 12 or 15 parts.

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

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

I usually roll out such thin cakes directly on parchment to make it easier to transfer to a sheet. But if you need to transfer 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.

Place in a hot oven for 3-5 minutes. The shortbreads should reach a light, golden hue; there is no need to overcook them. They have set a little, have browned a little - you can take them out. The oven is heated to about 180-200 degrees. We bake on parchment - this makes it easier to remove the cakes from the sheet.

If you “pierce” our cake well with a fork in many places, no large bubbles or swellings will form, the cakes will look very smooth 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 layered, the tastier our future Napoleon will be! Well, like in this photo -

The trimmings are also baked and stored separately until better times. In better times we will make crumbs out of them for topping.

Prepare the custard.

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

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

Add our cream base in a thin stream to the pan with already hot milk, continuing intensive stirring continuously. We need to cook our cream until it thickens, but we should not allow bubbles that indicate boiling. And, of course, make sure that the cream does not burn to the bottom of the pan - the taste will immediately deteriorate. If you don’t have a lot of experience in this matter, it’s better to put everything in a water bath and steam the cream - this way it’s easier for us to control the temperature and there’s less chance of spoiling something.

Cool the cream. On the contrary, take out the butter to soften at room temperature.

Now you need to connect them together. Someone begins to beat the butter into a fluffy mass and gradually adds the custard base one spoon at a time. Some people simply whisk everything at once in one container. I don’t see a fundamental difference here - given the presence of modern “beating” equipment in the form of mixers, blenders, etc. - everything is whipped up with a bang!

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

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

There are no special secrets here, except for one thing - sour cream must be natural and high in fat content, at least 25, and preferably 30%. If you don’t have such sour cream, there are two options: the first is simple and quick. And the second one is slow, but correct :)

1. We take a “Thickener for sour cream” (for cream, just a thickener - whatever you can find in your stores) - and do everything according to the instructions on the package.
2. We take regular sour cream - double the volume, and place it in thick gauze for several hours, preferably overnight, hanging it over a water container (or place the sour cream in a shallow colander). The point is that, under its own weight, the sour cream squeezes out all the excess water from its depths (and how does it get there, I wonder?!) and we end up with thick, real sour cream, from which you can whip up a high-quality thick cream.

It is better to use powdered sugar as sugar, but this is not important. Pour sugar into sour cream and beat until thick. There will be a short period when the sour cream will thin out a little, but keep whisking and it will thicken to the desired consistency.

Assembling and decorating the Napoleon cake

The most enjoyable moment of making cakes is assembling, frosting, decorating!

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

• So, put a dry cake layer and coat it with custard butter cream on top.
• Place the second cake layer and coat it again in the same way.
• First coat the third cake with sour cream and then top it with custard.
• We repeat this, greasing every third cake with additional 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 sit for half an hour or an hour. During this time, the cakes will be soaked and become very tasty and moderately soft.
• Now wrap the cake with film on the sides and place a clean board (something flat) on top and lightly press the layers down. Place a small (about 1 kg) weight on the board and put it in the refrigerator for several hours, preferably overnight.

And in the morning we will decorate our soaked and brewed cake for the final time:

Lubricate the top layer with the remaining cream (any cream, you can use two at once) and coat the sides.
Cover the sides and top of the cake with crumbs. I hope you didn’t throw away our scraps, but air-dried them and ground them into fine crumbs?

Well, our magnificent Napoleon is ready to eat!

I saw many options online 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 that it’s a real, “Soviet” Napoleon - you can’t confuse it with anything!

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

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 that’s not our goal!

It happens that guests are expected in the evening. Or the children suddenly wanted a cake “right now” and certainly - made by their mother... There are different situations, but there is only one way out - to have a supply of the necessary products at home and 20-30 minutes of free time. And a good mood, of course! Without it, there’s basically nothing to do in the kitchen :)

So, we will need 2 packages of ready-made frozen puff pastry, either yeast or not, it makes no difference.

We put them out of the package onto 2 pieces of parchment at once and leave them in this form to defrost. We get 2 rectangles of finished puff pastry per sheet.

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

Making cream from condensed milk (condensed milk)

The quickest 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 complexity? Who will measure these grams when it comes to delicious cream?!

