Cake with an unusual fate. Either it was a favorite dessert of aristocrats, or it was considered the food of the poor. Be that as it may, for most of us, it awakens wonderful memories of childhood, when it seemed the most delicious in the world.

Of course, in childhood, “the trees were taller and the grass greener” (and the products were of better quality), but you can get closer to this taste even now. Choose the best and tastiest country eggs, high-quality butter and flour, slowly and lovingly prepare the custard, and the classic Napoleon cake will delight you with its tenderness and enveloping taste.
I attach the recipe, as always, step by step, with photos, but if something remains unclear, be sure to ask in the comments.

Ingredients

For test:

• Butter - 300 g.
• Chicken eggs - 2 pcs.
• Ice water - 150 ml.
• Vinegar (6%) or lemon juice - 2 tbsp. spoons
• Salt - 1/8 teaspoon
• Flour - 600/650 g.

For custard:

• Milk - 800 ml.
• Sugar sand - 160 g.
• Vanilla sugar - 2 teaspoons
• Egg yolks - 8 pcs.
• Wheat flour - 80 g.

How to cook a delicious homemade "Napoleon" (classic recipe)

Pour lemon juice (2 tablespoons) into very cold water (150 ml). Water can be held in the freezer for several minutes, let ice begin to form on the surface. It is this water that we need for the right homemade dough, from which Napoleon is baked.

In a separate bowl, break two chicken eggs (I have the CO category, the largest, selected ones). Eggs must be from the refrigerator. Do you know the secret of delicious homemade dough for "Napoleon"? Very cold foods that will not mix well. Such a dough (it is called chopped) will be crumbly and crumbly, resembling puff pastry. But if you knead with warm ingredients, you will end up with hard cakes that not even the most liquid cream will soak.

Put 1/8 teaspoon salt to the eggs. In the photo, my spoon is not a teaspoon, but much smaller in size, so it seems that there is a lot of salt. Actually no, 1/8, as indicated in the cake recipe. Salt brings out the taste of baking, do not neglect it. In addition, in this recipe, salt plays an additional baking powder.

Combine the mixed eggs with water and lemon juice.

Stir the liquid until smooth and while we rub the oil, put the bowl of liquid ingredients in the refrigerator.

Butter must be grated with large cells. It would be superfluous to say that the oil should also be cold. Despite the fact that the butter is stored in the refrigerator, before preparing the cake, I put it in the freezer for 15-20 minutes. When I grate, I put on gloves, this allows you to create a barrier between the oil and warm hands. And hands don't get dirty. If you are the lucky owner of a powerful food processor, knead the chopped dough in it (minimum contact with your hands).

Wanting to get a delicious crumbly dough, a cutting board, a grater, a rolling pin and a knife, I put it in the freezer for half an hour before cooking. Of course, this is an optional step. If there is no room in the freezer - do not bother!

I sift flour (600 g) on ​​a convenient horizontal surface. Remember that in the winter season in apartments and houses the air is very dry (due to heating), the flour also becomes more crumbly and different in density, so its amount may vary (but should leave 600-650 grams on average).

Now spread the ice-cold butter shavings into the flour.

We pick up the most convenient wide knife and begin to mix the butter with flour with arbitrary movements. The butter should be mixed with flour as best as possible, until small pieces (the size of a fingernail) are formed. Now you understand why the dough is called chopped? We “chop” flour and butter, turning it into crumbs.

We build a hole-well in the flour crumb and pour cold eggs with water. And we begin to collect the dough into a ball. I must say right away that you will not like the process =), since it will be difficult to assemble, the dough strives to crumble again, but just this fact means that everything is going according to plan, the cake layers will turn out to be so layered, crumbly, airy . In principle, the dough comes together within 1-2 minutes, but if it happens to you that it does not hold in a lump in any way, add ice water in a teaspoon and collect the dough.

When the dough is gathered into a ball, we need to divide it into several balls, approximately equal in weight. You can get confused and measure on the scales. Can be divided by eye.

I get about 10 balls of dough (divided by eye). Now we put it on a large plate with a flat bottom or leave it on a board, cover with cling film and send it to the refrigerator for 1 hour. Do not skip this step: if the dough does not lie down in the cold, it will not be able to roll into a cake. During infusion, the components combine with each other and the dough becomes more elastic, but the butter does not melt. We remember that if the butter starts to melt, this automatically means that we will get a hard and tasteless dough crust.

