In childhood, everyone is especially picky - they like it, they don't like it. Napoleon is one of the desserts that many remember for its unusually delicate combination of the taste of cakes and cream. It is for Napoleon cake lovers that this article was created. Therefore, taking the opportunity, there is a chance to quickly prepare a dessert for a small feast. We recommend that you save the classic Soviet-era Napoleon cake recipe in your culinary notes.

Fans of this dessert know from the Soviet era that not a single holiday was complete without the signature dessert - Napoleon. With the change of historical periods, the cake recipe was somewhat modified, but the recipe from our childhood is still preserved.

The classic recipe is the dough, where milk is used. Over time, unusual variations appeared - based on beer, with cottage cheese, on sour cream. A simple and less expensive option is dough cooked in water. Of course, it will not be as fragrant as with milk, but such a cake turns out to be very tasty.

On milk

The classic dessert recipe is based on milk. It is simple, the preparation time for the cakes is less than an hour, and while they are baking, the cream for the layer is being prepared.

Base Ingredients:

• flour - 3.5 cups;
• margarine - 300 g;
• milk - ½ cup.

Cream ingredients:

• eggs - 3 units;
• sugar - 1 glass;
• flour - 3 tbsp. l.;
• milk - 1 l;
• butter - 50 g;
• condensed milk with sugar - 0.5 cans;
• vanillin - 1 sachet;

For sprinkling: cookies - 5 pieces.

Cooking:

On a note. Shortbread cookies are perfect for topping. You can not crumble to powdery crumbs, it is enough to break into not very large pieces.

1. We start by preparing the test. You will need to manually grind a piece of margarine with flour. When the mass turns completely into crumbs, add milk and knead the dough. Cover it with a lid and leave for half an hour. In the meantime, proceed to the cream.
2. We put the milk on a small fire. Grind the eggs with sugar and flour. Next, pour the mass into warm milk in a thin stream, stirring constantly. Add vanilla and cook until thickened. Be sure to stir to prevent lumps and burning.
3. Let the cream cool down. After that, add butter and condensed milk, beat with a mixer, or stir with a whisk.
4. Cut the dough into eight pieces. With a rolling pin, roll out 8 cakes in a baking dish. We send the cake to a preheated oven to 200 ° C for 10 - 12 minutes. Cakes should not be too ruddy. So we repeat 7 more times.
5. Lubricate the finished cakes with custard, leaving a little on the sides.
6. For decoration, you can crush the cookies and sprinkle on all sides, lightly pressing them with your hands to the sides.
7. Let the cake soak overnight. In the morning, Napoleon in milk is ready for use.

On the water

An easier method of preparation is with water instead of the milk component. The dough turns out obedient, tender, and shortcakes are layered, thin, very tasty.

Cake ingredients:

• flour - 0.6 kg;
• eggs - 2 units;
• margarine - 300 g;
• water - 150 ml;
• a pinch of salt;
• vinegar - 0.5 tsp;

Cream is prepared from:

• eggs - 4 units;
• milk - 1 l;
• sugar - 300 g;
• flour - 100 g;
• vanilla sachet.

Cooking:

1. Dilute vinegar in water. Beat the eggs with a blender for a few minutes and then add water, repeat the action.
2. Sift flour and grind with margarine. Then add the egg mixture to the flour and knead a soft dough.
3. We divide the dough into parts - we put the future cakes in the refrigerator for half an hour.
4. Heat milk for cream on the stove. Beat eggs with two types of sugar (vanilla and white). Add flour to the egg mixture and mix well until smooth. Then carefully pour a couple of tablespoons of high-temperature milk here.
5. Add the prepared egg-milk mixture to the heated milk, stirring with a spatula. Cook until thickened, without the formation of lumps.
6. We take out the dough one by one and roll it out. We shift the cake on a baking sheet and place in the oven at 180 ° C, bake until cooked. The finished cake becomes a melted color, slightly bubbling, dry.
7. We coat the cakes with cream, leaving one for decoration: grind into crumbs and sprinkle the top and sides.

