I recently wrote about a recipe (not classic version!). And I thought, why is not on my culinary blog, in fact, traditional recipe Napoleon?

The very legendary recipe from Soviet times, which was passed from hand to hand, was carefully written down in culinary notebooks and in some regions was even a kind of "commercial secret" - after all, some housewives baked it to order. And they were in no hurry to share the recipe ...

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

The main "secret" of the homemade Napoleon cake

Immediately I will tell you the "secret secret" of this delicious cake: "Do not save, citizens, on food!" Well, everything is right according to the old Jewish joke - "My children, do not regret the tea leaves!"

After all, what does a prudent hostess habitually save on? It is written in the recipe - " butter", Yeah, so let's take the margarine! It is written - "add 2 tablespoons of cognac" - we will replace with vodka .... Well, you don't have to add vodka at all, and it will do without it ...

But for a true 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 without fail - for its better "layering", and cognac in cream - for the subtlety of taste and aroma. Then Napoleon will turn out to be deliciously tasty, as in the old Soviet times!

Another feature of this recipe is if you use more than one type of cream, but two- the cake will be 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 of butter
• 1 egg
• half a glass of sour cream
• half a glass of water
• 2 tablespoons of vodka
• a third teaspoon of salt

For the custard cream:

• 3 eggs
• liter of milk
• 3-4 tablespoons flour
• 1 cup of sugar
• 200 gr. butter
• 2 tablespoons of cognac
• 1 bag 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 admit that I still hid one of the secrets of the classic Napoleon from you! It's about the method of preparing the dough.

For example, I remember very well how my mother made puff pastry, including for the Napoleon cake. This did not happen often, my mother disappeared at work all the time. And when we asked her to make "this delicious puff cake" again, she said that it was a lot of fiddling with it, and a lot of time was spent on the dough. Therefore, it was made only on major holidays.

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

I will not consider this option 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 written down by many hostesses of that time as a quick and flawlessly winning version of the classic Napoleon cake.

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

First, chop it a little 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. We start at high speed, until fine-small crumbs are formed.

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

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

We form a dough bun. You need to knead the dough pretty quickly, all for the same reason - the butter should remain in its composition cold, not melted. When the dough does not stick to the hands and the table, the consistency we need is achieved. We 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.

We take it out in an hour, 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 there are 9 pieces, but it can be divided into 12 or 15 parts.

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

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

I usually roll out such thin cakes directly on the parchment to make it easier to transfer to the sheet. But if you need to transfer the thinly rolled dough to 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 to a hot oven for 3-5 minutes. The biscuits should reach a light, golden hue; you do not need to overcook them. Slightly grabbed, slightly browned - you can get it. The oven is heated to about 180-200 degrees. We bake on parchment - and it is easier to remove the cakes from the sheet.

If it is good to "pierce" our cake with a fork in many places - large bubbles and swellings are not formed, the cakes will look very even and neat. But I love more when the dough swells during baking, because then additional "layered" places are formed in these places, and the more layering, the tastier our future Napoleon will be! Well, here's how in this photo -

The trimmings are also baked and stored separately, until better times. In the best of times, we will make crumbs from them for sprinkling.

Preparing the 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 be in time for everything!

Part of the milk (2 \ 3 liters) is put to heat in a saucepan on the fire. The rest of the milk is mixed with a mixer or a whisk with eggs, sugar and vanilla in a thick foam. Add flour and brandy - beat.

Add our cream base in a thin stream to a saucepan with hot milk already, continuing intensive stirring continuously. It is necessary to boil our cream until it thickens, but bubbles, which 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 a lot of experience in this matter, it is better to put everything on water bath and steam the cream - this way it is easier for us to control the temperature and less likely to ruin something.

Cool the cream. Butter, on the contrary, we get it to soften at room temperature.

Now you need to connect them together. Someone begins to beat the butter into a fluffy mass and gradually add the custard base there, 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 "whipping" 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, which gives an amazing result - share in the comments to this article!

Cooking the second type of cream for delicious Napoleon - Sour cream cream

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

1. We take "Thickener for sour cream" (for cream, just a thickener - what 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 for several hours, preferably overnight, in thick gauze, hanging it over a container for water (or place the sour cream in a fine colander). The bottom line is that, under its own weight, sour cream squeezed out all the excess water from its bowels (and how does it get there interestingly ?!) and we end up with a thick, real sour cream, from which you can already whip a high-quality thick cream.