During the preparation of homemade dough for the "Napoleon" for me, a marker that the butter is melting is the shine of the dough. It shouldn't be shiny! See the shine - send it to the refrigerator. And the second marker, the dough should not be sticky. If it starts to stick to your hands, this is also a signal that the oil is melting. We do the same - refrigerate.

15 minutes before the start of rolling the cakes, turn on the oven at 200 C. This is important! The cakes should immediately begin to bake at a high temperature, so preheat the oven well in advance.

After an hour, we take out one ball of dough from the refrigerator and begin to roll it into a thin cake. If it happens that the cake literally breaks, then let it warm up. But usually the dough rolls out perfectly, maybe only the first few seconds are hard, then it becomes more and more pliable from the heat of your hands. We roll out the thickness of a match, very thin, such as an exhaust fan, is not necessary. A thickness of 0.3 cm is sufficient.

After rolling, I transfer the dough to parchment paper, on which the cake will be baked, and then cut out an even circle. I use a saucepan lid for this, its base is so sharp that even a knife is not required. I attached the lid, pressed down with my whole body, and the cake squeezed out. If you didn’t find such a miracle cover on your farm, it’s okay. Attach a plate of the size you need, cut it along the contour with a knife - and that's it! Do not remove the rest of the cake. Let them bake too, we will need them to sprinkle the cake with crumbs.

In a hot oven, the cake is baked for 5-6 minutes. Prick the whole surface with a fork before sending it to the heat, although I will warn you right away: this will not help to completely get rid of the bubbles, but there will be much less of them. We stack the finished cakes on top of each other until all the dough is spent. In the photo I have five cakes, but this is not the final photo, but an intermediate one, in the process.

At the end of baking, I got more than 10 cakes. Despite the fact that there were only 10 balls of dough, by the middle of the process I realized that there were enough scraps for the crumbs, so I started mixing all the scraps into a ball and rolling it out again. You can do that too. Perhaps you will have less cake yield (or even more than mine). We all roll out differently, and the flour is different for everyone, the size of the eggs, too, etc.

The result should be the same: you have a stack of thin crispy cakes from homemade dough. What aroma fills the apartment during baking! My family is already starting to run into the kitchen and ask for a piece of shortbread. Hold fast: do not give the cakes to be eaten. You can try the baked crumble scraps. We want a tall beautiful cake, don't we? So everyone is patient and waiting.

The classic Napoleon cake is prepared with custard, I described how to cook it in a separate article. Cream on yolks, very tasty, follow the link to see step by step how to make it. I gave all the proportions exactly so that the cream was enough for a large cake.

The most delicious custard

I always cook custard in sufficient quantities, according to the principle (it is better to remain superfluous than not enough). Agree, you don’t want to be distracted while assembling the cake in order to cook (and most importantly, cool!) A new portion of the cream. In a separate recipe, I described in detail (follow the link, there are step-by-step photos of the process).

Cream of butter and condensed milk is also excellent for the Napoleon cake. To prepare it, you need to beat 200 grams of butter into a light mass, and then, continuing to beat, add 1.5-2 cans of condensed milk (the amount of condensed milk depends on how thick the cream you plan to get).

What cream "Napoleon" is tastier? This is individual. In our family, both cakes are loved, but with custard they are asked to cook more often. Probably the classic taste determines everything =)

Assembling the cake

To distribute an equal amount of cream over all the cakes, I lay them out on the table and divide the cream so that everyone gets it. Only then do I collect them together, into one cake. So there will be no misses with the amount of cream.

The custard must be well chilled. Spread with a spatula over the entire surface of the cake, stack them on top of each other.

Coat the cake on all sides, including the top and sides.

Grind the rest of the cakes in a blender or put in a bag, tie it and beat it with a rolling pin.

Sprinkle the resulting crumb on all sides.

Let the cake soak in the refrigerator (at least 4 hours, but best left overnight). Many put the cake under weighting in order to soak it as best as possible. I don't do that. I like it when in some places (where there were bubbles) the cakes crunch.

