Main Page
Eggs
Quick Napoleon cake

Quick Napoleon Cake

This cake really does come together fast! The hands-on time was just 2.5 hours: 15 minutes to make the dough and 30 minutes to chill it. While the dough chilled, I had time to make the pastry cream and set it to cool. By the time I'd rolled and baked all the layers, 40 minutes, two at a time, the cream had cooled. Assembling and coating with crumbs took another 10 to 15 minutes. That's it, you can't do it any faster. In the end, we spent the spring holiday weekend enjoying our family's favorite cake.

Maria

Recipe author

Watch the video

Composition / ingredients

Servings:

Flour

400

Butter

250

Water (ice-cold)

100

Flour

2.5

Milk

Sugar

300

Eggs

Vanilla sugar

Translation table of volumetric measures

Nutrients and energy value of the composition of the recipe

By weight of the composition:

Proteins 9 % 4 g

Fats 26 % 12 g

Carbohydrates 65 % 30 g

243 kcal

GI: 7 / 7 / 87

Cooking method

Step 1:

The dough.
Step 2:

Sift the flour. Grate the cold butter on a box grater and add it to the flour.
Step 3:

Rub it together into coarse crumbs.
Step 4:

Pour in the ice-cold water and knead into a smooth, supple dough.
Step 5:

Shape the dough into a ball and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
Step 6:

Divide the chilled dough into 8 to 10 equal pieces. I made 7-inch (18 cm) layers, so I split mine into 10 pieces.
Step 7:

Roll each piece out thinly and transfer it to parchment paper.
Step 8:

Right away, trace the outline of the cake layer. I used a cake ring as a guide.
Step 9:

Bake the layers for 3 to 4 minutes at 400 degrees F (200 degrees C), until lightly golden.
Step 10:

Bake all the remaining layers the same way.
Step 11:

Break off the uneven edges of the layers and crush them into crumbs for the topping.
Step 12:

The pastry cream.
Step 13:

Pour half the milk into a saucepan and set it over heat.
Step 14:

Beat the eggs with the sugar and vanilla sugar until smooth.
Step 15:

Pour in the remaining milk and add the flour. Whisk again until smooth.
Step 16:

Pour the egg-milk mixture into the hot milk in a thin, steady stream, whisking as you go.
Step 17:

Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, for about 10 minutes, until the cream thickens.
Step 18:

Transfer the cream to another bowl, press plastic wrap directly onto the surface so it doesn't form a skin, and let it cool.
Step 19:

Assemble the cake by stacking the cooled layers one on top of another, spreading cream over each.
Step 20:

Coat the top and sides with the reserved crumbs and refrigerate overnight to let the cake soften and soak. Since my cream was on the thin side, I assembled the cake inside a cake ring and coated the sides with crumbs the next day.