As sugar it is better to take icing sugar, but it doesn't matter. 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 continue to beat and it will thicken to the state we need.

Collecting and decorating Napoleon cake

The most pleasant moment of making cakes - we collect, coat, decorate!

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

• So, put the dry cake and coat it with custard butter on top.
• We put the second cake layer - again we coat it as well.
• First, we smear the third cake with sour cream and custard from above.
• We repeat this way, greasing every third cake additionally with sour cream, whipped with sugar, until the ingredients run out.
• We do not smear the last layer with anything yet - we leave our cake to settle 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 plastic from the sides and put a clean board on top (something flat) and lightly press the layers down. Put 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 infused cake completely:

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

Well, our gorgeous Napoleon is ready to eat!

I saw on the network 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!

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

Now let's take a look at the "high-speed" method of making Napoleon cake. As fast as possible. It is faster to buy a ready-made cake in the store, but this is not our goal!

It so happens that guests are expected by 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 necessary products at home and 20-30 minutes of free time. Well, good mood, of course! Without him, 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 packaging on 2 pieces of parchment at once and leave them in this form to defrost. We get 2 puff rectangles ready-made dough per sheet.

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

Making a 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 this is the most convenient and delicious proportion for a cream!

To improve the taste, you can add a bag of vanillin and a couple of spoons of brandy - the aroma will be very memorable. But even banal condensed milk with butter, simply whipped into a good 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 on a spoon (if we decided on this option).

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

The cream is ready. The dough is thawed, softened and even slightly "swollen" - it's time to bake it.

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

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

Here's a semi-finished product we got.

Now we coat each layer with cream.

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

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

Of course, he would still need to be given time to soak in the cream - at least 3 hours, but these are already the problems of those 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 🙂

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

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

Let's analyze another "non-classic" version of the 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 were drawn to nature and you decided to meet New Year at the dacha) - you will definitely knock your guests down with a freshly prepared Napoleon! In a skillet! Fantasy…

I will not disassemble the cream - take any of the above. I met another version of the cream for Napoleon - they add condensed milk to the custard with butter ... I don't know, I have never done this ... Do you think this is a suitable option? Please write who made such a cream - share your impression!

But we will disassemble the dough for cooking in a pan in steps, more precisely - from the photographs. It's easier.

For this version of the test, let's prepare:

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

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

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

We extinguish the soda with 6% vinegar (or add a baking powder for the dough), mix the ice water with the egg and add all this to the crumb. Quickly knead our dough into a large bun. As soon as the dough stops sticking to our hands, we 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 from the photo). We pack the koloboks in foil or bags (from airing) and place them in the refrigerator for 1 hour.

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

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

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

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

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

Place in a dry hot skillet (no oil!).

The cakes are cooked in a pan very quickly - literally 1 minute per side. And quickly turn it over.

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

We coat our "Napoleon from the pan" with cream. Everything is as usual, layer by layer. Leave 3 biscuits 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 better - at night. The longer it stands in the refrigerator, the better it will be soaked and the tastier, softer 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 butter - the cakes were softer and more tender, well, it seemed to me. I didn't have time to ask the household ones - they all swept away in an instant! In my opinion, some people do not even care how much time and effort you spent on this cake - if only it was sweet 🙂

Napoleon is perhaps the most popular cake. The peculiarity of the cake is that not every custard is suitable for Napoleon. Therefore, you should always know several recipes for a suitable cream in order to diversify a treat or cook from what is at hand.

To experiment with the preparation of original and varied creams, you must first get used to preparing a standard cream that is used in all recipes.

We will need:

• Milk - 1 l;
• Sugar - 350 g;
• Butter - 300 g;
• Chicken eggs - 3 pcs.;
• Flour - 3.5 tbsp. l .;
• Vanilla sugar - sachet.

Step by step cooking method:

We need a saucepan with a thick bottom with a volume of 1.5 - 2 liters.