But if you want a completely wet cake, do not cover the top with cream, but build a “oppression”. To do this, place a cutting board on top of the treat, and on it a two-liter jar of jam, for example. Of course, this whole structure should be in the refrigerator (you may have to remove one shelf).

Homemade cake "Napoleon" will turn out soaked, tender, very tasty!

If you post a photo of a cake according to this recipe on Instagram, please indicate the tag #pirogeevo or #pirogeevo so that I can see photos of your masterpieces. I will be very pleased!

Cake "Napoleon" is one of the most delicious desserts that is loved all over the world. In Italy and France it is called "Thousand Layers", and in Belgium and the Netherlands there is a similar recipe for the "Tompus" cake, but with whipped cream and pink icing. Interestingly, it is often associated with Soviet times, when it was difficult to buy confectionery, so many housewives learned in practice how to cook a Napoleon cake at home. That is why so many homemade recipes for the Napoleon cake appeared, because each family had its own secrets for preparing this delicacy.

How did the Napoleon cake come about?

In 1912, Russia was preparing to celebrate the centenary of the victory over Napoleon, and on this occasion, confectioners created a new triangular-shaped puff pastry cake with custard cooked in milk and butter. The French, on the other hand, assign authorship to themselves, adhering to two main versions of how the most delicate dessert was born.

The first story tells how a cunning court cook decided to please Bonaparte and, having bought an ordinary pie, cut it into many layers and smeared it with whipped cream and strawberries. In the second story, the author of the recipe was Napoleon himself, whom Josephine convicted of treason, and he had to come up with a reason why he ended up in the arms of the lady-in-waiting. The recipe for the cake, which the maid of honor allegedly told him, became his alibi. Well, talented people are talented in everything!

How to cook homemade "Napoleon"

The main feature of the classic "Napoleon" is that the cakes are cooked without sugar, but they turn out to be very light, airy and extremely tasty. Not everyone knows what type of dough the Napoleon cake is made from, because in the context it turns out to be very layered. As a rule, puff pastry is used, although there are other recipe options. However, if there is not enough time, the dough can be prepared according to a fresh recipe, as for dumplings. Typically, cakes are made from ice water or milk, butter or quality margarine, salt, vinegar, which gives the cakes a puff structure, and sifted premium wheat flour. Sometimes sour cream, milk, eggs, vodka, beer and cottage cheese are added to the dough. From the finished dough, roll out cakes 1–2 mm thick and bake them for 8–15 minutes in an oven heated to 200 ° C. Most importantly, do not cut the cakes after baking so that they do not break. Trim the finished cake, smeared with cream, so that it turns out beautiful and neat.

Let's talk about how to prepare a cream for "Napoleon". For the cake, they usually make custard, sour cream, butter and butter cream, to which chocolate is sometimes added. After lubrication, the cake is left to soak for 10 or more hours. The finished dessert can be decorated with any nuts - it will become even tastier.

Cooking Napoleon cake at home: a few secrets

Do not add too much flour to the dough - it should roll out well, nothing more. Too steep dough will make the cakes harsh and not very tasty - the cake will lose its tenderness and will not soak well. The cakes should also be thin enough, but you should not feel sorry for the cream: the more it is, the tastier the cake.

Take fatty butter or margarine and be sure to refrigerate it before kneading the dough, but the butter should not be frozen, otherwise you will not be able to roll out the cake, it will begin to tear.

Cakes for "Napoleon" can swell, so pierce them with a fork before baking, then they will turn out perfectly even. If you want to get a tender and juicy cake, spread the cakes immediately after they are ready, and for a crispy effect, it is better to apply the cream on the cakes before serving.

Cake "Napoleon": a step by step recipe

And now check out the recipe for a delicious Napoleon cake with custard. It is not difficult to cook it, but how much joy your loved ones will receive! So, you will need the following products: for the test: water - 160 ml, sifted flour - 400 g, butter or margarine - 260 g, salt - ⅓ tsp, vinegar - 15 ml; for cream: sugar - 300 g, milk - 700 ml, butter - 200 g, chicken eggs - 2 pcs., starch - 20 g, vanilla to taste.