On beer

Beer cakes are slightly flaky, quickly baked - literally in a matter of minutes. We definitely recommend trying it.

Prepare for the test:

• beer - 0.2 l;
• margarine - 250 g;
• flour - 3-3.5 cups;

Prepare cream from:

• milk - 0.6 l; sugar - 180 g;
• flour - 75 g;
• eggs - 3-4 units;
• butter - 30 g.

The process goes like this:

1. Grind flour and margarine into crumbs. Pour beer here, carefully in parts. We divide the kneaded dough into 10-12 parts and send it to the refrigerator for half an hour.
2. We roll out the dough and bake the cakes in the oven, preheated to 180 C °, for ten minutes.
3. In the meantime, we make custard, traditional for Napoleon. We heat the milk over medium heat with the addition of sugar, stir. Beat the flour with eggs, then dilute with milk and beat again. Gently pour the egg mixture into the milk, but it should not boil. Cook until thickened, without lumps. We leave the cream to cool, after which we throw oil into it.
4. Lubricate the baked cakes with custard. Decorate with cookie crumbs or crushed nuts.

With curd cakes

Cottage cheese Napoleon turns out much more tender than usual. We recommend that you try it at least once.

Prepare the dough from the following products:

• sugar - 1 glass;
• margarine - 100 g;
• cottage cheese - 400 g;
• eggs - 2 units;
• baking powder - 10 g;
• vanilla sugar - 8 g;
• flour based on consistency;

The cream consists of:

• milk - 1 l;
• sugar - 1 glass;
• eggs - 4 units;
• butter - 200 g;
• vanilla sugar - 8 g;
• flour - 3 tbsp. spoons;
• starch - 2 tbsp. spoons.

Let's start with the crust:

1. In a container, mix cottage cheese, vanilla and white sugar, margarine and eggs at room temperature. Stir the mass well, pour flour into it, this amount takes about 0.5 kg of flour. The dough is soft, not clogged and does not stick to your hands. We leave it in the refrigerator.
2. Roll out thin layers, about 2-3 mm. We bake in the oven, heated to 180 ° C. The process will take literally 7 - 10 minutes. We also bake cake scraps. They will be needed to decorate the finished cake.
3. We heat the milk on the stove. With a mixer, combine sugar with eggs, then add a little milk and add flour, beat the mass again. Next, in a thin stream, add the egg mixture to the milk in small volumes, cook until thickened. Put the butter into the non-hot cream, mix thoroughly.
4. We smear each layer with ready-made cream. For decoration, finely break the remaining shortcakes and sprinkle on top. We leave the cake to soak in the cream for several hours.

On sour cream

Napoleon according to the recipe of the USSR is not difficult, it takes a minimum of time. Cakes are baked quickly, they come out very tasty. Along with the cream, finely chopped nuts can be added to the layer.

Prepare dough from:

• flour - 3 cups;
• sour cream - 200 ml;
• margarine - 250 g;

Cream ingredients:

• milk - 1 l;
• butter - 200 g;
• a sachet of vanillin;
• eggs - 2 units;
• sugar - 1 glass;
• flour -3 table. spoons.

Cooking goes like this:

1. We prepare the dough as follows, mix flour with margarine. We turn everything into crumbs. We make a recess, put sour cream in it. We knead the dough. If it sticks, add more flour, you get an elastic air mass. Leave in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.
2. Mix sugar with flour, adding it in portions. Add vanilla for flavor. Cook over medium heat until the cream thickens. Beat eggs with butter and mix with custard.
3. We bake the cakes rolled with a rolling pin until a little golden in the oven at 180 ° C.
4. We spread the cream on shortbreads, sprinkle crumbs from scraps or chopped cookies on top.

With nuts

Nuts in the cake add a pleasant flavor note to it. In a word, just by adding one detail, the dessert will sparkle in a new way!

