Napoleon Cake Recipe
User Reviews
5
Napoleon Cake Recipe
Description
This Napoleon Cake combines buttery puff pastry squares with a rich vanilla custard cream. The custard cooks gently on the stove until thickened to pudding-like consistency, then mixed with softened butter and vanilla powder for added smoothness and flavor. Puff pastry sheets are rolled thinner than packaged state, cut, and docked thoroughly to avoid puffing during baking, resulting in flat, crisp layers.
The final cake is assembled by layering custard between baked pastry squares, producing a dessert with contrasting textures: flaky and crunchy pastry alongside silky cream. Chopped walnuts may be incorporated into the cream for additional crunch and flavor balance.
The recipe's scale can be doubled to yield a larger cake, and care is taken to maintain thinness in the pastry layers for optimal texture.
Ingredients
- 1 lb puff pastry Pepperidge Farm brand, thawed according to package instructions, package of
- 2 egg
- 1 cup light brown sugar or 1/2 brown sugar, 1/2 white sugar
- 1/2 cup milk
- 2 Tbsp flour
- 1/2 lb unsalted butter or 2 sticks butter, room temperature
- 1/2 tsp vanilla powder optional
- 1/2 cup walnuts chopped
Instructions
- Whisk eggs and sugar in a medium sauce pan - do not beat, just mix.
- Whisk in milk and flour and put the pot on medium-low heat.
- Cook the mixture, stirring occasionally - (stir more often towards the end so it doesn't get lumpy) until it becomes thick, like pudding (approx 15-17 minutes).
- Remove from heat and let it cool for 15 to 20 minutes. Prep the puff pastry in the mean time.
- Once the mixture has cooled a little, add softened butter to the cream and beat the mixture on medium/high speed for a few minutes. Add 1/2 tsp vanilla powder. The cream is ready.
How to Make Napoleon Cake Layers:
- Preheat the oven to 400°F.
- Roll 1 of the puff pastry sheets onto a large sheet of parchment paper until the dough is double in size and nearly see-through. Thinner is better!
- Cut the rolled out sheet into 4 equal squares (about 6"x6" each).
- Poke Holes all over the top of the pastry or it will puff up. Make sure to really poke all the way through the dough.
- Place the parchment paper with dough onto a large cookie sheet. Bake at 400°F for 12-13 minutes or until tops are golden. These are easy to burn so keep an eye on them! Set pastry aside, and place the same parchment paper on a cool surface. Re-use the paper to roll out and bake the next sheet of pastry.
- Repeat steps 1 through 3 for the second sheet of pastry dough.
- Once the frosting is finished, assemble the cake by placing 2 sheets of pastry side by side and spreading a generous amount of cream over the top.
- Repeat with all of the pastry. Before glazing the top, gently press down on the cake to make it more compact.
- To make the topping, Trim the edges of the cake to make it more uniform. Crumble the cut-off sections and sprinkle over the top. (If cut-off pieces do not crumble easily, you may need to bake them until they are browned). Sprinkle 1/2 cup of chopped walnuts evenly over the top.
Notes
- To prevent puffed pastry from rising too thick, roll it thin and poke holes evenly before baking.
- The custard cream should be stirred frequently while cooking to avoid lumps and achieve smooth thickness.
- Chilled custard mixture should be beaten well with butter to achieve creamy consistency for layering.
- The recipe can be doubled to create a larger cake while maintaining texture and proportion.
User Reviews
Overall Rating
5
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