Napoleon cake - USSR recipe. The simplest and most delicious Napoleon with custard Cooking recipes Napoleon cake

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

Over the many years of preparing this sweet dish, many recipes have been invented. But the most common is the classic Napoleon cake recipe. Many people, having prepared the dessert, will say that the taste is like that of their grandmother when they were children. This delicacy is easy to prepare. The main taste is provided by the cakes, and it is to them that you need to pay all the attention. According to this recipe, the cake will be airy, weighing about a kilogram.

Cooking steps step by step

Ingredients:

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

For cream:

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

Preparation:

  1. Put margarine in freezer for two to three hours.
  2. Cool the flour in the refrigerator for a couple of hours and sift it onto the table.
  3. Chop the margarine into thin strips.
  4. Mix with flour (150 g) and chop again with a knife. Squeeze thoroughly with your hands.
  5. Press the mixture until it forms a tight ball.
  6. Refrigerate.
  7. Prepare another dough. Pour flour (450 g) into the container, but it is better to leave a little so as not to overdo it. The dough will be soft and not sticky to your hands.
  8. Pour in lemon juice.
  9. Pour very cold water into a glass to the top, add eggs.
  10. Stir with a fork until dissolved.
  11. Sift the flour onto the table.
  12. Pour egg water into the flour.
  13. Stir with a spoon, knead with your hands. If there is not enough flour, add. To ready, baked puff pastry has not become hard, no excess flour should be added to it.
  14. Roll out the dough, which was prepared second in line, into a rectangle. If you roll it too thin, it will tear.
  15. Place the dough you prepared first in the middle. Now wrap the first dough with the second one, like an envelope. First, fold one edge, then from two opposite sides and cover with the remaining end.
  16. Sprinkle the dish with flour, place the dough envelope seam side down and place in the refrigerator for half an hour. To avoid condensation, do not cover it on top.
  17. Place the cooled product on the table in the same position as on the plate. Roll out into a small square.
  18. Roll it back into an envelope and refrigerate for half an hour.
  19. Roll it out again and send it to rest in the cold for the same amount of time. After these manipulations, you can begin making the cream.
  20. Leave the butter without refrigeration for several hours until it becomes completely soft.
  21. Break the eggs into a small bowl. Beat with sugar until the mixture turns white.
  22. Add vanillin.
  23. Pour milk into a saucepan and pour in the egg mixture. To ensure that the cream is uniform and without lumps, you must constantly stir with a whisk. Wait until it boils and remove immediately.
  24. Set aside and cool.
  25. For now, let's get back to the test. Cut the envelope into six equal parts. Roll out circles of equal shape. You can make one large layer and use a baking sheet.
  26. To make it easier to roll out and prevent the dough from sticking, dust the table with flour.
  27. Place a rolling pin on the edge of the dough and lightly roll the mixture onto it. Transfer to form. Roll out the dough to its size.
  28. Make holes with a fork.
  29. Bake for approximately 10 minutes. Pay attention to the appearance; if it turns brown, it means it’s ready.
  30. Bake the cakes.
  31. Let's return to the chilled creamy mass. Mash the butter with a spoon.
  32. Add the cooked mass in butter in small parts, mixing well. Add it and mix until you have added all the cream.
  33. The finished cream is appetizing and monochromatic. The oil should not separate from the total mass and flake off.
  34. Grease the cakes with cream.
  35. To ensure that the cake is uniform, press each subsequent layer with your hands over the entire area of ​​the cake.
  36. Cut the resulting delicacy along the edges with a knife, forming an even round dish.
  37. Crumble the resulting trimmed parts with your hands and sprinkle on the top layer.

In order for the dough for the puff pastry to work, all ingredients must be cold.

With vanilla custard

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

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

Ingredients:

Dough:

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

Cream:

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

Decoration:

  • nuts;
  • powder.

Preparation:

Cakes:

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

Cream:

  1. Beat eggs with sugar.
  2. Add flour.
  3. Boil the milk separately.
  4. Pour the mixture into the hot liquid.
  5. Cook over low heat, stirring until it becomes thick.
  6. Add butter and vanilla. Cool.

Cake:

  1. Lubricate each layer with cream, sprinkling with nuts.
  2. Once assembled, trim the edges.
  3. Coat the sides with the rest of the cream.
  4. Chop the trimmings and sprinkle onto the top crust.
  5. Dust with powdered sugar.