Ingredients of Walnut Napoleon:

• margarine - 3 tablespoons;
• vegetable oil - 3 tablespoons;
• sugar - 3 tablespoons;
• eggs - 3 units;
• soda - half a teaspoon;
• sour cream 15% - 200 g;
• flour - 600 g;
• a jar of condensed milk;
• 200 g of sugar;
• milk - 1 liter.

Cooking:

1. Mix the melted margarine, butter and sugar, stir the ingredients well. Then add unslaked soda, eggs and sour cream, beat everything again. Next, add flour in portions, look at the consistency: a soft, porous dough should come out, while not sticky.
2. We wrap the workpiece with cling film and send it to the refrigerator for a third of an hour.
3. Let's start baking the cakes: preheat the oven, roll out the cakes and cut them out in shape. Transfer to a baking sheet and bake in the oven.
4. For decoration, grind a glass of nuts, any, and cookies or scraps.
5. Mix milk with sugar and put on fire, stirring, sift the flour here. Then spread the butter and condensed milk. Cook until the mass is completely thickened.
6. We coat the finished cakes with cream, not forgetting the side part. Next, decorate with sprinkles on all sides, cover with nuts on top.
7. The cake is soaked for 5 hours.

The Soviet recipe of Napoleon does not lose its popularity today. Cakes can be baked in advance and they will be usable for another month. Of course, this does not apply to cottage cheese cakes, which are not recommended to be stored for more than a few days and outside the refrigerator.

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There are a lot of versions of the appearance of this dessert, which has become traditional at all festive events. The most beloved in Russia is the one that speaks of the presentation of the cake in 1912, when the 100th anniversary of the exile of Napoleon Bonaparte was celebrated in Moscow.

The most delicate puff delicacy, named after the French emperor, was served in the form of cakes cut into triangles. This shape was to be associated with the famous cocked hat. The popularity of the delicacy was downright impressive.

Other sources say with confidence that the cake comes from French cuisine. The legend says that the culinary specialist, whose name is lost in historical chronicles, in an effort to impress the crowned ruler, cut the traditional national pie "Royal Biscuit" into portions. He smeared his cakes with custard and strawberry jam mixed with whipped cream. The idea turned out to be very successful, and the cake itself sold around the world under the name "Napoleon".

Now every self-respecting sweet tooth knows the taste of a popular dessert. We have compiled a selection of the most original and interesting in our opinion his recipes.

Classic Napoleon cake with custard - video recipe

With explanations and video instructions from Grandma Emma, ​​a popular food blogger on the Internet, you can easily master the classic recipe for your favorite cake. It is based on quick puff pastry cakes smeared with traditional milk cream.

Homemade puff pastry Napoleon cake - step by step photo recipe

The essence of any Napoleon cake is in a multilayer base and custard. For him, you can take ready-made puff pastry, but if you have a little time, then it is better to cook homemade puff pastry. If you don’t have the time or desire to mess around with custard made from milk and eggs, you can make regular buttercream. For homemade cake "Napoleon" you need:

Your mark:

Cooking time: 3 hours 0 minutes

Quantity: 6 servings

Ingredients

• Flour: 3 tbsp. + 1/2 tbsp.
• Water: 1 tbsp.
• Egg: 1 large or 2 medium
• Salt: a pinch
• Sugar: 1 tbsp. l.
• Soda: 1/2 tsp
• Vinegar 9%: 1/2 tsp.
• Butter: 250 g
• Condensed milk: 1 bank
• Vanilla: pinch

Cooking instructions

The dough for "Napoleon" is kneaded according to the principle of unleavened dough for dumplings. Sift 3/4 of the flour into a large bowl. Pick it up in a heap. Make a funnel in the flour. Pour in the egg, add salt and sugar. Gradually pour in a glass of water. Soda extinguish with vinegar and add to the dough. Knead the dough.



Wrap it in cling film and leave for 40-45 minutes.



