Classic Napoleon custard cake recipe: cooking features and recommendations

Fans of delicious tea with a slice of cream cake will find this article useful. Sweeteners now recognize the classic Napoleon cake recipe and can easily make it at home from the available ingredients. The set of products is minimal and inexpensive, you should add only an unbearable desire to bake the desired dessert yourself. So, let's start diving into the culinary subtleties and nuances of several recipe options - classic, simplified and quick!

Description

Cake "Napoleon" is a classic Soviet-era recipe and is familiar to many. Since then we remember this amazing sweetness. Today in the shops there is not at all what people are accustomed to, at least once tasting the real Napoleon: thin layers of crispy brittle pastry, delicate custard and delicious toppings from puff crumbs.

Classic Dough Recipe

What products are needed:

• margarine - 1.5 packs;
• wheat flour (premium) - 2 tbsp .;
• cold water - 70 ml;
• salt - a couple of pinches;
• egg - 1 pc. (C0 or C1);
• vinegar (wine, apple, table) - 1 tsp.

The classic Napoleon cake recipe looks like this:

1. Sift the flour onto a wide cutting board and put soft margarine in it. Chop the mass with a knife until you get a lot of crumbs, about the same size.
2. Beat the egg separately in a bowl with a fork or hand whisk. Add water, salt and vinegar. Transfer crumbs of flour into this mass. Knead the dough with quick, active movements.
3. Cool a little in the freezer by wrapping it in a bag or film.
4. Then take out and divide into 7-9 pieces.
5. Each roll out with a rolling pin in a circle, on a baking sheet on baking paper bake until rosy in color - 7-10 minutes. Finished cakes will be layered and slightly swollen. Do not worry, it should be so.
6. Then cut the cakes in an even circle. Grind the cuttings and use to sprinkle the cake.
7. Cakes should be thoroughly smeared with cream and evenly laid on top of one another. Do not be afraid if the cakes are slightly convex, with an uneven surface - they will become soft when infused with cream. Grease the top cake too. Cream the sides of the cake.
8. Then sprinkle with scraps of crumbs.
9. Take the cake in the refrigerator - it will infuse, and the cakes will be soaked in cream, it will turn out very tasty.

Custard in milk

The famous Napoleon cake (a classic Soviet-era recipe) involves impregnation with custard from milk and eggs. Instead of the usual vanillin powder, add natural vanilla from the pod. Fresh seeds will give a unique aroma and velvety cream.

What products are needed:

• milk (preferably homemade or store with a high percentage of fat content) - 4 tbsp .;
• granulated sugar or powder - 2 tbsp .;
• vanilla pod - 1 pc.;
• flour (premium wheat) - 2 tbsp. l .;
• yolks from chicken eggs - 3-4 pcs. (from large eggs);
• cocoa powder - optional.

How to cook:

1. Milk Use ultra-pasteurized or pre-boiled homemade. Pour sugar, flour, and seeds from fresh vanilla beans into cool milk. Stir the mass - you need the sugar grains to completely disperse.
2. Whisk the yolks separately until smooth. Transfer them to the milk mixture. Stir a bit. If you want to cook chocolate cream, not brown, then add cocoa powder and mix the cream with it.
3. Put on a slow fire. Grabbing the bottom and top of the mass, constantly stir the mass with a whisk or spoon. As soon as it starts to heat up, it will thicken. Wait for the required consistency and remove from heat. While stirring, cool the cream on the table, and then use as directed.

If your cream is a little burnt or a flocculent consistency is obtained, it is recommended to strain it through a fine sieve.

Instead of milk, you can take cream as the basis for the cream.

Other cream options

The classic recipe for the cake "Napoleon" - with custard cream. But if you want, you can change the recipe and use another cream:

• custard protein with sugar syrup;
• butter with condensed milk (whole or boiled);
• sour cream

Additional ingredients for taste and smell

To make your Napoleon cake (classic recipe) with custard individual and unique, use additional ingredients for the cake:

• nutmeg or vanillin in cream;
• ground nuts in cream, cakes or for sprinkling;
• a drop of liquor in the cream;
• ground sesame seeds or sunflower seeds for sprinkling or in crust dough;
• fresh chopped mint or dried in powder - for dough;
• cocoa or instant coffee in a dough or cream - for chocolate "Napoleon".

A simplified version of the classic cake "Napoleon"

What products are needed for the test:

• premium wheat flour - 400 g;
• oil (cow) - 1.5 packs;
• starch - 1 tbsp. l .;
• cold boiled water - 1/2 tbsp.