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

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

Cut the butter into cubes and keep at room temperature until softened. We begin to beat, gradually adding condensed milk and vanillin with cognac (if you decide on this option), spoon by spoon.

Our task is to obtain a uniform, thick, smooth mass, which will be our delicious and fastest cream for soaking and decorating 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 place a sheet of dough in it. We will need 10-15 minutes for one portion of cakes. But make sure that they are not overcooked, but have a beautiful golden hue.

Now we need to “get” crumbs to decorate Napoleon. We lightly trim the edges of our puff plates - we will get crumbs and even out the edges of the cake. You also need to cut - remove the top baked crust from each cake. This will give us both material for sprinkling and soften the finished layers.

This is the semi-finished product we got.

Now coat each layer with cream.

If necessary, dry the cut crusts in air or in the oven and grind them into crumbs.

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

Of course, he still needs to be given time to soak in the cream - at least 3 hours, but this is already the problem of those waiting for something delicious, and we are free and can do whatever our heart desires. We have already fulfilled our duty to the hungry family :)

It will take us 20-30 minutes to do everything about everything! And this is together with the preparation of the cream. A good, quick option for preparing Napoleon for those who don’t want to spend half a day in the kitchen.

Quick Napoleon cake in a frying pan - step-by-step recipe with photos

Let's look at another “non-classic” version of Napoleon cake, cooked in a frying pan. It sounds rather dubious, but, oddly enough, the taste is quite decent!

If you are in a place where you don’t have an oven (maybe you were drawn to nature and decided to celebrate the New Year at the dacha) - you will certainly impress your guests with a freshly prepared Napoleon! In a frying pan! Fantastic…

I won’t analyze the cream - take any of the above. I came across another version of cream for Napoleon - condensed milk is added to the custard with butter... I don’t know, I’ve never made this before.. Do you think this is a suitable option? Please write who made this cream and share your impressions!

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

For this test option 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 of baking soda, slaked with vinegar (or baking powder - 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. Mix everything quickly with your hands, grinding the butter with flour until it becomes buttery crumbs.

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

We take out one bun at a time and immediately quickly roll it into a thin layer.

This is such a thickness that your hand can be seen through. This is approximately 1 mm thick dough.

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

We remove the excess scraps and then make another cake out of them.

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

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

The cakes are prepared in a frying pan very quickly - literally 1 minute on one side. And quickly turn it over.

We make all the shortcakes one by one. While one is baking, roll out the other. Let cool. We roll the scraps into a common lump and also roll them out into cakes.

We coat our “Frying Pan Napoleon” with cream. Everything is as usual, layer by layer. Leave 3 shortcakes for topping - dry and chop into crumbs.

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

PS. By the way, I compared dough in a frying pan made from margarine and made from butter. Where I got the butter, the cakes were softer and more tender, well, that’s how it seemed to me. I didn’t have time to ask my family members - they scooped everything up in an instant! In my opinion, some people don’t even care how much time and effort you put into this cake - as long as it’s sweet :)

(old proven recipe)

Homemade Napoleon cake is perhaps the most delicious for me. The recipe for this Napoleon cake with custard, which was inherited from my grandmother, was sent to us by Olga Tulupova (unfortunately, without a photo). But when I started preparing it for release, it turned out that I knew this old recipe for Napoleon cake; for many years I have been baking it for my family on major holidays.

Anyuta.

On the Internet I came across countless recipes for the deservedly beloved Napoleon. I prepared it often, but the result was somehow not pleasing. And there was a reason for that. Our family has a recipe for the most delicious Napoleon cake, which is over 60 years old. The recipe came from Grandma Anya. Due to numerous moves, the recipe was safely lost in the depths of numerous things. Granny is already 87 years old and she doesn’t remember the recipe exactly. But then I found it by chance - joy knew no bounds. As a child, it seemed fabulously delicious to me. And even now my opinion has not changed.

For the test you will need:

• 1 liter jar (as a means of measurement)
• 1 glass 250 grams.
• 350 g margarine or butter
• liter jar of wheat flour,
• 1 egg,
• 1 tsp. vinegar or vodka,
• water.

Take a large bowl and chop the margarine and flour in it. I grate the margarine and then grind it with flour until it becomes fine crumbs. I break an egg into an empty glass, add water so that the glass is full, and add a teaspoon of vinegar or vodka. I mix and pour this mixture over the flour and margarine and continue chopping with a knife until smooth on the work surface.