If the puff pastry is intended for a cake, then for further convenience it is better to divide the dough into three parts. You can also do it if it will not be used all at once. Roll out each piece no thicker than 0.3 - 0.5 mm. Lubricate it with a thin layer of oil. To make it easier to spread the butter on the dough, it must be removed from the refrigerator in advance.



Fold the dough in half and in half again. If the dough is divided into parts, then do the same with all the parts.



After that, wrap all parts in a film and send for 30 minutes in the freezer. Then repeat the procedure of rolling, folding and cooling in the freezer twice.



After that, roll out one part no thicker than 0.5 cm. Cut off the dough, giving it the shape of the future cake. Set the cut edges aside.



Transfer the dough onto a baking sheet. Bake in a hot oven. The temperature in it must be kept at + 190. Thus, prepare two more cakes. Bake all scraps separately.



While the cakes are cooling, prepare a cream from condensed milk and butter, add vanilla to it, if there is no natural, then vanilla sugar to taste.



Lubricate the first cake with cream.



Then lay all the remaining cakes, also grease the top with cream.



Crush the baked scraps and sprinkle over the top of the cake. It remains to serve homemade cake "Napoleon" for tea.



How to cook a delicious Napoleon cake with condensed milk - the best cream for a sweet tooth

The main highlight of this recipe is a very sweet, but quick to prepare cream.

Required Ingredients:

• 0.3 kg of flour;
• 0.2 kg of high-quality margarine;
• 2 eggs;
• 50 ml of water;
• 1 tbsp fat sour cream;
• a bank of store-bought condensed milk;
• a pack of butter;
• lemon peel, vanillin.

Cooking order beloved by all the sweet tooth of Napoleon:

1. Cut the margarine into small pieces, give them a quarter of an hour to soften a little. When this happens, bring it with a mixer until smooth, then introduce the eggs, continuing to knead.
2. In small parts, we introduce flour into the butter-egg mass, and then water with sour cream.
3. Set aside the mass mixed until smooth for 30 minutes.
4. From the resulting dough, we have to make 6 cakes, so we divide it into the appropriate number of parts.
5. We bake cakes rolled out in the shape of a circle, having previously pierced them in several places with a fork, in a hot oven. Try to brown them, but do not overdry them, usually a quarter of an hour is enough for this.
6. While the first shortbread is baking, we proceed to rolling out and piercing the second with a fork, and so on.
7. Of the six cooked cakes, we choose the most unsightly in your opinion, we leave it for powdering.
8. Let's start making the cream. Everything is extremely simple here: mix condensed milk with slightly softened butter, whip with a mixer. Pleasant and harmonious notes will give the cream the addition of zest and vanilla.
9. We put the lower cake on a dish, generously grease it with cream, cover with another cake, repeat the described process. Finely crumble the cake we rejected, sprinkle it abundantly on the top and edges of the cake.

The most delicious Napoleon cake from ready-made dough

When the desire to please guests and loved ones is great, and there is no desire to bother with kneading the dough, the right decision is to bake your favorite cake from ready-made dough.

Required Ingredients:

• 1 kg of ready-made puff yeast-free dough;
• bank of condensed milk;
• 0.2 kg of oil;
• 1.5 st. 33% cream.

Cooking order simple, tasty and very tall Napoleon:

1. Carefully unfold the defrosted dough. We cut each of the half-kilogram rolls into 4 parts, i.e. in total we will have 8 pieces.
2. From each we roll out a round cake, cut out an even circle from it using a plate of a suitable size (22-24 cm in diameter).
3. Lubricate the rolling pin used for rolling and the work surface with oil.
4. We pierce each cake with a fork, and then transfer it to a baking sheet covered with wax paper. Set the cuts aside.
5. Baking each cake in a hot oven takes about a quarter of an hour.
6. We do this with each cake, separately bake the trimmings.
7. Now you can pay attention to the cream. To do this, at low speeds, beat a little softened butter with condensed milk. Separately, beat the chilled cream, when they begin to hold their shape, transfer them to the cream, carefully mix with a wooden spoon until smooth.
8. Next, we start collecting the cake. Lubricate the cakes without inappropriate savings in this case with cream and stack them on top of each other. Grind the scraps to a crumb state and sprinkle them on the sides and top.
9. Before serving, it is advisable to put the cake in the refrigerator for 10-12 hours. During this time, he will have time to soak perfectly.