Cooking method:

1. Combine salt, flour and butter in a bowl and grind them until crumbly.

2. Mix ice water with vinegar.

3. Pour water into the oil crumb, stirring constantly.

4. Knead the dough very quickly.

5. Divide the dough into 10 or more equal pieces (it all depends on what size your cake will be).

6. Form koloboks, wrap them in cling film and place in the refrigerator for an hour.

7. Lay baking paper or a sheet of parchment on the table, grease it with oil and roll out each bun in turn.

8. Attach a plate or pot lid to the cake and cut off any excess. Mix the scraps with the next kolobok.

9. Make a few punctures with a fork on the surface of the cake.

10. Transfer the cake with paper to a baking sheet and bake for 7-10 minutes at a temperature of 200 ° C.

11. For cream, mix sugar with starch and vanilla in a small saucepan.

12. Add eggs to the saucepan and beat well.

13. Pour milk into this mixture.

14. Put the saucepan on the stove and cook, stirring constantly, until the cream begins to gurgle.

15. Add butter to the cooled custard mass.

16. Beat the cream well.

17. Lubricate the dish with cream, lay out the cake, cover it with 3 tbsp. l. cream. Repeat this with all the cakes, reserving one of the cakes for the topping.

18. Leave the cake for 2 hours to soak.

19. Spread cream on the sides of the cake and sprinkle it with crumbled cake.

20. Leave the cake for 10 hours.

The Napoleon cake master class is over, the amazingly tender and melt-in-your-mouth dessert is ready!

Unusual "Napoleon" on beer

A cake made from beer dough turns out to be unusually tender and crumbly and smells very appetizing.

Mix 400 g of sifted flour and 250 g of cold butter, cut into thin slices. Chop the butter with a knife, mix with flour and pour in 200 ml of cold beer. Knead the dough, if it turns out too damp, add more flour to the eye. Divide the dough into 10 pieces and refrigerate them.

Prepare a cream from 400 g of softened butter, cut into pieces, and 450 g of condensed milk - everything needs to be beaten well, vanilla can be added to the cream if desired.

Then take out the pieces of dough one by one from the refrigerator and roll them into cakes of the desired diameter, and then bake in the oven for no more than 10 minutes at a temperature of 180–210 ° C. Assemble the cake in the standard way, brushing the cakes with cream, sprinkle with crushed cake, and then put it in the refrigerator to soak. Decorate the cake with fresh strawberries before serving.

This is a real delicacy!

"Napoleon" from ready-made puff pastry

If you don't have time to make the cake from start to finish, you can use store-bought puff pastry. So, buy 1 kg of dough, defrost it, unfold and cut each layer into four parts, so that you end up with eight parts. Roll each part into a round cake with a greased rolling pin and trim the edges with a plate. Pierce the cake with a fork, and then bake in the oven for 10-15 minutes at a temperature of 180-200 ° C, checking the readiness with a wooden stick. Bake the trimmings together with the cakes too.

For cream, beat a jar of condensed milk and 200 g of soft butter in a mixer. Separately, beat 300 ml of heavy cream until it becomes thick, and then carefully fold it into the buttercream using a wooden spatula.

Spread the cakes without sparing the cream, sprinkle them with chopped scraps, chopped walnuts and refrigerate for at least 10 hours.

A cake made from ready-made store-bought dough turns out to be very layered - the way it should be!

Delicate curd "Napoleon"

Fans of cottage cheese sweets will be happy with this version of the cake. Its taste will not disappoint you!

Mix 350 g of cottage cheese with 1 tsp. salt, and grind 400 g of flour with 350 g of butter until crumbs form. Mix cottage cheese with butter and flour, knead the dough, adding more flour if necessary.

Divide the dough into 8-9 parts, roll into balls and refrigerate for an hour. While the dough is cooling, prepare a cream of 500 ml of fat sour cream and 200 g of sugar by beating the ingredients in a mixer.

Roll out the cakes from each ball, bake them on oiled parchment for 10–12 minutes at a temperature of 200 ° C. Spread the cakes with cream and sprinkle the chopped cake on top. It turns out spectacular and very tasty!