Homemade Napoleon cake with quick puff pastry

Since Soviet times, this delicacy has been a desired dish on the table. An ordinary day turns into a holiday with the appearance of a sweet dessert. Previously, the housewife had to stand in the kitchen for hours to prepare it. Now, in the modern world, you can go to any store and buy ready dough, not inferior in taste and quality to a homemade product. The result is the same, and time is saved.

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

Ingredients:

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

Preparation:

  1. The best way to defrost is time. Of course, in modern ovens and microwave ovens There is a special defrosting function, but they often fry the product.
  2. Most often, you can buy rectangular dough in the store. Makes about six sheets in the required amount of weight. Cut them in half.
  3. Roll out each part to a thickness of three millimeters.
  4. Line a baking tray with baking paper.
  5. Place the cake on it.
  6. Prick with a fork. This is necessary so that the dough does not swell or deform.
  7. It doesn’t take much time to prepare; five minutes is enough for each cake.

Cream:

  1. Beat sugar and eggs until thick foam forms.
  2. Boil the milk.
  3. Pour the sweet mixture into milk.
  4. To avoid curdling of the eggs, you must constantly stir the mixture.
  5. After boiling, immediately remove from the burner and add vanillin.

Assembly:

  1. Choose the worst shortbread and chop it.
  2. Chop the nuts.
  3. Grease the cakes with cream.
  4. Sprinkle a layer of nuts in the middle of the dessert.
  5. Assemble to the end of the cake, sprinkle the top with the remaining nuts.

Honey Napoleon

This recipe doesn't quite work traditional cake. The honey included in the composition gives an amazing taste to this delicacy.

Ingredients:

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

Preparation:

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

Napoleon "Family Tradition"

Ingredients:

Dough:

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

Cream:

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

Preparation:

  1. Sift flour into a deep pan.
  2. Place margarine in the center.
  3. Leave for half an hour.
  4. After a while, chop into fine crumbs using a spatula.
  5. Add baking powder and water.
  6. Knead.
  7. The dough loves the cold very much. To get the desired end result, refrigerate for half an hour.
  8. Cut into seven pieces.
  9. Form a ball.
  10. Roll out separately.
  11. Prick the dough in the pan with a fork.
  12. Bake until golden brown.

Cream:

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

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

Slovak version of Napoleon, which is known there as Kremes

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

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

Ingredients:

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

Preparation:

  1. Defrost the dough naturally.
  2. Divide into four parts.
  3. Roll out thinly.
  4. Place the dough on a baking sheet and bake for five minutes.
  5. Prepare all the cakes this way.

Cream:

  1. Mix 500 ml of milk with starch and yolks, beat well.
  2. Boil 1000 ml of milk.
  3. Add half the powder.
  4. Pour cold milk with starch. Stir.
  5. Stirring quickly, keep on fire for a minute.
  6. Beat the egg whites and powder with a mixer until they form a thick, fluffy foam.
  7. Pour hot milk into the egg mixture. Stir.
  8. Wait until completely cooled down.

Fold the cakes in layers, brushing with cream. It is necessary to soak the cake for several hours. The cream used in the recipe is thick, so compared to Napoleon cake prepared according to classic recipe, it is placed between layers in much larger quantities.

Napoleon cake is simple and very tasty at home

Even if you have no cooking experience at all homemade baked goods, this recipe will turn out the cake right the first time. For baking, the minimum amount of ingredients is used and very little time is spent.

Ingredients:

  • butter (ice) – 250 g;
  • flour – 450 g;
  • water (cold) – 100 ml.

For cream:

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

Preparation:

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

Cream:

  1. Heat 500 ml of milk.
  2. Using a mixer, beat 500 ml of milk, eggs, sugar, flour, vanillin. You can use a whisk. Just make sure that there are no lumps left from the flour.
  3. As soon as the milk boils, pour the whipped mixture in a thin stream.
  4. Cook, stirring constantly, until thickened. Mix well, including the sides and bottom of the pan, otherwise the cream will burn.
  5. It should look like thick semolina porridge. It will become thicker when it cools.
  6. To assemble the cake, the cream needs to be at room temperature.

The cakes are brittle and fragile. Carefully assemble the cake, coating the layers with cream. Trim the edges and sprinkle the trimmings over the top of the cake. Be sure to soak in the night. Experienced housewives It is recommended to place a cutting board on top, where to place a container of water. Under the weight of the cakes, they will be better saturated with cream.

With custard sour cream

Ingredients

Dough:

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

Cream:

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

Preparation

Dough:

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

Cream:

  1. Add starch to a glass of milk.
  2. These include eggs. Beat.
  3. Boil the remaining amount of milk.
  4. Pour into cold milk. Beat.
  5. Put on fire. Boil.
  6. Add sour cream. Mix.

