Despite the French name, the Napoleon cake recipe with condensed milk or custard was born in Russia. Its history begins with a cake that appeared in the nineteenth century, in a form reminiscent of the famous cocked hat of the great commander. Time passed, and the dessert turned into a delicious cake. It is made from puff pastry and cream base, which can be very different - from
whipped cream to butter with protein, nuts and sugar.
How to make a Napoleon cake?
Puff cakes are the main component of the cake. Of course, making such a dough on your own is not easy, it will take a lot of attention and effort. You can limit yourself to ready-made cakes and not waste time. But if you already learn how to cook this exquisite delicacy, nobody will be indifferent to your culinary talents. Therefore, try to choose a recipe to your liking and go for it. First you need to remember a few tips. For example, butter should be used in dough, not vegetable spreads or margarine. The fatter the product, the tastier the dessert. To make the dough not sticky and to get as thin as possible, sprinkle the surface with plenty of flour. The most delicious is a cake prepared a day ago and aged in the refrigerator.
Classic cake "Napoleon" at home
To prepare the dough you will need eight hundred grams of good flour, a pack of butter, one hundred grams of sour cream, one egg, half a glass of granulated sugar, salt. For a cream you need a glass of sugar, a couple of eggs, twenty grams of flour, two hundred and fifty grams of heavy cream, two hundred and fifty grams of butter, a package of vanilla sugar.
So, we prepare the Napoleon cake at home. Let's start with the test. Pour half the flour onto the surface of the table, put soft butter there and chop with a knife until oil crumbs form. Place in a bowl and knead the dough, adding all other ingredients and adding a little flour. Knead for quite a while until the dough loses its stickiness. After that, cut it into ten parts, roll the balls out of them and send it to the refrigerator.
It's time to do the cream. Pour water into the pan, place on the stove. Mix the eggs with sugar in a bowl, place in a water bath and stir thoroughly until the water is very hot. Add cream, vanilla and stir, wait until the sugar has completely dissolved, then pour in the flour. Try not to create lumps in the cream. After boiling, reduce the heat, darken the cream for a quarter of an hour and cool. When the mixture cools down, beat with a mixer soft butter and add cream, mix everything until completely homogeneous.
The custard is ready, it needs to be removed in the refrigerator. As you can see, everything from which the Napoleon cake is made is completely possible to cook at home. It remains only to bake cakes and make a dessert. Roll the chilled pieces of dough in a thin layer, bake in the oven for ten minutes at a temperature of 200 degrees. When all the cakes are ready and slightly cooled, lay on a plate, alternately lubricating with custard. If one of them breaks, grind it for crumbs - this way you can beautifully decorate the finished dish. Napoleon cake is ready at home. It remains only to let it soak in a cold place for at least a few hours.