"Napoleon" - a truly royal cake. His taste has been familiar to many since childhood, when it was a very expensive pleasure to buy in stores, and the choice was small. But to cook a puff cake, soaked in custard cake, serve it on a huge dish for fragrant tea, any housewife could do. Before talking about how to make Napoleon at home, we will find out where the name of this cake comes from.
According to one version, the name of this delicacy was invented for the centenary of the victory in the war with the French in 1912, in Moscow. At first, this dessert was not a cake, but was a triangular cake. Its shape symbolized Bonaparte's cocked hat. It is a little strange, of course, that the cake was named after the enemy emperor. A more logical version is that the “Napoleon” cake was invented in Italy, we will talk about it a little later. The puff pastry, which is the basis of this cake, was invented almost two hundred years earlier than the war of 1812. A pastry chef, a Frenchman, Claudius Gele, invented it, trying to make sugar-free dough for his diabetes father. Claudius took the flour, put butter and water in it, and rolled it several times. Peering into the oven, he found a multilayer roll. Later, Gele left to develop his culinary skills in the capital, and there, apparently, the Italians stole the puff pastry recipe . Arriving at home, they invented a new recipe for puff pastry cake . And later they called it “Napoleon”, because the creator of the main ingredient of the cake - dough, was also a Frenchman, like the emperor Bonaparte.
How to make Napoleon? Mistresses will have to put a little patience and effort. During the preparation of this magnificent dessert, you must strictly act according to the recipe, so that it turns out to be truly royal. "Napoleon" - a cake consisting of many thin layers of puff pastry, each of which must be soaked in butter, custard or custard. When the cake is ready, it must stand for the puff pastry to become tender and soft.
"Napoleon", custard cake
To prepare a delicious puff pastry dessert, we will need:
Ingredients for the dough:
- margarine or butter - one pack;
- kefir or sour cream - one glass;
- chicken egg - one piece;
- granulated sugar - two tablespoons;
- wheat flour of the first grade - four glasses;
- soda, slaked with vinegar - a teaspoon;
- a pinch of salt.
Custard Ingredients:
- milk - two glasses;
- two eggs;
- butter - one hundred grams;
- wheat flour - two tablespoons;
- granulated sugar - one and a half glasses;
- vanillin - one bag.
Let's start making a cake with baking cakes. To do this, sift four cups of flour through a sieve to remove lumps and enrich it with oxygen. We will form a hill of flour on a dry clean table, squeeze it on top a little. Take margarine or butter and cut it into small cubes. Then it should be “chopped” with a wide knife flour with cubes of margarine or butter until a kind of butter lumps are formed. Continuing to “chop” the dough, add sour cream or kefir. Then one egg and sugar. Having carefully chopped the dough with a knife, we will collect it in a large bowl, wrap it with cling film or just put it in a bag and send it to the refrigerator for an hour.
After that, take the dough and divide into small lumps, from which we will then bake cakes. Korzha should turn out seven to eight. And one more small cake should go to the crumb for sprinkling. The dough for shortcakes needs to be rolled out very thinly, about 1-2 mm. Bake on a baking sheet, sprinkled with flour, in the oven at a temperature of 180 degrees. It is worth noting that the cakes are baked very quickly, but they turn out to be very fragile, so you have to get them and cool them carefully. While the cakes are cooling, prepare the cream.
To do this, take a saucepan and grind eggs and sugar until smooth. Add a couple of tablespoons of flour, mix. Then you will need to gradually add milk and stir evenly so that lumps do not form. Put the mass on the fire and bring it to a boil. In this case, it is simply necessary to constantly stir the cream. Remove from heat and cool to such an extent that butter can be dissolved in the mass. Mix well and add vanilla. Leave to cool.
When the cream has completely cooled down, you need to take the dish and lay the first cake on it. Gently with a spatula, apply the cream evenly on top of the cake, cover with a second layer. With the remaining layers, the same manipulations should be performed. We smash the smallest cake into crumbs and sprinkle the finished cake. Put the dessert in the fridge for the night.
"Napoleon" - a festive cake, delicate, with delicious creamy vanilla cream, will undoubtedly delight your loved ones and your children. Enjoy your meal!