Forming the cake:

  1. Place the cake on the bottom of the plate and cover with a layer of cream.
  2. Apply cream to each subsequent cake layer, alternating layers.
  3. Trim the edges.
  4. Grease the top and sides with cream.
  5. Chop the scraps and sprinkle over the top and edges of the cake.

Napoleon cake in a frying pan

This version does not require much time to soak the cakes. After half an hour, the cake is ready to eat.

Ingredients:

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

Cream:

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

Preparation:

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

For cream:

  1. Mix eggs, milk, sugar. Add flour.
  2. Stir without lumps.
    • egg – 1 pc.;
    • flour – 3 tbsp;
    • water – 170 ml;
    • margarine – 250 g;
    • salt;
    • butter into cream – 300 g;
    • chocolate;
    • condensed milk – 400 g.

    Preparation:

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

    Various serving and design options

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

    The most common and familiar design option is crumbs from leftover cakes.

    You can use sugar sprinkles. It comes in different colors and shapes. You can sprinkle a thick layer of decoration on the cream, make a drawing or post a congratulation.

    Using a stencil they create beautiful risks. The grated chocolate is sprinkled onto the stencil; when it is removed, a festive design remains on the surface.

    Any nuts are suitable for decoration. Sprinkle it in a thick layer and get a beautiful appearance and exquisite taste.

    Protein cream can be painted in any color and created culinary masterpiece, decorated with different colors.

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

Hi all. Today I will share with you the recipe for the legendary Napoleon cake. I think many people associate this dessert with childhood, and also with the New Year. Because, most often, it was on this holiday that our mothers and grandmothers spoiled us with this masterpiece.

There are two camps of people who are divided according to the type of finished product into the “wet” version and the “dry” version, or, more precisely, into the soaked and crispy version. I prefer the “wet” version of Napoleon. With a lot of . Recently I began to prepare a lighter version of the cream -. In addition to these classic options, you can cook with and with, it’s incredibly delicious. With these creams the cake just melts in your mouth.

Well, if you like to “crunch”, then simply replace the custard with butter cream, and you will be happy. For example, or

In general, what is Napoleon cake? This is a puff pastry product. I will tell you in detail how to prepare this very puff pastry at home. Of course, you can also buy a ready-made version of puff pastry. But, as you understand, the taste will be completely different.

I won’t write about making custard here, I’m just giving links to two creams, the choice is yours - and... Well, for those who like to crunch - .

So, how to make Napoleon cake at home. By the way, I would like to note that the weight of the cake according to my recipe is 2-2.5 kg, if you want a smaller size, feel free to halve the ingredients.

Napoleon cake recipe step by step with photos.

Ingredients:

  1. 450 gr. flour
  2. 250 gr. butter 82.5%
  3. 1 egg
  4. 150 ml. ice water
  5. 1 tbsp. l. vinegar 6% (I use white wine)
  6. 1 tsp. salt (no slide)

Preparation:

Place the butter and a glass of water in the freezer for about 30 minutes. I usually put the butter in the freezer in the evening, and start preparing it in the morning.

Sift flour into a bowl.

There we rub our well-chilled butter onto coarse grater, stirring the butter and flour all the time.

Quickly rub the grated butter with flour with your hands, spending no more than 2-3 minutes on this.

Add egg, salt and vinegar to chilled water.

Mix with a fork. Vinegar can be anything, but not more than 6%. In my case it's white wine.

Pour this liquid into the oil-flour mixture and collect the dough into a ball. There is no need to knead the dough for a long time until smooth. It ideally comes out with large pieces of unmelted butter.

We divide our dough into 13-15 parts. This time my diameter was 19 cm. I got 15 cakes, before that the diameter was 22 cm. I got 12-13 cakes. Place the dough in a container sprinkled with flour either in the refrigerator for 3-4 hours or in the freezer for an hour.

During this time we will prepare the cream. On my website there are recipes for two types of cream that are ideal for layering this cake. and its light version - . You can choose the cream at your discretion. In these articles, the quantities of ingredients are calculated specifically for this recipe.

After our dough has cooled, we begin rolling out. If the dough was in the freezer, then transfer it to the refrigerator. Each time we take the balls out of the refrigerator one at a time, do not remove the rest of the dough so that it does not melt prematurely.

I used my miracle purchase - a silicone mat, it has markings with different diameters. In one of the articles I already told you about its advantages, then I was preparing.