You can find a variety of recipes with a photo of the Napoleon cake on our website. If you also love this dessert, share your cake options and secrets with our readers. Sweets brighten up life and cheer up, so do not deprive yourself of desserts and pamper your loved ones more often!

for buttercream:

• Condensed milk - 1 can (380 g.)
• Butter - 250 g.
• Cognac 3-4 tablespoons (in the original recipe from Olga Kabo, but I did not add alcohol to the cream)

for custard:

• Milk - 200 ml.
• Eggs - 2 pcs.
• Starch - 1 tbsp. a spoon
• A packet of vanilla sugar.

How to cook

First, prepare the walnuts. They need to be cleaned, chopped in a blender with a knife attachment. You don’t need to roast the nuts, but I leave it to your taste (you can dry it in the oven or in a frying pan).

Nuts for dough should be chopped very finely, almost into nut dust.

Set aside 1/3 of the nut crumbs for the cream.

Puff pastry for "Napoleon" at home

Sift flour (360 gr.) For dough.

If you do not have scales, use a faceted glass, measure out 2 cups with a slide of flour and sift.

Add all dry ingredients to the dough: salt (1 teaspoon).

soda (3/4 tsp).

Mix all dry ingredients so that salt, soda and flour are evenly distributed.

Now you need to grate the cold butter on a medium grater. You may need to put it in the freezer before rubbing, as the soft butter will be very difficult to work with.

Grind the butter and flour crushed on a grater into crumbs.

The smaller your crumb, the more evenly the butter and flour are distributed, which means that the finished dough will be more puffy. In the photo, the crumb is not yet uniform, I continue to rub it between my palms.

In a separate bowl, stir the chicken egg with vanilla sugar.

Add ice water (2-3 tablespoons)

Add cognac (if you don’t have cognac on hand, you can make a substitute for rum, liquor and other alcohol). 50 ml should be added.

The resulting liquid mixture is poured into the butter-flour crumbs.

Throw in chopped nuts.

Mix all ingredients vigorously.

At first you will mix with a spatula / spoon, then you will have to put everything aside and start collecting the dough into a ball with your hands.

We put the dough in a plastic bag or wrap it in cling film. We send it to the refrigerator for 1 hour.

Chilled dough should be divided into equal parts. Usually it turns out 7-8 cakes. First, divide the total lump of dough into two equal parts.

We divide each result by two more.

Each resulting lump must be divided into two more parts.

Each piece of dough is rolled up, rounded to an even ball. We spread it on a plate and send it to the refrigerator for 20-30 minutes.

The next step is to take out one kolobok of dough from the refrigerator and begin to roll it into a thin cake 2 mm thick. We set the oven to warm up to 200 C.

Thinly rolled cake should be arranged in an even circle. You can attach a plate and cut off the edges with a sharp knife. I use a pot lid. I press on the cake and the edges are trimmed with a lid. Sometimes you have to trim the bumps with a knife.

Roll all the scraps into the dough and use it again for baking cakes + one such cake will come in handy for making crumbs (sprinkling for the cake).

We pierce the cake with a fork over the entire area as often as possible (this will prevent the dough from swelling during baking).

We send the cake to a well-heated oven for 15-20 minutes until golden brown. I open the oven after 10 minutes and flip it to the other side so the cakes are browned on both sides.

Fold the finished cakes (you can stack on top of each other).

How to make cream cake

The original recipe for the Napoleon cake on vodka uses cream butter + condensed milk + rum.
I excluded rum from the ingredients and added custard to the butter, so that the cream turned out to be a lot and the cake was soaked. In addition, "Napoleon" with custard is a classic of taste, it is a 100% hit on the target. It is difficult to refuse a knowingly winning combination of flavors!

Custard

So for the preparation of custard 1 tbsp. mix a spoonful of starch with a small amount of milk (it is more convenient to make the mixture homogeneous).


In a separate bowl, stir two eggs. Add the milk-starch mixture to the eggs, stir.

Then pour the well-heated milk in a thin stream with constant intensive stirring into the eggs.

We return the future custard to the ladle and put it on the stove again, we begin to cook with slow stirring until it thickens.

As soon as the cream begins to thicken, remove it from the heat and pour into another bowl.

Vanilla can be added at this stage.

Butter cream for cake

Beat the butter at room temperature with a mixer or blender with a whisk attachment. The oil should become airy, increase in volume and turn white. Add condensed milk to butter.