1. Sift flour into the prepared container and add sugar, not forgetting about vanilla sugar.
2. Drive in three chicken eggs and gently stir the mixture with a fork or whisk, making sure that no lumps form.
3. Pour milk into the cream in a thin stream while continuing to beat. We should have a liquid, homogeneous cream.
4. We put the cream to boil. Now - the most difficult thing, you need to constantly stir the cream so that it does not burn.
5. Thus, keep the cream on low heat until the first air bubbles appear.
6. As soon as the cream begins to boil, remove it from the heat and leave to cool.

As soon as the cream reaches room temperature, add softened butter to it. Thanks to this, the cream will become more delicate and shiny.

A little trick. If you have not been able to avoid lumps of flour during cooking, do not be discouraged, all is not lost. All you need to do is rub the mixture through a fine sieve, and you get a smooth, delicate cream.

Various types of cream for "Napoleon"

"Napoleon" appeared in the distant Soviet times, when they cooked deliciously, but without exotic products. However, this does not limit our freedom of action, and if the dough is essentially the same, then the cream for "Napoleon" can be revived to your taste. Here are some options for making an unusual cream.

Cream with pears

In this recipe, we will use cornstarch, which will make the cream even more delicate and incredibly tasty, and a light note of rum will bring back memories of distant lands and exciting adventures.

We take the following ingredients:

• Milk - 1.5 cups;
• Chicken yolks - 2 pcs.;
• Sugar - 3-4 tbsp. l .;
• Starch - 1 tbsp. l .;
• Rum - 1 tbsp. l .;
• Lemon zest - from half a lemon;
• Pears - 2 pcs.;
• Vanillin - 10 g;
• Vegetable oil - for lubrication.

Let's prepare the cream in this way:

1. We take our yolks, add half of the prepared sugar to them and beat the mass thoroughly into a fluffy light foam.
2. Pour cornstarch into the resulting foam (it is advisable to sift it before this to avoid lumps) and lemon zest.
3. Dissolve the other half of the sugar in milk with vanilla. We put the saucepan on low heat and, stirring constantly, heat the milk.
4. Add to warm milk egg mixture and, without ceasing to stir the cream, bring it to a boil.
5. After the first bubbles appear, remove the mass from the heat and let it cool slightly.
6. Add rum to warm cream and mix thoroughly.

Cream with boiled condensed milk

Condensed milk will saturate the cream with a dizzying milky taste. In general, any ingredients such as marshmallows, marmalade and so on can be added to the cream. The main thing is not to lose this indescribable caramel-milk taste.

We take such products:

• Milk - 0.5 l;
• Condensed milk - can;
• Sugar - 3 tablespoons. l .;
• Butter - packaging;
• Flour / starch - 5 tbsp l.

Preparation:

1. Mix milk with flour with a blender until the lumps disappear.
2. Add sugar and stir the mixture in the same way.
3. We put the cream on low heat and, without ceasing to stir, cook for five minutes.
4. Cool the cream.
5. Add oil to the cold mixture. Make sure that the butter does not melt, as this will interfere with the whipping of the cream.
6. Beat the mass. The output should be a snow-white cream.
7. Now you need to pour in condensed milk in a thin stream and beat the cream thoroughly.

Cream with yogurt and honey

To make the cream more liquid, thereby soaking the cakes more thoroughly, as well as adding a new flavor to the cake, you can add yogurt.

Let's try!

We need:

• Yogurt - 200 g;
• Milk - 250 ml;
• Chicken yolk - 1 pc.;
• Honey - a tablespoon;
• Additives (raspberries, strawberries, coconut flakes) - the taste.

We prepare the cream according to this recipe:

1. Whisk milk and yogurt with yolk and honey.
2. We put the mixture on fire, stirring thoroughly.
3. Bring the cream to thickening, then remove from heat and let cool.
4. If you want to soften the cream, add your own butter.
5. Add additives. Ready cake we also decorate with the selected addition.

Cream for "Napoleon" with nuts

A new rendition of a familiar recipe. Rest assured, you will be surprised at the result.

We take such products:

• Milk - 0.5 liters;
• Sugar - 250 g;
• Flour / starch - 160 g;
• Cream - 250 ml;
• Chicken eggs - 2 pcs.;
• Vanillin - 1 tsp;
• Walnuts - to taste.