Then I take out the dough for “Napoleon” for 40 minutes. to the cold.

Next, the ball of dough needs to be divided into parts for the cakes. Grandma’s recipe yields 7-8 donuts. I have 12 or more crumpets. The quantity may depend on the size of the baking sheet.

Each Napoleon cake layer is rolled out thinly. Before baking the first donut, I grease the baking sheet with vegetable oil, this is enough (you can just lightly sprinkle it with flour).

Thin cake layers (crumpets) for Napoleon cake bake quickly, so don’t go far from the oven. After baking, I immediately trim the edges to give the desired shape.

Then I assemble the Napoleon layer cake, coating each donut with cream. Decorate Napoleon as you wish.

Traditionally, I make crumbs from the scraps and sprinkle on the top and sides of the cake.

Now about the cream. I use custard.

Custard for Napoleon cake

For the cream recipe we will need:

• 2 glasses of milk,
• 2 eggs,
• 1 tbsp. l. flour,
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 250 gr. butter,
• a packet of vanillin.

How to make custard

To avoid lumps, I beat the eggs with sugar with a mixer until the sugar dissolves, then add flour, as in a sponge cake. There is a little secret - before adding flour to the cream, you need to fry it a little in a frying pan without oil until light brown - this improves the taste of the cream. Add flour, milk. Mix.

Put the custard on the stove to cook, bring to a boil over low heat, stirring all the time so that there are no lumps. Once the mixture thickens, remove from heat.

Cool the custard in the milk and eggs, add it in parts to the softened butter,

and beat again with a mixer until smooth.

To add a piquant taste to the cream, you can add lemon or orange zest.

Let homemade Napoleon cake with custard soak for at least half a day.

Enjoy your tea!

Another recipe:

Not everyone knows how to bake the well-known and beloved Napoleon cake themselves. Some people are afraid to get involved with a difficult dessert and this is completely in vain, because there is nothing complicated in preparing this wonderful cake, the main thing is to follow the recipe exactly and not be nervous.

Homemade Napoleon cake with custard

The butter for preparing the dough should be well chilled, and for the cream - at room temperature.

You can add more sugar to the cream, especially if you prefer very sweet desserts.

Wheat flour for the cream can be replaced with a little more starch, corn or potato.

Required ingredients:

• fresh egg – 1 pc.,
• cold water – 250 ml,
• salt - a pinch,
• butter – 250 grams,
• wheat flour – 700 grams.

• milk – 1 liter,
• fresh eggs – 6 pcs.,
• vanillin - a pinch,
• granulated sugar – 250 grams,
• butter – 200 grams,
• wheat flour – 120 grams.

Description of the cooking process:

Sift the flour into a large bowl and add the diced butter.

Using a sharp knife, chop the combined ingredients into homogeneous crumbs.

Add a raw egg and a pinch of salt to cold water, and then beat everything thoroughly with a fork into a homogeneous mass.

Pour the resulting mixture into the flour crumbs and quickly knead the dough, and it is better to do this not with a spoon, but with your hands.

Finish kneading the dough on a floured surface. The finished dough should come together and not stick to your hands at all. Wrap it in cling film and place it in the refrigerator for a while.

For the cream, combine eggs and granulated sugar into a fluffy mass.

Heat the milk on the stove in a large saucepan. Pour about 1 glass of it into the eggs, and then add vanillin and flour in several stages, working intensively with a whisk all this time.

Very carefully add the egg mass into the hot milk and, stirring continuously, continue to cook over low heat for about 20 minutes after boiling. The cream should become so thick that a spoon leaves a mark on its surface. Once this happens, place the custard in a cool place to cool completely.

Meanwhile, divide the chilled dough into 8-9 parts, and roll each of them one by one into a thin crust and prick with a fork. This can be done either on a baking sheet or on parchment paper - depending on what shape you have in mind for the cake. It is important that while one piece of dough is being rolled out, the rest are in the refrigerator.

Bake the cakes in an oven preheated to 180 degrees, which will take about 10 minutes for each cake.

Allow the finished cakes to cool, and while this is happening, beat the cold custard with soft butter into a homogeneous fluffy mass. In principle, if you like lighter desserts, then you don’t need to add butter to the cream at all.