Cake Napoleon from ready-made cakes

To prepare this more than acceptable alternative to completely homemade baking, you will have to look into the nearest large supermarket and buy:

• ready-made cakes;
• a pack of butter;
• 1 liter of milk;
• 2 eggs;
• 0.3 kg of granulated sugar;
• 50 g flour;
• vanilla.

Cooking order:

1. We break the eggs into the pan, add sugar and flour, mix until smooth and put on the stove.
2. Gradually add milk, continuing to mix all this time. When the mass begins to remind you of semolina, remove it from the heat, cool and put in the refrigerator.
3. In the completely cooled cream, add softened butter and vanilla, beat.
4. We generously grease each of the finished cakes with cream, arrange them on top of each other. Finely chop one of the cakes and sprinkle the top of our lazy Napoleon.
5. We remove the almost finished cake in the refrigerator for impregnation for 6 hours.

How to cook Napoleon cake in a pan

Required Ingredients:

• 1 st. fat sour cream;
• 1 + 3 medium eggs (for cakes and cream);
• 100 g + 1 tbsp. sugar (for cakes and cream);
• ½ tsp baking soda,
• ¼ tsp rock salt,
• 2 tbsp. + 2 tbsp. flour (for cakes and cream);
• 0.75 l of milk;
• 2 tsp starch;
• Pack of oil.

Cooking order:

1. We start with the crust. To do this, beat the egg with sugar and salt until smooth.
2. Separately, mix flour with soda, add sour cream and beaten egg to them. Gently knead the dough, the result should not stick to the palms.
3. From this amount of dough, we have to make 6-7 cakes, divide it immediately into the appropriate number of parts and put in the refrigerator for at least 35-40 minutes.
4. Cooking cream. Pour a glass of milk and set it aside for now.
5. Pour the remaining milk into a saucepan, add sugar and bring to a boil. We make sure that milk does not run away from us.
6. Beat the eggs separately.
7. In another container, mix flour with starch and milk set aside in paragraph 4, add beaten eggs, mix thoroughly. Pour into the resulting mixture into boiled sweet milk, mix again and return to the fire for another 5-7 minutes until thickened. Don't stop stirring for a minute.
8. Remove the cream from the heat, when it cools down, beat in the softened butter.
9. We return to our test. It should be taken out of the refrigerator, each of the parts is rolled out to the size of your pan. The taste of the future cake depends on how thin the cakes are. We cut the cakes with a lid from the pan. Scraps can be formed into additional cakes or left to crumble.
10. Baking is done on an unoiled frying pan. Brown the biscuits on both sides. Turn over when the dough is just beginning to change color.
11. Grind the most unfortunate cake in a blender for decoration.
12. Lubricate each of the cakes with cream, stack them one on top of the other. We coat the top with the sides.
13. Sprinkle the top with the resulting crumb.
14. The cake is not served immediately, but after overnight aging in the refrigerator, otherwise it will not soak.

Snack Cake Napoleon

Napoleon is a traditional sweet dessert. But let's try to let go of our imagination and prepare a snack option with savory filling. We cook the cakes ourselves according to any of the above recipes or buy ready-made ones. In addition, you will need:

• 2 carrots;
• 3 eggs;
• 1 garlic clove;
• a bank of canned fish;
• curd cheese packaging;
• mayonnaise.