We prepare the cream like this:

1. Take a bowl, pour 200 g of milk into it, add vanillin, sugar and starch.
2. We beat in the eggs and beat everything thoroughly with a mixer until a fluffy mass is formed.
3. Heat the remaining milk in a thick-bottomed saucepan.
4. Into warm milk in a thin stream, constantly stirring, pour the previously prepared mixture with starch.
5. Making sure that the mixture does not burn, we bring it to the consistency of thick sour cream.
6. When the cream is ready, remove it from the heat and let it cool completely.
7. Add cream to the cold mixture and beat everything thoroughly with a mixer.
8. At the end, add chopped in a blender walnuts.

Delicate curd banana cream

In general, such a cream needs to be made half a portion more, because it is unlikely to reach the Napoleon itself in its original quantity.

We use the following products:

• Milk - liter;
• Sugar - 350 g;
• Eggs - 4 pcs.;
• Vanillin - a teaspoon;
• Flour - 5 tbsp. l .;
• Butter - 200 g;
• Cottage cheese - 400 g;
• Banana - 1pc (you can do more, be guided by your taste).

Cooking steps:

1. Break eggs into a saucepan with a thick bottom, add sugar (leave 50 g for cottage cheese), add vanillin and flour. Beat the resulting mixture with a mixer at medium speed.
2. Pour milk in a thin stream, whipping the cream along the way so that no lumps form.
3. We put the mixture on low heat and, without stopping stirring, bring the cream to the consistency of cream.
4. When the mixture is ready, turn off the heat and let the cream cool.
5. Add butter to the cream and beat the cream. As a result, we should get snow-white peaks.
6. Grind the banana in a blender.
7. Beat the cottage cheese with banana with a blender.
8. We apply the cream in this way, the cake - custard - curd-banana mixture.

Sour cream

So gentle and melting in your mouth, it will definitely not leave anyone indifferent. A light sourness will drive any gourmet crazy.

Ingredients for our cream:

• Sour cream - 250 ml;
• Sugar - 250 g;
• Lemon - 1 pc.;
• Milk - 800 ml;
• Vanillin - sachet;
• Flour - 4 tbsp. l .;
• Butter - pack.

Step by step recipe:

1. We take 250 g of milk and beat thoroughly with flour and 100 grams of sugar.
2. Heat the remaining milk on the stove with sugar and vanilla.
3. As soon as the milk begins to gurgle, stirring actively, pour in the previously prepared mixture of milk and flour.
4. Without stopping stirring, we cook the cream for about five minutes more.
5. We set aside the cream to cool.
6. Meanwhile, beat the butter until fluffy and fluffy.
7. Add oil to the cooled cream.
8. And the last stage - slowly, spoonfully add sour cream to the cream, while beating everything with a mixer.

It was called, however, then somewhat differently - "a thousand layers". And only in the 19th century it became widespread and a new name - the French chef Marie-Antoine Carem modernized the recipe. However, why he began to bear the name of the famous commander and emperor is still not known for certain.

Cake "Napoleon" has long been taken place of honor in the book of recipes for Russian housewives. After all, it is quite simple to prepare it, and its taste is not inferior to the most exquisite desserts. Most of the questions when preparing "Napoleon" arise when it comes to cream. Many housewives prefer custard. It is indeed lighter and healthier than oil. However, it is necessary to take into account a number of nuances to make the cream perfect.

RECIPE CREAM FOR CAKE "NAPOLEON"

What do you need:
1 tbsp. cream, 20% fat
4 tablespoons Sahara
1 tsp starch
3 eggs

How to make Napoleon cake custard:
1. Take a saucepan. Better enameled. Put sugar, starch in it, add eggs and stir the mixture for 1-2 minutes. Then add the cream and place the saucepan on the stove.

2. Stir the mixture constantly with a wooden spatula. Your task is to prevent the cream from boiling. Otherwise, it will collapse and fail. Heat the mixture until thick. Then put the cream to cool.

You can make a chocolate custard for your Napoleon cake.

RECIPE FOR CHOCOLATE CREAM FOR NAPOLEON CAKE

What do you need:
1 tbsp. milk
2 tbsp flour or potato starch
100 g chocolate
2 eggs
1/3 Art. sugar (ideally powdered sugar)
50 g butter
2 g vanillin

How to make chocolate custard for Napoleon cake:

1. First, heat the milk, add starch or flour and mix thoroughly.

2. In a separate bowl, beat eggs with sugar and add vanillin. Then combine both mixtures and beat well. Then break the chocolate bar into small pieces and add them to the creamy mixture.