Place the first cake on a dish and very carefully coat it with cream.

Carefully place the second cake layer on top and continue the process as many times as necessary.

Trim each of the cakes a little so that their shape is perfect, and use the resulting crumbs as a sprinkle for the top of the cake.

You can cut and enjoy the Napoleon cake no earlier than 6 hours after assembly, otherwise the cakes will not have time to soak properly. However, for the sake of such a perfect taste, you can endure a little, because then the pleasure will be unforgettable.

Another recipe for Napoleon cake

Recipe by Ekaterina Marutova

I would like to immediately note that the size of the cake was quite impressive, so if you do not need such a large cake, you can reduce the amount of ingredients in the recipe for this homemade Napoleon cake by at least 2 times. The cake in the photo turned out to be the size of a large square baking tray from the oven.

Required:

For the test:

• flour - approximately 1 kg - from the refrigerator.
• margarine – 4 packs (200 grams each) – should be kept in the freezer before cooking.
• eggs - 2 pcs. also chilled in the refrigerator.
• salt -1 tsp.
• vinegar - 2 tbsp. l.
• cold water – approximately 400 ml (I’ll write about why during preparation).

Custard for Napoleon cake:

• milk - 4 glasses.
• sugar - 1.5 cups.
• eggs - 4 pcs.
• flour - 4 tbsp. l.
• butter – 300 g.
• vanillin – 1 pack.
• powdered sugar – 2 tbsp. l.

How to make Napoleon cake with custard

First let's make the dough.

Sift about half the flour onto the table, and use a coarse grater to grate all the margarine (which should be in the freezer before use). When you add margarine, you need to sprinkle it with flour at the same time. Having grated all the margarine, add the rest of the flour and mix quickly.

Mix eggs, vinegar and salt in a deep bowl or large measuring mug (with milliliter marks) and add water so that the entire volume is 500 ml. That is why in the recipe for the Napoleon cake dough, which I gave above, the approximate amount of water is indicated. We do everything quickly.

Pour this mixture into the margarine-flour mixture and try to knead the dough as quickly as possible. Divide the finished dough into 4 equal parts, place each in a separate bag and place in the refrigerator for 2-3 hours.

While our dough is in the refrigerator, let's prepare custard with milk and butter to soak the Napoleon cake.

Pour the milk into a deep saucepan, bring to a boil, adding sugar.

Separately, you need to combine the eggs with flour and gradually add half the hot milk with sugar, stir until smooth.

Then quickly pour the remaining milk and sugar into the mixture.

While stirring well, you need to bring the custard with milk to a boil and immediately turn it off. NO NEED to boil!

The custard base for the cream is ready; it needs to be cooled before combining with butter. Separately, you need to beat the softened butter, gradually add the cooled custard and vanilla to it.

When the time the dough has been in the refrigerator is up, take out one part and roll it out (sprinkling the table with flour) to a thickness of 4 mm.

Place the homemade dough (very similar to puff pastry) on a baking sheet (which needs to be slightly moistened at the edges), press the edges a little and use a fork to make punctures in several places across the entire surface of the crust. This is necessary so that the cake does not swell.

Place the baking sheet in the oven preheated to 200 degrees. The beautiful ruddy color that you will see will hint to you that the cake is ready. Take out the prepared Napoleon cake layer and place it on a wooden board.

We bake the remaining cakes according to the same principle.

When all the layers for the Napoleon cake are ready, you can assemble our cake: if you baked a small cake with only 2 layers, then you need to cut each layer in half. If the cakes are not quite even, they need to be shaped by cutting them with a sharp knife. We will need the scraps for sprinkling the cake.

Place the first cake on a board or baking sheet and pour over the custard, distributing it evenly over the entire surface. Place the second cake layer, press lightly and coat with cream again. We do this with all the cakes.

When the assembly is completed, carefully cover the top and sides with the remaining custard, grind the trimmings from the cakes in a mortar or using a blender and sprinkle the entire cake with crumbs.

Sprinkle powdered sugar on top and decorate as desired. It is advisable to let the cake soak in the refrigerator for several hours.

We cut the delicious homemade Napoleon cake with custard into portioned pieces, put the kettle on and serve our sweet dessert to the table.