Whisk again.

Oil cream for "Napoleon" is ready! Now you need to combine the two creams.

Stir and get a smooth, beautiful and tasty cream for the cake.

Assembling the cake

To assemble the cake, we need a beautiful flat dish on which our delicious dessert will be located. Large horizontal surface to lay out cakes.

A common mistake that I encounter when preparing a Napoleon cake is that I don’t have enough cream. The last top layers always receive less cream than the first ones.

To avoid this trouble, you can do this: put all the cakes on the table and spread the cream in equal amounts on all the cakes. Thus, the cream will go to everyone equally.

Remember that you need to leave a little cream for spreading the cake on top and sides.

I remember from childhood the amazing taste of homemade cake "Napoleon", which was prepared by my mother. She made it with condensed milk, and with custard, and with puff cakes, and with ordinary ones, and in the oven, and in a frying pan. The cake was the most beloved and revered in our family, which is why it was transferred by itself into our adult life. Then I experimented with all the options, some turned out to be dryish and dense, some tender and melting in the mouth, even the snack "Napoleon" with a spicy filling of cheese, nuts and mushrooms was made - also spicy and tasty!

In general, this cake is a win-win option that your guests and household will always like, you just need to choose the most suitable recipe for you. Or you can experiment, and each time you get a new, interesting taste. Today we will consider several options for making homemade Napoleon cake - with ordinary cakes, with puff pastry according to an old recipe, with custard, with condensed milk and with one more special cream in milk. Dare, and you will succeed!

Cake "Napoleon" classic, with three types of cream

The recipe will offer three types of cream, since one of them is cooked quickly, the second is longer, and the third is more complex. But they are all very tasty with a slight difference, which will take extra time. But do not think that the taste of the cake depends only on the cream. The thickness of the cakes and the proportional component in them are also of great importance. It is not for nothing that even the most expensive ready-made cakes that are sold cannot replace the real taste of homemade cakes. So, the Napoleon cake step by step, we cook together. First, let's deal with the cakes, this is the basis of the cake.

Cake layers "Napoleon"

For cakes, we need to prepare:

1. 0.5 cups of water;
2. 1 chicken yolk;
3. 1 spoon of vinegar (9%);
4. 375 grams of margarine;
5. 2.5 st. flour.

Let's start by mixing water, yolk and vinegar in a container. Then, in a separate basin or bowl, you need to cut the margarine, add flour, knead it all well with your hands.

From the first container, pour the liquid mixture into the second container. We mix.

The dough should lag behind the hands, but not be very tight. We divide it into equal parts-balls, like large cutlets. We put in the refrigerator for a couple of hours, which helps the dough to roll out easier.

Roll out, carefully lay out on a baking sheet and bake for about 10 minutes each in an already preheated oven (170 degrees).

You also need to carefully pull out the cakes, since they are quite fragile. Put them in a pile and let cool. By the way, I often bake cakes in a dry frying pan - it also turns out delicious.

The cakes need to be cut off, and the remaining crumbs should be crushed (you can use a blender), we will coat the cake with it. So, the cakes are ready, let them cool, proceed to the preparation of the cream.

Simple cream for Napoleon cake: with condensed milk

For him you need to take:

1. 1 jar of condensed milk
2. 0.5 packs of butter
3. 200 g sour cream

Take condensed milk either already boiled, or put ordinary condensed milk in a saucepan with water on a slow fire and cook it for 1 hour. Then soften the butter, add condensed milk and sour cream to it, mix everything, and the cream is ready.

Cream recipe for Napoleon cake: custard

1. 600 ml of milk;
2. 2 tbsp. spoons of flour;
3. 2 eggs;
4. 1 st. Sahara;
5. a sachet of vanillin;
6. 50 grams of butter.

First, boil milk (0.5 l.). At this time, in 0.1 l. milk dissolve flour, yolks separated from proteins, sugar, vanillin. Whisk well, then add in a thin stream to the boiling milk. Bring to a boil again, throw in the butter, separately beaten egg whites. Bring everything back to a boil.

Let the mass cool, beat it well with a mixer so that there is a homogeneous mass without lumps, spread on the cakes with a plentiful layer.