Here is my silicone mat. If you haven’t found one in your city, you can order it at the Bakerstore using this link - Silicone mat.

If you don’t have this device, then I suggest rolling out the dough on parchment, where you draw a circle of the diameter you need in advance (just don’t forget to turn the parchment over to the other side before rolling, so as not to eat the dough with pencil particles later). So, you will at least roughly understand what to strive for.

The dough should be rolled out as thin as possible, constantly sprinkling the rolling pin with flour. Of the specified number of cakes, the thickness will be just minimal. It is necessary to roll out the dough a little larger than the outlined circle. Firstly, the dough will shrink during baking, and secondly, we will use the scraps to make the finishing coating of our cake.

After you have rolled out the dough, you need to prick it with a fork. This will prevent the cake from rising too much during baking.

I baked the cakes directly on a mat; if you don’t have one, then transfer the rolled out cakes to a baking sheet covered with parchment and bake at 200° for 5-7 minutes until golden brown. Try to fit 2 cakes on the baking sheet at once, this will significantly reduce the baking time.

As soon as the cake is ready, you need to cut it off immediately! This is very important point, just like the cakes from the oven are still pliable, but as they cool they become brittle and will simply crumble. We cut it in the same way, focusing on the saucer, carefully with a knife. And it’s even easier - to cut using a lid, you just need to turn it left and right half a turn, and you don’t need any knife, and the circle turns out perfect. Unfortunately, I didn’t have a lid of the diameter I needed, so I used a plate.

Transfer the cut crust to a wire rack and let it cool.

We do this with each cake.

During baking, our cream will just cool down and be ready for use.

Assembling the cake.

Place a couple of spoons of cream on the dish so that the cake does not slip.

Place the cake on top.

Lubricate it with cream. Don’t skimp on the cream, my recipe yields a sufficient amount (you can easily take 2-3 tablespoons). We do this with all the cakes. If you wish, you can put some filling in the layer; my mother always puts walnuts, you can add jam or curd, boiled condensed milk. This time I coated every 3 cake layers; I just had a jar left over after cooking. Or you don’t have to add anything, our dessert already tastes great.

After we have assembled the entire cake, we press it down a little with our hands on top and put it in the refrigerator for a couple of hours. During this time, the cakes will be slightly saturated with cream and the cake will settle. You can place a weight on top of the cakes for about 30 minutes, so the cakes will become even softer.

Place the cake in the refrigerator for half an hour to allow the cream to set.

At this time, we place our cake trimmings in a blender and grind them. I don’t like to chop it into tiny crumbs, I think it’s more suitable for. But you can choose a different size for yourself. By the way, you can grind it simply by hand or using a rolling pin if you don’t have a blender in use.

Sprinkle these scraps over our cake.

Place in the refrigerator to soak. Best at night. You can decorate the top with berries, or you can not decorate it and leave it like that.

This is how handsome he turns out. A large number of layers and cream make this cake a truly royal dessert. I borrowed the recipe for this cake from Victoria Melnik, for which I thank her very much.

And, following such a delicate and feminine cake, I will soon tell you the recipe for a real masculine, brutal beauty - dark beer cakes, chocolate cream and ganache... And all this splendor of taste will come together in. Your men should appreciate it. Don't miss it!

Bon appetit.

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

The same one legendary recipe from Soviet times, which was passed from hand to hand, carefully recorded in culinary notebooks and in some regions was even a kind of “trade secret” - after all, some housewives baked it to order. And they were in no hurry to share the recipe...

The only way I can explain this omission on my part is that my blog is very young. I'm just starting to fill it with recipes. And first places, of course, should be given to the classics. And nothing more classic in the culinary theme than detailed recipe 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, prepared at home

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

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

But for the present classic Napoleon these ingredients are very important. It is indeed cheaper to replace butter with margarine, but the taste will be different. Vodka must be added to the dough - for better “layering”, and cognac in the cream - for the subtlety of taste and aroma. Then Napoleon will turn out deliciously delicious, just like in old Soviet times!

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

To summarize:

Products and recipe composition

For the test:

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

For custard cream:

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

For sour cream:

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

Preparing the dough for the cakes.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Then add the oil to the chopper bowl.

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

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

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

We form a bun from the dough. You need to knead the dough quite quickly, all for the same reason - the butter should remain cold in its composition, not melted. When the dough does not stick to your hands and the table, the consistency we need has been achieved. Cover our bun with a napkin and leave to settle for half an hour.