3. Place a saucepan with cream on low heat and stir constantly. Cook until the cream is like thick sour cream in consistency. Next, set the mixture to cool. After it has cooled to room temperature, add the whipped softened butter to it and whisk everything together.

Alternatively, you can make a custard sour cream for the Napoleon cake.

RECIPE OF CREAMED CREAM FOR NAPOLEON CAKE

What do you need:
500 g sour cream 20% fat
600 ml milk
2 tbsp starch
3 eggs
1 tbsp. sugar (ideally powdered sugar)
2 g vanillin

Do you want to cook your favoriteNapoleon cake in 10 minutes ? Then write downfamous chef's signature recipe !..

How to make custard sour cream for Napoleon cake:

1. Pour 1 cup of cold milk into a bowl, dissolve the starch and add sugar and eggs. Mix everything thoroughly so that there are no lumps.

2. Pour the remaining milk into a saucepan and put on fire. Boil it and reduce heat. Then carefully pour the egg-starch mixture into the boiled milk and mix everything. Bring the mixture to a boil, but do not boil, stirring constantly.

3. After removing the cream from heat, add vanilla and cool to room temperature. It remains only to introduce sour cream into the cream (it should be thick).

You can make the cream for the Napoleon cake more fragrant. To do this, you can pour 1 tablespoon into the cream. brandy or liquor. Alternatively, you can diversify the taste of the cream by adding 2 tablespoons at the very beginning of cooking. roasted and finely chopped nuts.

If you do not know how to cook delicious puff cake"Napoleon" at home, read the article. There are many different recipes- simple and accessible even for novice housewives

Almost 100 years ago, pastry chefs came up with a recipe for delicious puff pastries with the name "Napoleon".

• They were made for the first time in the form of a triangle, at the beginning of the last century - to the centenary of the victory over Napoleon.
• Everyone who tried them liked the cakes so much that soon confectioners and housewives began to make a delicacy according to this recipe, not only in the form of cakes, but also in the form of a cake.
• In this article, we offer several recipes for such a delicious and well-known cake: with condensed milk, with custard, classics, and so on.

The most delicious Napoleon cake: a step-by-step classic recipe with custard with photo and video

Classic cake"Napoleon"

Vanilla custard gives the dessert a special flavor. But the most important thing about the cake "Napoleon"- this is the right way to make the dough for the cakes. After all, if they turn out to be "heavy" and too dense, it will ruin the taste of the dessert. Airiness, tenderness and light crunch - these are the main signs of a properly prepared cake. So here is the recipe classic dessert Napoleon with custard:

In order to prepare the dough, please be patient. Here are the steps:

1. The margarine should be in the freezer for at least three hours. It is also necessary to put the flour to cool, but in the refrigerator for a couple of hours.
2. Remove the margarine from the freezer and cut into small pieces with a knife.
3. Mix the margarine with flour (150 grams) and continue to chop everything together with a knife.
4. After that, crumple the chopped ingredients well into a tight ball and put them in the freezer.
5. Prepare another part of the dough: pour flour (450 grams) into a bowl, pour in lemon juice.
6. Break eggs into a glass or mug (200-250 ml), stir them with a fork and add water from the refrigerator to the top. Stir well until smooth.
7. Pour the egg water into the flour with lemon juice... Knead the dough. Do not add more flour than the recipe, so that the dough does not turn out to be tough.
8. Roll this dough into a rectangular plate.
9. Put the dough from the freezer in the middle of the layer, roll it up with an envelope and put it back in the cold for 1-2 hours.
10. Then you need to take the envelope out of the dough onto the table and roll it into a plate square shape... Make an envelope again and put it in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.

Now you can start baking the cakes:

1. Remove the dough from the cold and cut into 6 pieces. Roll out the round cakes to the size of the future cake.
2. The dough may stick to the table during rolling. Do not add flour, just dust the surface of the table with it.
3. Wrap the first crust on a rolling pin and transfer it to an oven sheet.
4. Bake at 180 degrees for 10-15 minutes. The layer will be ready when a golden brown crust appears.
5. Bake all the dough you have prepared.

