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Napoleon Fish Cake

Napoleon Fish Cake

An original, eye-catching appetizer made from everyday ingredients! This Napoleon fish cake dresses up any gathering and surprises guests with both its looks and its flavor—after all, you don't get to try a savory "cake" every day. It's very easy to put together, using canned fish and store-bought pastry layers.

Ropotushka

Recipe author

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Composition / ingredients

Servings:

Puff pastry sheets (ready-made Napoleon cake layers, 5 sheets)

300

Canned fish

240

Onion (large)

Carrot (medium)

Eggs (large)

Hard cheese

150

Mayonnaise

Vegetable oil

Salt (a pinch)

Translation table of volumetric measures

Nutrients and energy value of the composition of the recipe

By weight of the composition:

Proteins 21 % 10 g

Fats 55 % 26 g

Carbohydrates 23 % 11 g

289 kcal

GI: 100 / 0 / 0

Cooking method

Step 1:

How do you make a Napoleon fish cake? Gather your ingredients. Any cheese will work, as long as it's real and tasty. Choose good-quality canned fish packed without added oil, with nothing in it but salt and spices. I used pink salmon, but saury or mackerel—whatever you like—work too. When buying the pastry layers, check that they're intact and that there aren't too many crumbs in the package.
Step 2:

Peel and rinse the onion and carrot. Coarsely grate the carrot and cut the onion into small dice—cut this way, the vegetables cook faster.
Step 3:

Set a sauté pan or skillet over the heat. Once it's warm, carefully add the vegetable oil. Since carrot takes longer than onion, add the grated carrot first and cook over medium heat, stirring now and then, for about 2 minutes.
Step 4:

When the carrot starts to soften, add the diced onion and cook another 5 minutes over medium heat. Stir often so the vegetables brown evenly and don't burn.
Step 5:

Open the canned fish and carefully drain the liquid into a separate container. Transfer the fish to a bowl and mash it with a fork, removing any large bones. For the layers to soak through well, the filling should be fairly moist, so stir 1–2 tablespoons of the reserved liquid back into the mashed fish.
Step 6:

Grate the hard cheese. For this recipe the grater size (coarse or medium) doesn't matter—what counts is that the filling is even and holds together.
Step 7:

Hard-boil the eggs: cover them with cold water and cook for 10 minutes over medium heat once it boils. Plunge them into cold water afterward so they peel easily, then cool completely. Coarsely grate the peeled eggs.
Step 8:

Use a cutting board or a flat plate for assembling. The dry pastry layers are fragile, so handle them gently to keep the cake looking neat. Set the first layer on the plate and spread it evenly with mayonnaise—about 1 tablespoon per layer. The amount and type of mayonnaise shapes the flavor: more mayonnaise makes a heavier, moister cake, so keep that in mind.
Step 9:

Spread the mashed fish evenly over the mayonnaise. Top with the second pastry layer and press down gently.
Step 10:

Spread the sautéed onion and carrot over the second layer—no mayonnaise needed here. Add the third layer and again press gently.
Step 11:

Spread the third layer evenly with mayonnaise. Top with the grated eggs, spreading them evenly. Add the fourth layer and press down again.
Step 12:

Spread that layer with mayonnaise and sprinkle the grated hard cheese evenly over the top.
Step 13:

Cover with the last layer, press down, and spread it evenly with mayonnaise. Decorate with vegetables and herbs as you like, then refrigerate to let it soak. The cake is ready when all the layers have gone from crisp to soft—check the package for the softening time, usually about 1.5–2 hours. I like to make it in the evening so it's ready by morning.

It's best to decorate the fish cake right before serving so it looks fresh and appetizing.
Serve the finished cake with tea or coffee. With a nice presentation, it earns a place of honor on the holiday table as a cold appetizer.
The recipe uses store-bought puff pastry layers, but you can bake your own.
It's best to make the mayonnaise yourself—it'll taste better and be healthier. Check out our homemade mayonnaise recipes. You can also use sour cream or plain yogurt instead of mayonnaise, on their own or mixed with it in any ratio you like—this cuts the calories.
Shake the can before you buy it: the more liquid you hear sloshing, the less fish inside.
Use an oil with a high smoke point for frying! Oils are only beneficial up to a certain temperature—the smoke point—beyond which they begin to burn and form toxic compounds, including carcinogens. With few exceptions, unrefined oils have a low smoke point; they're full of unfiltered particles that scorch quickly. Refined oils tolerate heat better and have a higher smoke point. If you're cooking in the oven, in a skillet, or on the grill, use a high-smoke-point oil. The most common ones are refined sunflower, olive, and grapeseed oil.