"Napoleon" - a traditional French and Italian dessert, prepared on the basis of numerous cakes of puff pastry and aromatic vanilla cream. Today, there are dozens of recipes that use custard, protein, and butter cream, and even made on the basis of fat confectionery cream. However, cooking such a dessert is not so bad. After all, it still needs to be issued correctly. Let's find out how to decorate a Napoleon cake at home.
Two in one: tasty and healthy
How to decorate the Napoleon cake if there are no pastry tools at hand, and culinary skills leave much to be desired? Fresh berries will come to the rescue, which will not only look beautiful and fabulous on the dessert, but will also make it tasty and healthy. To decorate the puff cake, it is necessary to select the most ripe, but not soft and not loose fruits. Otherwise, they will give juice and within a few hours will become stiff, making the dessert lose its appetite .
This is a starter cake decoration . After all, all that is needed is to spread strawberries, raspberries, blueberries or currants beautifully and gently on the surface, then sprinkle all with powdered sugar. Use a sieve so that it evenly covers the berries, like frost. Do not forget to add green color using mint leaves. Adornment of Napoleon cake with berries will be appreciated by both adults and children.
Chocolate Paradise
It doesn’t matter which cream you will use in making the dessert. In any case, the final step will be that you apply it on top of the cakes and cover with chopped puff pastry chips. And let's change the familiar look of the Napoleon cake? The decoration will be products made of pure chocolate, which we will prepare on our own.
What is required for this:
- A bar of dark chocolate.
- Saucepan with water.
- Heat-resistant bowl, which is slightly larger in diameter than the width of the pan (saucepan).
- Wooden spatula.
- Roasting paper (parchment).
Break the chocolate into pieces and pour it into the bowl. Then put it in a pan and place it on the stove. When the water begins to boil, this will create the effect of a bath and the chocolate will slowly melt. To get a homogeneous mass, you need to constantly stir it. When the chocolate has completely melted, we proceed to the manufacture of parts. To do this, with the help of a wooden spatula , we will create droplets, patterns and even inscriptions, not forgetting to put melted chocolate on parchment. In the worst case, you cannot accurately separate the pattern from the surface without breaking the fragile part. You can place the chocolate product in the freezer for several hours until it completely hardens.
Separate the finished drawings and drops with a thin knife from the paper, and then transfer them to the surface of the confectionery product to get the original pattern. Such a Napoleon cake decoration will look as if the dessert was made by a professional pastry chef.
Confetti rain
All the girls are sweets. They love bright dresses, sweet cakes and all the colors of the rainbow. Their cheerfulness, and sometimes naivety, pleases and inspires. Therefore, we will tell you about a possible option for decorating a cake for a girl for 10 years. And for this we will use multi-colored confetti.
As a rule, they can be found in any supermarket, looking in the department of spices, seasonings and spices for baking. However, you can also look into the confectionery, where you will be offered confetti of absolutely different sizes and shades. To make our cake for a 10-year-old girl colorful, we will use whipped cream mixed with food coloring.
To prepare the cream, you need to pour a small amount of heavy cream and whip with a
mixer until stable peaks form. In the finished cream you need to add a little vanilla and red dye and knead until a homogeneous mass is obtained. Using a pastry syringe or an ordinary spatula, it is necessary to apply cream on the surface of Napoleon, and then sprinkle richly on dessert with colorful confetti. And do not be afraid that the cake will turn out to be too sweet - the bright scattering, although edible, is almost tasteless.
Tools at hand
"Napoleon" with chocolate balls is another idea of decorating the cake, which will surely appeal to both the hero of the occasion and all the guests. All that is needed to decorate the dessert is corn balls drenched with chocolate icing, wafer round cookies or thin chocolate chips. Of course, you can admire such a cake for hours. However, its appearance will give everyone an unforgettable visual pleasure.
For cooking, you need to select cookies of the same length, as well as pre-stock chocolate balls. This is a great idea for decorating a cake. Indeed, even the most inexperienced chef will cope with its embodiment. Gently stick one wafer to the cream so that they form a fence. Do not push too hard, otherwise you will break fragile cookies. Tie the cake with tape so that no waffles fall while carrying. Gently place chocolate balls in the middle or sprinkle with interest to close all cream gaps. Such a decoration of the Napoleon cake with sweets will delight all domestic inhabitants.
Oh these boys
How to decorate a birthday cake for a boy at home? To do this, you need to be creative and a little zeal. Indeed, if in most cases little ladies will be delighted with pink flowers, then the boys are more serious and severe critics. They want to see their favorite superheroes, and the latest models of cars. To surprise a little boy you have to try.
There is a great idea that will tell you how to decorate a cake for a boy for his birthday - use mastic.
Truly, this is a unique confectionery that allows you to mold any form of edible material, reminiscent of clay or plasticine. The mastic is easily rolled out, and the colors can be adjusted using food coloring. For example, try to recreate a football field if the child is fond of an active lifestyle and fan of this sport.
First, take a cake and a white cream. Add green dye to it, and then gently apply feathers with a pastry syringe to get an imitation of grass.
And what is a football field without a ball? Using mastic, you need to roll a uniform ball and place it in cream grass. We are sure that such a dessert will not leave indifferent even the most picky boy.