Cook the cream filling like this:

1. Remove the oil in advance from the cold so that it becomes soft.
2. Break eggs into a metal container and stir them with sugar until white.
3. Put in the vanilla.
4. Pour milk into a saucepan, mix it with flour, and transfer to gas. Add the egg sweet mass to the milk mixture. Stir constantly so that the creamy mass is homogeneous and does not burn.
5. Once the creamy mixture has boiled, set aside to cool.
6. Then add the oil and stir until all the lumps are gone.

Lubricate the finished layers of dough with a creamy mixture, transferring them among themselves. If necessary, the formed cake can be cut along the edges. Sprinkle the sides of the cake with the resulting scraps and garnish with berries on top.

Video: Homemade Napoleon cake. The most delicious delicate cake

The most delicious Napoleon cake according to the Soviet recipe: a step-by-step recipe with photos and videos

Soviet-era Napoleon cake

In Soviet times, there were many cake recipes. "Napoleon"... But the most delicious was with a combination of two types of creams - custard and sour cream. Below you will find a cake recipe that could be bought in the Soviet Union at any cookery or cafe.

Ingredients:

Many housewives make puff pastry without unnecessary fuss - wrapping, cooling, and so on. But it will not turn out as tasty and truly flaky as with the correct technology. V Soviet time made exactly the real dough for "Napoleon" which turned out to be airy and tasty.

So, make the dough on the cakes like this:

1. The oil should sit in the freezer for at least three hours. It is also necessary to put the flour to cool, but in the refrigerator for a couple of hours.
2. Now take out the flour and sift it onto the table top.
3. Remove the butter from the freezer and cut into small pieces with a knife. You can grate it directly into the flour.
4. Mix butter and flour (2 cups) and continue to chop everything together with a knife.
5. Then add vodka, salt and sour cream and knead the dough, collecting it into a tight ball.
6. Place the resulting lump of dough in the freezer.
7. Prepare another part of the dough: Pour flour into a bowl (the remaining 3 glasses).
8. Break an egg into a glass or mug (200-250 ml), stir it with a fork and add half a glass of water from the refrigerator. Stir well until smooth.
9. Pour the egg water into the flour. Knead the dough. Do not add more flour than the recipe, so that the dough does not turn out to be tough.
10. Roll this dough into a rectangular layer.
11. Put the dough from the freezer in the middle of the layer, roll it up with an envelope and put it back in the refrigerator for 1-2 hours.
12. Then remove the dough envelope on the table and roll it into a square-shaped layer. Make an envelope again and put it in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.
13. Repeat the rolling process again on the table and store in the refrigerator.

At this time, prepare two types of cream:

1. Custard- Dissolve all dry ingredients in chilled milk, you can mix with a mixer so that there are no lumps.
2. Combine the egg white and yolk with a fork and add to the milk, and pour in the cognac.
3. Put on a weak gas and stir constantly until the first bubbles appear. Boil cream filling no more than 3-5 minutes.
4. Place a drain at the end. oil, and when it melts, stir everything again and turn off the gas. Set aside to cool.
5. Sour cream- whisk sour cream and icing sugar in a blender until fluffy. But do not overdo it, so as not to interrupt the sour cream in the butter.

Now remove the dough from the cold, divide into 12-15 pieces. Roll each piece and bake until golden brown at 170-180 degrees.

Advice: Before baking, cut each layer so that it needs a size and a perfectly round shape, since it will not work to cut it hot - the cakes are fragile and tender.

If you want the cake to be crispy, then grease with cream before serving, and if soft, then you can grease it in advance and let the cake stand in the cold for 2 hours. You need to re-grease like this:

• Grease the 1st and 2nd cake layers with the custard filling.
• Saturate the third with sour cream.
• Then again two cakes - custard and one - sour cream. Repeat this until you run out of flaky layers and cream filling.

Top with any cream left over on the cake and sprinkle with chopped crumbs. The cake is ready!