The most delicious cream for Napoleon

1. four yolks (in extreme cases, two eggs);
2. 1.5 cups of sugar;
3. two st. spoons of flour with a slide;
4. 800 ml of milk;
5. one packet of vanillin;
6. 200 g butter.

Beat egg yolks well, add 0.5 tbsp. sugar, flour and a little milk to mix it all up, and there were no lumps (about 100 ml.).

Separately boil 700 ml. milk. Pour the prepared mixture into boiling milk, bring to a boil. Next, you need to cool the cream. It should not be liquid, but it does not need to be made very thick either. Add vanillin.

Separately grind 1 cup of sugar with butter. And gradually mix everything into one complex cream. If necessary, bring to the desired state with a mixer. This cream is obtained with mother-of-pearl tints - very tasty and beautiful. We grease them with our cakes. We put them one on top of the other. It is better to put the cake under a light press for a couple of hours so that all the cakes are well saturated with cream, and then we make crumbs from the scraps of the cakes and sprinkle the cake with them.

"Napoleon" according to an old recipe of puff pastry with custard

The Napoleon cake was presented to the judgment of the Russian aristocracy at the anniversary celebration. Moscow was then celebrating the centenary of the victory of the Russian army in the Patriotic War of 1812. The confectioners made the cake triangular, like the headdress of a French commander. Hence its name. True, this form turned out to be uncomfortable and did not take root, unlike the cake itself. His sweet tooth was appreciated. Delicate dessert and today will not leave anyone indifferent. So, Napoleon cake made of puff pastry with custard, a very tasty recipe.

Puff pastry cakes

Softened butter (not margarine!) is rubbed with a tablespoon of milk and a third teaspoon without a slide of salt. Take 350 g of butter. Add 2 cups of wheat flour to it. The dough is kneaded until it becomes elastic and homogeneous. Then they are formed in the form of a bar, wrapped in cling film and put in the refrigerator for an hour.
The chilled dough is placed on a floured table and rolled out with a rolling pin. The result should be a rectangular layer, about one centimeter thick. It is folded in half twice. The resulting quarter is again rolled out and folded, as for the first time. Puff pastry is ready.

Now a thin plate (4-5 mm) is obtained from it, of course, using a rolling pin. A finished layer is wound onto it in order to carefully unfold it on a sheet. It is not necessary to smear the baking sheet with oil, it is enough to moisten its edges with water. So the cakes are not deformed during baking, which takes place at a temperature of 200-220 degrees. By the way, the oven should be preheated in advance. And cut the dough plate into two equal parts and prick in several places with a knife.
The cakes will be ready in about 40 minutes or a little earlier. They are transferred from the sheet to the board and covered with a kitchen towel. While the cakes are cooling, prepare the cream for the cake.

Custard

In a small saucepan put 4 tablespoons of sugar, a teaspoon of starch, break 3 eggs, pour one glass of drinking cream (milk). The products are thoroughly mixed. Place the saucepan over low heat and heat until the mixture thickens. It must be constantly stirred so that lumps do not form. Do not boil the mixture! If desired, the taste of custard can be made vanilla by putting a pinch of vanilla sugar in it. Or chocolate, if during cooking add grated chocolate (70 g) or a couple of tablespoons of cocoa. Some people like cream with liqueur or cognac (1 tablespoon). Everyone's preferences are different.

Cake decoration

In warm cakes, uneven edges are cut so that they are the same. It is better to do this by placing a plate on top. After that, let it cool completely. To make the cake beautiful and even, it is better to immediately lay out the cakes in a detachable form, lubricate it there, and then remove the form - and the cake turns out wonderful, the cakes do not move to the sides - the ideal shape is guaranteed!

Then one of them is spread with custard and covered with a second cake.

Cream is also smeared on the top and sides of the cake. The samples that were obtained when leveling the cakes are chopped with a knife into small crumbs. She is sprinkled with cake in all directions.

(old proven recipe)

Napoleon's homemade 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, no photo). But when I began to prepare it for release, it turned out that this old Napoleon cake recipe was known to me, for many years I have been baking it at home on major holidays.

Anyuta.