Cooking order:

1. We do not drain all the liquid from the canned jar. We crush it with a fork.
2. Boiled eggs are peeled and grated, we do the same with boiled carrots, only we mix it with garlic passed through a press and a small amount of mayonnaise.
3. Let's get started with the cake. Lubricate the lower cake with mayonnaise, put about half of the fish mass on it.
4. We lay the second cake on top, on which the spicy carrot mixture is laid out.
5. Lay the eggs on the third cake smeared with mayonnaise.
6. On the fourth - the remaining fish.
7. On the fifth - curd cheese, we also grease the sides of the cake with it.
8. If desired, you can sprinkle with crumbled cake, soak put in the refrigerator.

Very easy Napoleon cake recipe

Required Ingredients:

• 3 art. + 2 tbsp. flour (for cakes and cream);
• 0.25 kg of butter;
• 0.1 l of water;
• 1 liter of fat milk;
• 2 eggs;
• 1.5 st. Sahara;
• vanilla.

Cooking order unusually simple, but tasty and tender Napoleon:

1. Let's start cooking the cakes. To do this, rub butter from the freezer into the sifted flour.
2. Grind the resulting crumb with your hands, pour water into it.
3. Without wasting time, mix our dough, form a lump out of it and put it in the refrigerator for half an hour. The dough is ready. Agree, it's much easier than puff!
4. While the dough is cooling, prepare the necessary tools at hand: a rolling pin, wax paper, a plate or other form with which you will trim. By the way, the shape of the cake does not have to be round, it can be square.
5. From the resulting volume of dough we make 8 cakes, so we divide it into the most identical pieces.
6. We heat up the oven.
7. Sprinkle a piece of waxed paper with flour, put a piece of dough on it, carefully roll out a thin cake, which we pierce with a fork.
8. Together with the paper, transfer the cake to a baking sheet and send it to the oven.
9. Cakes are baked quite quickly, in just 5 minutes. We try not to dry them out.
10. We do the same with the rest of the cakes.
11. We cut the still hot cake according to the template, then we use the trimmings for decoration.
12. Let's get some cream. To do this, pour half the milk into a saucepan and put on fire.
13. Mix the remaining milk with sugar, vanilla, eggs and flour, beat with a mixer until smooth.
14. After boiling milk, pour it into the whipped products, return the future cream to the fire and cook until thickened for 5-7 minutes, stirring all the time.
15. We cool the hot cream, after which we put it in the refrigerator to cool completely.
16. Generously coat the cakes and stack them on top of each other. At the top, we traditionally crumble crumbs from scraps.
17. We give the cake a good brew and enjoy with the whole family.

1. When preparing cakes, it is better to give preference to butter, not margarine. Moreover, the fatter this product, the tastier the final result.
2. The dough should not stick to the palms, otherwise the quality of the cakes may suffer. Add some flour.
3. When laying a fresh cake on top of a greased one, do not press too hard, otherwise they may break and become stiff.
4. The cake acquires its true taste only after a day. Try to be patient and give him this time.

We are waiting for your comments and ratings - this is very important for us!

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

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

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

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

I will immediately reveal to you the “secret secret” of this delicious cake: “Do not save, citizens, on products!” Well, everything is right according to the old Jewish joke - “My children, do not spare tea leaves!”

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

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

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

I summarize:

Products and composition of the recipe

For test:

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

For custard cream:

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

For sour cream cream:

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

Cooking dough for cakes.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Then add the oil to the chopper bowl.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Cooking custard.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Assembling and decorating the Napoleon cake

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

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

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

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

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

Well, our magnificent Napoleon is ready to use!

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

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

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

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

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

We spread them out of the package immediately on 2 pieces of parchment and leave them to defrost in this form. We get 2 rectangles of ready-made 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 fastest cream that everyone knows and loves is butter whipped with condensed milk.

Sometimes they write about 150 grams of butter and 350 grams of condensed milk ... Why such difficulties? Who will measure these grams when 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 that this is the most convenient and delicious proportion for cream!