The most delicious Napoleon cake made from ready-made puff pastry with condensed milk: a step-by-step recipe with photos and videos

Many housewives do not want to mess with puff pastry or they just can't do it. Therefore, you can bake a cake or pastries. "Napoleon" from ready-made puff pastry bought at the supermarket. Here is the prescription:

Products you need:

• 2 packs of puff pastry
• pack of butter
• 1 can of condensed milk
• 1 tablespoon brandy
• a bag of vanillin

Make a cake like this:

1. Remove the dough from the packaging so that it comes off a little. The dough should be at room temperature.
2. While the dough is warming up, prepare the cream: beat the melted butter with a can of condensed milk with a mixer, adding cognac and vanillin.
3. Divide each layer into several parts.
4. Bake in two on an oven sheet. Be sure to lay down some parchment to prevent the dough from sticking to the baking sheet.
5. Then cut a little from the edges - this is needed for decoration. The cut top of each cake is also suitable for crumb. They tend to be fried and tough. Thanks to such manipulations, we make the cakes more tender and soft. They are better saturated with cream.
6. When all the cakes are ready, brush them with cream, collecting them into a cake. (How to prepare the cream is described in the first 2 recipes)
7. Sprinkle crumbs on the top of the cake and sides. The cake is ready!

Cut the dessert into small squares or triangles and serve.

Video: Napoleon cake made from ready-made puff pastry. Fast "Napoleon"

What cream is best for Napoleon cake?

Slice of Napoleon cake with custard

Cake "Napoleon" goes well with custard. Crispy and airy cakes are perfectly complemented by cream with condensed milk and butter. As mentioned above, you can combine two types of cream - custard and sour cream. Many housewives make a puff cake with whipped cream, resulting in a dessert with a delicate creamy taste.

Advice: If you want to add originality to the taste of the cream, then add a tablespoon of cognac and 1 gram of vanilla to it.

What decoration is suitable for the Napoleon cake: ideas, design examples, photos

Most often, housewives decorate such a dessert with ordinary crumbs, which are left over from the cakes. It's simple and fast, and most importantly - delicious.

The culinary experts do not stop at decorating with crumbs and complement the dessert with berries, cookies and powdered sugar.

See how delicious the strawberries on the cake, drizzled with chocolate fondant, look. Making such a fondant is simple: in a metal bowl, mix 4-5 tablespoons of milk, half a glass of granulated sugar, 2 tablespoons of cocoa powder and 2 tablespoons of butter. Place the bowl on low heat and simmer for 5-10 minutes until thickened.

If you pour chocolate fudge into a pastry syringe, you can make such "strings". Put a few berries in the middle and the decoration is done!

And this cake is a real work of art.

Original decoration with the help of multi-colored confectionery glaze made from cream with the addition of red food coloring.

Napoleon cake decoration

Napoleon cake decoration

Napoleon cake decoration

Video: Napoleon Cake - Grandmother Emma's Recipe

From childhood, each of us has an incredible, melting in the mouth and maddening taste of the Napoleon cake in our memories. The difficulty in making a cake is its unusual cream, which gives the cake that unique taste. Every self-respecting housewife has in her arsenal the "correct" recipe classic cream for "Napoleon". Exists a large number of cream options - someone prepares it on the basis of eggs and butter, someone on the basis of condensed milk or sour cream.

Permanent classic

It is known that puff pastry invented by the Frenchman Claudius Gele back in 1645. He kneaded the dough, folded it in layers, smearing each layer abundantly with butter, then rolled it out again and repeated this procedure several times. As a result, he received an unusual puff bun... A few years later, the pastry baker (unfortunately, the name has not survived) came up with the idea of ​​smearing the layers of dough with custard. This is how a delicious and famous cake turned out. who was named "Neapolitan". However, after the recipe got to Russia, the name was slightly distorted. From "Neapolitan" the cake began to be called "Napoleon".

"Napoleon" is a delicacy made of unsweetened puff, crunchy dough soaked in cream - protein, butter, custard, chocolate, whipped cream or condensed milk. Before assembling the cake, you need to know how to make the custard for the Napoleon cake. Additional ingredients can be pine nuts, walnuts, cashews, pears, bananas, cocoa or chocolate.

Impregnation for cake

Confectioners-bakers have brought out many recipes for making cream - a highlight for "Napoleon". Each cream brings its own unique flavor to the taste. To choose the right filling for yourself, you should try different ways cooking. The cream based cream will give tenderness, the protein cream will add lightness and airiness, and the nuts mixed into the cream base will add piquancy to the overall taste.