Glaze Patterns
Viennese desserts, such as almond pie or strudel, are often double glazed to create a unique pattern. To do this, you don’t need special confectionery syringes for decorating the cake, but you still have to spend 30 minutes preparing the chocolate coating.
Important Note! We will use icing based on white and black chocolate to get a contrasting pattern. In no case can you mix dark and light tiles, so you need to first prepare sweets in different (separate) containers.
What is needed:
- A bar of black or milk chocolate.
- Butter (a small slice).
- Saucepan with water or stewpan.
- Deep heat-resistant bowl to create a water bath.
- Stirring paddle.
- Pallet and metal grill.
Melt the chocolate in a water bath and add the butter. If the glaze is too liquid, you can introduce a little sifted flour, not forgetting to regularly stir the mass. Do the same procedure with white chocolate, then place the cake on a wire rack. Do not forget to put a pallet under it - this is necessary if you do not want to stain the table and floor with liquid glaze.
Gently pour dark fudge, evenly distributing it over the entire surface of the cake, affecting the sides. Let it cool slightly, and then draw neat circles with white glaze. Using a toothpick, draw lines over the fudge to create a pattern. When making a cake, pay attention to the photo below.
Simple decor
What could be simpler than decorating the finished dessert with a lush cream? This is a universal way to decorate a cake in a matter of minutes, and for this it is not necessary to whip cream or boil egg yolks for a long period. All that is needed is a confectionery set for decorating cakes, which consists of a spatula (scapula), a confectionery bag (syringe), a specialized nozzle and dye .
Design Tips:
- You will definitely surprise your guests with "Napoleon", which is hidden under the thickness of a fragrant vanilla cream. That is why do not be afraid to decorate the cake completely, touching both the sides and the top.
- The best option for decoration will be whipped cream, which is sold in cans at any supermarket. You can prepare the cream yourself by buying a fat dairy product in the store and whipping it with a mixer until stable peaks. For a change, you can add food coloring or make it from natural ingredients. For example, use freshly squeezed juice of strawberries, cherries or currants.
What cream to cook
We present to your attention some of the most popular creams for decorating cake.
- Custard. For cooking, you will need milk, sugar, eggs, flour (starch), butter, vanillin or vanilla extract. The ingredients are mixed together, and then cooked over low heat, where the flour is gradually introduced, until a uniform, dense mass is formed. This recipe is sometimes called handicraft. The main feature of custard is that you can not add flour, gelatin or starch to it to thicken. Often, the finished cottage cheese is poured into a gravy boat and served on the table for dessert. Guests can only break off a piece of cake and dip it in a delicate liquid cream.
- From sour cream. It is best to use fat sour cream, which is whipped with a mixer along with icing sugar. It is not recommended to add sugar, since it does not completely dissolve in the cream, and subsequently will completely creak on the teeth. You can add a few crushed nuts, cocoa and chocolate chips to give the nobility to our "Napoleon".
- Protein . For cooking, you will need egg whites, which are whipped with powdered sugar until white stable peaks appear. Such a cream is applied with a spatula, and for those who want to decorate the cake a few hours before the guests arrive, gelatin will come to the rescue.
- Oil. Use only butter, not margarine or spread. Beat it with a mixer along with sugar or powder until you get a lush white cream - stable.
Cake Decorating Molds
Silicone molds - a unique way to beautifully and originally design "Napoleon". The name itself speaks for itself. After all, a mold is a form where edible mastic is placed to obtain a 3D figure. Today, there are dozens of different silicone models that allow you to create inscriptions, faces, and anthropomorphic figures. It all depends on desire and imagination.
Useful advice: making mastic at home is easy. It is enough to use powdered sugar, powdered and condensed milk. All ingredients are kneaded until a uniform, pasty mass is obtained . Using an ordinary rolling pin and a sharp knife, you can make creative glaze, create incredible shapes.
The main feature of the mastic is that it is like plasticine, only edible and absolutely safe. If you wish, you can cut flowers, create voluminous inscriptions and depict even small animals. And for those who are not ready to cook mastic on their own, a pastry shop comes to the rescue, where a pasty mass of different colors is sold.
Selection of pastry tools
Tired of a simple cream and want to decorate the dessert in an original way? Then give preference to confectionery tools that will allow you to make a cake, as if you are a real ambassador of your business!
Types of tools:
- Sacks and specialized nozzles. Confectionery bags are both disposable and reusable. The second type can be washed repeatedly, they are easily dried and do not require special treatment. The main feature of the bags is that you can use nozzles with them to create patterns in cream in 3D format. For example, you can decorate a dessert with simple droplets or, conversely, make a huge rose, with a bud and petals.
- Shovels and spatulas. If the first tool is used to mix creams and apply them to the surface, then spatulas allow you to evenly distribute them on the cake.
- Plates and molds for chocolate. Silicone heat-resistant plates that allow you to create a unique chocolate pattern. The operation of such a tool is easy. It is enough to melt the product from cocoa, pour into the mold and allow to cool until completely hardened.
Napoleon is a favorite and popular dessert all over the world. It is possible if in many restaurants the taste of the cake may be similar, but you will remember the look for a lifetime. That is why it is important to make dessert, even if berries and powdered sugar are used for this.