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German Pastry Chef, home

Layer Cakes

Napoleon Cake

by Lisa

Trained pastry chef

Round Napoleon cake covered in vanilla cream and puff pastry crumbs

4.6 (40)out of 5, 40 ratings

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Prep
10 min
Bake
40 min
Total
50 min
Makes
12

This recipe makes one 8-inch (20 cm) cake. 10 slices.

Ingredients

Makes 12

  • 2 packagespuff pastry(from the chilled section). In Germany usually bought ready-rolled from the chilled section, about 275 g per package. In the US use frozen puff pastry sheets, all-butter if possible; in the UK, ready-rolled puff pastry.
  • ½ cup plus 2 tbsp125 ggranulated sugar
  • 3large egg yolks
  • ½ cup60 gall-purpose flourIn German recipes plain flour means soft wheat flour Type 405 unless stated otherwise. In the US use all-purpose flour; in the UK, plain flour.
  • 2 cups0.5 lmilk
  • 1vanilla beanA whole vanilla pod; the seeds are scraped out and used. In the US use a vanilla bean, or 1 tsp vanilla bean paste per bean; in the UK, a vanilla pod, or 1 tsp vanilla bean paste per pod.
  • 6 tbsp80 gunsalted butterGerman butter is unsalted and has about 82 percent fat. In the US use unsalted butter; European-style unsalted butter is closest; in the UK, unsalted butter.

Method

  1. Beat the egg yolks & sugar together vigorously. Add the flour and stir until there are no lumps at all! If the mixture gets too stiff, you can add a splash of the milk to make stirring easier.

  2. Bring the milk to a boil with the vanilla bean seeds (the tiny seeds scraped from the vanilla bean). As soon as the milk is just about to boil, add a splash of it to the egg yolk mixture and stir vigorously. Repeat this step 2 to 3 times to bring the egg yolk mixture up to the temperature of the hot milk. Once your egg yolk mixture is tempered, stir it into the hot milk and let it boil for 1 minute, stirring constantly. After 1 minute of boiling, take it off the heat and stir in your butter. Once the butter is mixed in, cover your cream with plastic wrap & let it come to room temperature. Please do NOT put it in the fridge for this.

  3. Spread out your puff pastry sheets on baking sheets and cut 2 rounds (8 inches / 20 cm across) out of each sheet. Prick everything generously with a fork and bake the trimmings from the rounds as well.

  4. Bake for about 15 minutes at 400°F (200°C) convection (fan).

  5. After baking, let the layers cool completely & separate them from the "trimmings".

  6. Place one layer on your serving plate and spread about ¼ of your now cooled vanilla cream on top. Stack your layers this way and cover the whole cake with the remaining cream.

  7. Crumble your "trimmings" between your hands and press them onto the cake.

  8. Chill your cake for at least 3 hours before serving