However, there is a proven, classic recipe for a cream for Napoleon. This impregnation can be used for filling and other cakes, for example, "Medovik", "Millefeuille". The cream turns out to be insanely tasty, creamy and liquid. But it is difficult for them to layer a regular cake, since heavy ones will squeeze them out.

Classic recipe

Cream "Charlotte" - custard without flour, based on eggs and butter. The texture of such a filling turns out to be very delicate, light, without lumps, and most importantly, it is very simple to prepare. To prepare the Napoleon cake custard, you will need the following ingredients:

Soften the butter before cooking. First you need to peel the vanilla pod (you can use vanilla extract or essences), put the stems and seeds in a saucepan with cold milk. Next, you should put the milk on the stove and bring it to the fire. Cool the liquid to room temperature.

The next step is to combine the eggs with sugar and starch, mix thoroughly with a whisk. Pour milk into the egg mixture, passing it through a sieve to get rid of excess seeds and vanilla pods, while gently stirring.

Next, the liquid should be boiled, it is recommended to pour it into a saucepan and put on medium heat. At this point, you should constantly stir until thickened, otherwise there is a possibility that the cream will burn. In this case, large bubbles appear. At the very end of cooking, add butter to the mixture and mix well until smooth and cool in the refrigerator for 2-3 hours, in addition covering the bowl with cling film.

Confectioners advise, when it is necessary to get a more delicate and fluffy filling, whip the cold cream until it peaks (strong foam). The bowl and whisk should also be cold to speed up the process and make the foam more fluffy. Next, you should carefully mix the resulting cold custard mass with whipped cream at the rate of 300 grams of cream per 100 grams of cream. Confectioners call this filling for a cake "Diplomat". "Diplomat" is stored in a pastry bag in the refrigerator for a maximum of a week.

If you wish, you can diversify the mass for coating the cake with unusual products that will transform the taste. For example, you can add to homemade cream lemon zest(only the yellow part of lemon without a white film), rum and grated pears, as well as cream can be replaced with sour cream (10%), so the calorie content of the dish will decrease. In addition, at the end of cooking, confectioners can add nuts chopped in a blender, which will emphasize the individuality of the taste and the variety of flavors.

Homemade cream based on condensed milk

Condensed milk will add a creamy and milky note to the cake filling. For classic recipe cream for cake "Napoleon" based on condensed milk ingredients are required:

The stage of preparation of the filling based on condensed milk is similar to the production of Charlotte cream. At the last stage, it is necessary to carefully pour in the condensed milk and distribute it into the bowl with the chilled liquid. As a result, you get a snow-white impregnation for the cake with an incredible smell and taste. If you wish, you can remove eggs from the ingredients, this will not affect the quality, taste of the product and the soaking properties of the cake.

Unusual option

One of the unusual and impossible delicious recipes is an . It is best cooked in two portions, as it is unlikely to remain in its original quantity before spreading. Cottage cheese and banana filling is a fantastic combination of ripe and sweet banana with cottage cheese that will drive anyone crazy. To make the Napoleon cake even tastier you will need:

The technology for preparing the filling for the cake does not differ in any way from the previous ones. However, there are differences. Ripe banana must be whipped with a blender until homogeneous mass... After the creamy mass has cooled completely, the cake should be assembled. Confectioners recommend alternating curd-banana layers with layers butter cream... However, some housewives manage to mix all the two components. This does not spoil the filling, but it turns out to be unusually bright and very tasty.

Chocolate delight

Chocolate is the most beloved and popular delicacy of many nations. The raw materials for its production are cocoa beans - the seeds of chocolate trees. It should be noted that for the preparation of an excellent dessert, it is necessary to use only high-quality chocolate without impurities and additives, which dissolves well, has a high fat content of 20-24% and an intensely saturated dark color.

A cream based on dark chocolate turns out to be very delicate, with a chocolate taste and aroma from childhood, with a deep color, and also adds bitterness to the taste. It holds its shape perfectly (even at room temperature) and has an appetizing glossy color. To prepare a chocolate soak you will need:

1. Eggs - 3 pcs.
2. Bitter chocolate - 100 gr.
3. Sugar - 180 gr.
4. Butter - 200 gr.
5. A pinch of salt.

The next step is to cook the resulting mixture in a saucepan over low heat until boiling, while stirring constantly. After cooking, let the cream cool completely.

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