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

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

Our task is to get a uniform, thick, smooth mass, which will be our tastiest and 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 put a sheet of dough in it. We will need 10-15 minutes for one serving of cakes. But make sure that they are not overcooked, but are of a beautiful golden hue.

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

Here we have such a semi-finished product.

Now we coat each layer with cream.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

For this version of the test, we will prepare:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Napoleon is a cake that can be cooked and eaten endlessly. I came across your site and immediately decided to make a classic Napoleon cake. All my guests were very pleased with the result. Thank you for the recipe!

Good afternoon, Leonid and Grandmother Emma! My name is Svetlana, I'm from Minsk. I have always loved the classic Napoleon recipe and bought it from a pastry shop near my house. But soon the shop closed, and wherever I bought Napoleon, it tasted significantly different and, frankly, I didn’t like it. It was difficult for me to cook myself, since sweet pastries, to be honest, are difficult for me. But when your wonderful site caught my eye, and I saw the Napoleon cake recipe from the video, I immediately began to cook it, strictly observing all the steps and proportions. At the finish, I got that taste of Napoleon, which I liked so much earlier when I went to my favorite pastry shop. Thank you so much for the recipe and good luck!

Dear Emma Isaakovna, Leonid! I want to thank you for the Napoleon recipe. My grandchildren often come to me and love my sweet pastries very much. Often I bake pies with different fillings, but this time I wanted to somehow please the kids and bake them a delicious Napoleon cake. The recipe from your site helped me a lot, and I quickly coped with this task. My grandchildren ate everything with pleasure and now they ask me to constantly cook such a “hairy” cake. Health and good luck to you all!

I watched a video from your site on how to make a Napoleon cake. How much you love your job, these cute smiles on your faces, directly charged with positive and good mood while cooking. Well, the cooking itself went to "5". Thanks! Your admirer, Galina Viktorovna.

How glad I am that my mother uses your site! A few days ago, she made a Napoleon cake, and it tasted like something from my childhood. I loved this dessert so much as a child. Such great memories and it's all thanks to you! Be healthy and happy!

Hello dear videoculinary team! I was always afraid of puff pastry and did not undertake to cook it, because something always went wrong with me. But I wanted to overcome my fears and still make a successful attempt to make a puff pastry dessert. On your site, I was the first to open a page with a description of how to cook Napoleon and I realized that this particular dessert would be my first successful puff pastry debut. After following all the cooking steps, I still managed to cope with my weakness, and I think that now I can do any recipe) Thank you so much!

Classic recipe! Napoleon cake will always decorate the festive table, as almost everyone likes it. Thanks.

Dear Grandma Emma! It’s probably time for you to open a network of pastry shops and sell your desserts and pastries there. I would be your regular customer and would take my whole family to you. In the meantime, I will get to know this mysterious world of confectionery with you.

Despite the fact that Napoleon today can be bought in almost any supermarket chain, home-cooked Napoleon cake is a real culinary masterpiece. Its delicate taste is so different from the store-bought one that it seems as if you are eating a completely different cake. Do not be lazy and cook such desserts yourself, it's worth it.

Good afternoon! Napoleon is a cake whose recipe has been passed down from generation to generation for many years. My grandmother always indulged us in childhood with the exquisite taste of Napoleon. And now it's time to pamper her on her birthday and cook her a delicious napoleon under your guidance. I hope that she will be satisfied, and our Napoleon will turn out no worse than the one she cooks!)

Grandmother Emma, ​​Daniella and Leonid are my favorite cooks! I enjoy watching all their video recipes and cooking with them. Everything is always very tasty and satisfying. I look forward to new recipes and culinary tricks. Keep it up!