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

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

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

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

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

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

If you “pierce” our cake well with a fork in many places, no large bubbles or swellings will form, the cakes will look very smooth and neat. But I love it more when the dough puffs up during baking, because then additional “layered” places form in these places, and the more layered, the tastier our future Napoleon will be! Well, like in this photo -

The trimmings are also baked and stored separately until better times. IN better times We will make crumbs out of them for sprinkling.

Prepare the custard.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Assembling and decorating the Napoleon cake

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

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

  • So, put a dry cake layer and coat it with custard butter cream on top.
  • Place the second cake layer and coat it again in the same way.
  • First coat the third cake layer sour cream and on top here - custard.
  • We repeat this, greasing every third cake with additional sour cream, whipped with sugar, until the ingredients run out.
  • We don’t smear the last layer with anything yet - we leave our cake to sit for half an hour or an hour. During this time, the cakes will be soaked and become very tasty and moderately soft.
  • Now wrap the cake with film on the sides and place a clean board (something flat) on top and lightly press the layers down. Place a small (about 1 kg) weight on the board and put it in the refrigerator for several hours, preferably overnight.

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

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

Well, our magnificent Napoleon is ready to eat!

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

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

Now let's look at the “high-speed” method of making Napoleon cake. Fast as possible. It's faster to just buy ready cake in the store, but that is not our goal!

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

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

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

While the dough is rising room temperature- We have time to make cream.

Making cream from condensed milk (condensed milk)

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

Sometimes they write about 150 grams of butter and 350 grams of condensed milk... Why such complexity? Who will measure these grams when it comes to delicious cream?!

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

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

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

Our task is to obtain a uniform, thick, smooth mass, which will be our delicious and fastest cream for soaking and decorating the cake.

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

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

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

This is the semi-finished product we got.

Now coat each layer with cream.

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

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

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

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

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

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

If you are in a place where you do not have an oven (maybe you are drawn to nature and decide to meet New Year at the dacha) - you will certainly impress your guests with a freshly prepared Napoleon! In a frying pan! Fantastic...

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

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

For this test option we will prepare:

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

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

Grate the butter on a coarse grater and sprinkle with flour. Mix everything quickly with your hands, grinding the butter with flour until it becomes buttery crumbs.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Cut cold (but not frozen) butter into cubes.
Sift flour (600 g) onto a large, clean cutting board.
Place the butter cubes on the flour.

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

Make a mound from the resulting butter-flour crumbs. Make a depression in the slide.
Pour the egg-vinegar-cognac mixture into the well.


Knead the dough.


Divide the dough into equal parts and roll them into balls (about 12 balls).
Cover the dough balls with cling film and place in the refrigerator for 1-1.5 hours.

Baking cakes.

Advice. It is convenient to bake cakes for “Napoleon” on the back side of a 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 out the cakes).
Place the baking sheet in the preheated oven for ~40 seconds.
Remove the warm baking sheet from the oven and place it on a towel spread on the table. bottom up.
Sprinkle the baking sheet a small amount sifted 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 pan 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 dough scraps from the baking sheet).
Prick the crust frequently with a fork.

Advice. The more often the cake is pricked, the less it puffs up during baking. 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. Baking time and temperature will depend on the characteristics of the oven, so, if necessary, the temperature can be slightly increased or the cooking time reduced.
During baking, it is advisable to carefully monitor the process so as not to overcook the cake in the oven. The cake bakes quite quickly, so it is important not to miss the moment of readiness.

Carefully remove the baking sheet from the oven.
Remove the crispy cake scraps from the baking sheet and set aside (put them in a separate bowl - they will be used to top the finished cake).

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

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

While one cake is baking, the second one is rolled out on a second baking sheet.
Bake all the cakes in this manner (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. To store the cake, wrap it in parchment or cellophane.

Grind the cake scraps (grind with your hands).

Assembling the cake.
Lightly grease a springform baking pan (larger in diameter than the baked cakes) vegetable oil and cover with cling film.

Advice. Instead of cling film You can line the pan with foil. In this case, there is no need to grease the mold with oil.

Place one cake layer on the bottom of the pan.

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



Cover with the second cake layer.
Thus, assemble the entire cake, sandwiching the cakes with custard.
Place the top cake (the last one) and lightly press the cake with your palms to “compact” the cakes a little.
Then grease the top cake with cream too.

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


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


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


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


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


Ingredients:

For the cakes:

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

For the custard:

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

How to bake:

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


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


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


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

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

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


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

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



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

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

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


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


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

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


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



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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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

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

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