On the Internet, I met a myriad of recipes for the deservedly beloved Napoleon. I made it often, but the result somehow did not please. 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 bowels of numerous things. Grandma is already 87 years old and she does not remember the recipe exactly. But then I accidentally found it - there was no limit to joy. As a child, it seemed fabulously tasty to me. And even now my opinion has not changed.

For the test you will need:

• 1 liter jar (as a measuring instrument)
• 1 cup 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 with flour in it. I rub margarine on a grater and then grind it with flour until fine crumbs. I break an egg into an empty glass, add water so that there is a full glass, and a teaspoon of vinegar or vodka there. I mix and pour the flour with margarine with this mixture and continue to chop with a knife until smooth on the working surface.

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

Next, the ball of dough must be divided into parts for cakes. Grandma's recipe makes 7-8 donuts. I have 12 or more donuts. The amount may depend on the size of the pan.

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

Thin cakes (donuts) for the Napoleon cake are baked quickly, so do not go far from the oven. After baking, immediately cut off the edges, giving the desired shape.

Then I collect the Napoleon puff cake, spreading cream on each donut. Decorate the Napoleon however you like.

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

Now about the cream. I use custard.

Custard for cake Napoleon

For the cream recipe we need:

• 2 glasses of milk
• 2 eggs,
• 1 st. l. flour,
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 250 gr. butter,
• vanilla sachet.

How to make custard

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

We put the custard to cook on the stove, bring to a boil over low heat, stirring all the time so that there are no lumps. As the mass thickens, remove from heat.

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

and again beat with a mixer until smooth.

To spice up the taste of the cream, you can add lemon or orange zest.

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

Happy tea!

Another recipe:

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

Homemade cake Napoleon with custard

Butter for making dough should be well chilled, and for cream - at room temperature.

More sugar can be added to the cream, especially if you prefer very sweet desserts.

Wheat flour for 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 to it.

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

Add a raw egg and a pinch of salt to cold water, and then carefully beat everything 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 table. The finished dough should come together in one lump and absolutely not stick to your hands. Wrap it in cling film and place it in the refrigerator for a while.

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

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

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

In the meantime, divide the chilled dough into 8-9 parts, and roll each of them alternately into a thin cake and prick with a fork. You can do this both on a baking sheet and on parchment paper - depending on what shape the cake you have in mind. It is important that while one piece of dough is 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 lush mass. In principle, if you like lighter desserts, then you can not add oil to the cream at all.

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

From above, carefully place the second cake and continue the steps 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 powder for the top of the cake.

You can cut the Napoleon cake and enjoy it 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 suffer a little, because then the pleasure will be unforgettable.

Another Napoleon Cake Recipe

Ekaterina Marutova's recipe

I want 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 number 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 sheet from the oven.

Would need:

For test:

• flour - about 1 kg - from the refrigerator.
• margarine - 4 packs (200 gr each) - must lie 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 will write why approximately, in the preparation itself).

Custard for Napoleon cake:

• milk - 4 cups.
• 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 a Napoleon cake with custard

Let's make the dough first.

Sift about half of the flour on the table, and three whole margarine on a coarse grater (which should lie before use in the freezer). When three margarine, at the same time it must be sprinkled with flour. Having rubbed all the margarine, add the rest of the flour and mix quickly.

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

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

While our dough is in the refrigerator - cook 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 of the hot milk with sugar there, mix until smooth.

Then quickly pour the remaining milk with sugar into the mass.

Mixing well, you need to bring the custard in milk to a boil and immediately turn it off. DO NOT boil!

The custard base for the cream is ready, it must be cooled before being combined with butter. Separately, you need to beat the softened butter, gradually add the cooled custard and vanillin to it.

When the time for the dough to stay in the refrigerator is up, take out one part, roll it out (sprinkling the table with flour) 4 mm thick.

We spread the homemade dough (very similar to puff pastry) on a baking sheet (which needs to be moistened a little from the edges), press the edges a little and make punctures with a fork in several places over the entire surface of the cake. This is necessary so that the cake does not swell.

We send the baking sheet to the oven, heated to 200 degrees. The beautiful ruddy color that you see will hint to you that the cake is ready. We take out the finished cake for the Napoleon cake, put it on a wooden board.

The rest of the cakes are baked in the same way.

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

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

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

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

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