For cream:

• milk or low-fat cream - 800 ml;
• eggs - 2 pcs.;
• sugar - 300 g;
• vanillin - a couple of pinches;
• wheat flour (premium) - 3 tbsp. l

Cooking a cake "Napoleon" according to the classic recipe. A step-by-step recipe looks like this:

1. To get started, take the test, because it still needs to be kept in the refrigerator. Sift the wheat flour into a large bowl with starch (it will improve the quality of the flour). There, grate the butter (you can take margarine instead of butter).
2. Rub the mass until a crumbly texture is formed, uniform in structure.
3. Pour in water and knead the dough. Wrap the lump in a bag and leave it in the refrigerator - you can even put it in the freezer. The standing time is 15-20 minutes.
4. This time is just for cooking the cream. The custard option begins with milk. Divide it into two approximately equal parts. Put one on a stove to heat over low heat.
5. Mix the second with eggs, vanilla, sugar and flour. This mass should be slightly beaten with a mixer, but only at the first speed. Otherwise, the whole kitchen will be covered with an even layer of cream blanks!
6. Then remove the warmed milk from the stove - warm, but not hot. Pour it into the milk and egg mass with a thin stream. Beat with a whisk.
7. Put the cream mixture on a slow fire and warm until thickened. Stir. When the consistency is suitable, remove from the stove and let the cream cool at room temperature. Then refrigerate.
8. For shortcakes, divide the dough into 7-8 approximately equal parts. Each roll into a thin layer and pierce with a fork in several places. This is necessary so that the cakes do not swell during baking.
9. Each cake separately bake at 180-200 ° C. About 7-8 minutes in a well-heated oven. If overexposed, they will be too brittle.
10. Form the baked cakes immediately in circles. This is easy to do by attaching a plate or pan lid to the cake.
11. Then lay the cakes on a plate in layers and coat with cream. At the end of the cream, which has leaked onto a plate, lift with a knife to the top of the cake. So you also issue sides.
12. Fold the trimmings remaining from forming the cake layers into a blender and grind to large crumbs. Sprinkle the top and sides of the cake with it.

As you can see, the recipe for the "Napoleon" cake is classic at home very simple. But you can make it even easier!

Shop puff pastry recipe

A great option for a whip cake - with a shop puff pastry. And you can take both yeast and yeast-free dough - there will not be much difference when cooking. The classic Napoleon cake recipe is converted into a quick dessert with funky cream. And for decoration, take pecans! They have an advantage over other types of nuts. Pecan does not require pre-treatment.

What products are needed:

• puff pastry - 1 kg (two packs);
• Cow butter - 1 pack;
• milk (better fat) - 1 tbsp .;
• sweet powder - 1 tbsp .;
• egg yolks - 3 pcs.;
• premium wheat flour - 1.5 tbsp. l .;
• pecans - 100 g;
• Fresh berries and rosemary for decoration.

The classic Napoleon cake recipe (quick version) is shown below:

1. So, the dough is ready, it remains only to thaw, cut into pieces and roll each into a layer. From 1 kg, 8 small layers will be obtained.
2. Bake each in the oven at 200 ° C until browning - this is about 5-6 minutes. You do not need to overexpose, otherwise the cakes will be brown.
3. While the finished cake layers will cool, cut them in shape - a circle or a square.
4. For cream, mix cold milk with sweet powder, yolks and flour. Stir and bring to a thick plate. Do not add a lot of flour, spoons should be without a slide. Otherwise, the cream will have a pronounced flour flavor.
5. Separately, in a water bath, melt the butter and pour into the cream. Beat the whole mass until smooth for a couple of seconds.
6. Grind the nuts in a blender.
7. Coat the cakes with cream, trim them with the top and sides of the cake. Sprinkle with nuts.
8. Put the dessert in the refrigerator for a couple of hours.
9. Rinse and dry the berries and rosemary. Garnish the cake before serving.

Advice to the hostess

Make homemade puff pastry and freeze it in pieces in separate bags. So, if you want to cook homemade cakes or a cake, you just have to thaw the dough at room temperature. To do this, leave it in a bowl on the table for 5-6 hours.

Be sure to write down all the recipes in your cooking diary. Now you can cook for yourself and your loved ones and the Napoleon cake (a classic Soviet-era recipe) with cream, and a quick whip up!