Hello Grandma Emma! My name is Victoria. To be honest, I'm not very good at cooking. But when I first got acquainted with your site, I became very curious, and I decided to study. After all, few people need a wife who does not know how to cook. And I just really want to build a family and I know folk wisdom that the way to a man's heart lies through his stomach. I have been experimenting in the kitchen for more than a month and making progress. Last week I cooked beef fillet with champignons and apricots, and yesterday I decided to test myself in cooking Napoleon. Fortunately, everything worked out and I'm extremely happy. Compliments to you and the whole team, and also thanks for giving me the opportunity to learn how to cook deliciously in your favorite kitchen! In addition, self-cooking helps to save a lot, as food in restaurants and canteens noticeably hit the pocket.

Pour 150 ml of cold water into a cup, pour in 1 tablespoon of vinegar and 1-2 tablespoons of cognac - mix everything.
In a clean faceted glass (or bowl), break the eggs, add a pinch of salt and stir the eggs with salt with a fork (do not beat).
Pour water with vinegar and cognac into a glass of eggs and mix until smooth.

Cut cold (but not frozen) butter into cubes.
Sift flour (600 g) onto a large clean cutting board.
Spread butter cubes over flour.

Chop the flour and butter into small crumbs with a large chef's knife or in a food processor.

From the resulting butter-flour crumbs make a slide. Make a hole in the hill.
Pour the egg-vinegar-cognac mixture into the recess.

Knead the dough.

Divide the dough into equal parts and roll them into balls (it turns out about 12 balls).
Cover the dough balls with cling film and refrigerate for 1-1.5 hours.

Cake baking.

Advice. Cakes for "Napoleon" are conveniently baked on the back of the baking sheet.

Heat the oven to ~220-230°C.
Spread a kitchen towel on the table (so that the baking sheet does not slip when rolling the cakes).
Put the baking sheet in a heated oven for ~ 40 seconds.
Remove the warm baking sheet from the oven and place on a towel spread on the table. upside down.
Sprinkle a baking sheet with a little flour.
Place a ball of dough and flatten it slightly with a rolling pin.

Roll out the dough into a thin crust.

Place a plate (or pot lid) on top of the rolled out dough.
And cut out a round cake (I have cakes with a diameter of 23 cm).

Carefully remove the plate (do not remove the dough scraps from the baking sheet).
Prick the cake frequently with a fork.

Advice. The more often the cake is pricked, the less it swells during baking. And as a result, we get smooth, beautiful cakes.

Bake the cakes in the middle of the oven for ~5-7 minutes at a temperature of ~220-230°C until light golden brown.

Advice. The baking time and temperature will depend on the characteristics of the oven, therefore, if necessary, the temperature can be slightly increased or reduced cooking time.
During baking, it is advisable to carefully monitor the process so as not to overexpose the cake in the oven. The cake is baked quite quickly, so it is important not to miss the moment of readiness.

Carefully remove the tray from the oven.
Remove the toasted cake trimmings from the baking sheet and set aside (put them in a separate bowl - they will go to sprinkle the finished cake).

Gently pry the cake with a long knife, separating it from the baking sheet. Then very carefully transfer the cake and lay on a flat surface.

Advice. The flat surface on which the baked cake is placed may be a flat dish or a cutting board or the like. The surface must be flat (not convex), otherwise the hot cake will take on an irregular shape.

While one cake is baking, the second one is rolled out on the second baking sheet.
Bake all the cakes in this way (12 cakes) and stack them on top of each other.

Advice. The cake layers can be prepared in advance and stored at room temperature, in a dry place. For storage, wrap the cakes in parchment or cellophane.

Chop the cake scraps (grind with your hands).

Cake assembly.
Lightly grease a detachable baking dish (larger diameter than baked cakes) with vegetable oil and cover with cling film.

Advice. Instead of cling film, you can cover the form with foil. In this case, the mold does not need to be oiled.

Put one cake on the bottom of the form.

Put 3-4 tablespoons of custard and spread evenly over the entire surface of the cake.

Cover with second layer.
Thus, collect the entire cake, layering the cakes with custard.
Lay the top layer (the last one) and lightly press down on the cake with your palms to “tamp” the cakes a little.
Then the top cake is also smeared with cream.