Napoleon Cake
This is a cake worth clearing an evening for: eight paper-thin pastry rounds, a buttery custard and a night in the fridge to bring it all together. We like the layers soaked through but still faintly flaky, with a crumb coat that melts on the tongue. The pastry is a quick grated-butter dough, so there are no fussy folds involved.
- Prep
- 1 h 10 min
- Cook
- 1 h 15 min
- Rest
- 8 h 30 min
- Total
- 10 h 55 min
- Servings
- 12
- Level
- Challenging
- Per serving
- 570 kcal
Ingredients
For the pastry
For the custard
Makes: 1 cake, 24 cm, 12 slices
Shopping list
The ingredients for the servings you chose — copy them or send them to a messenger. Tick what you already have at home: only the rest goes on the list.
Method
Oven
200 °C · top and bottom heat, no fan
With a fan: 180 °C
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Step 1: Make the quick pastry
Mix the flour and salt, grate in the cold butter on the coarse side of a box grater and rub it in with your fingertips until it looks like coarse crumbs. Beat the egg with the ice-cold water and vinegar, pour it over and bring everything together into a ball without kneading — you should still see flecks of butter. Divide into 8 balls of about 110 g, wrap and chill for 30 minutes.
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Step 2: Cook the custard
In a saucepan, whisk the eggs, sugar and flour with 200 ml of the cold milk until smooth. Heat the rest of the milk until steaming and pour it into the egg mixture in a thin stream, whisking all the time. Return to medium-low heat and keep whisking until the custard is as thick as sour cream and the first bubbles break the surface, then cook 2 minutes more. Stir in the vanilla, press cling film onto the surface and cool to room temperature.
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Step 3: Roll out the rounds
Heat the oven to 200°C (400°F). Roll each ball on a sheet of baking paper as thin as you can, 1–2 mm, then lay a 24 cm plate on top and cut around it, leaving the trimmings in place. Prick the round all over with a fork so it bakes flat.
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Step 4: Bake the layers
Slide the paper onto a baking sheet and bake for 7–9 minutes, until evenly golden with slightly darker edges. The trimmings bake alongside and become the crumb coating. Cool the layers flat; they are fragile while hot, so don't stack them straight away.
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Step 5: Finish the custard
Beat the soft butter for 3–4 minutes until pale and fluffy. Add the cooled custard a spoonful at a time, beating well after each. Both need to be at the same room temperature, or the cream may split.
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Step 6: Assemble the cake
Set aside about a fifth of the cream for the top and sides. Stack the layers on a serving plate, spreading each one generously with cream and pressing lightly with your palm. Cover the top and sides smoothly with the reserved cream.
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Step 7: Coat and chill
Crush the baked trimmings into fine crumbs with a rolling pin or in a blender and press them all over the top and sides. Chill for at least 8 hours, ideally overnight, so the crisp pastry turns tender and the cake slices cleanly.
Watch it made
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Tips & variations
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Tip
If the baking paper slides around as you roll, put a damp cloth underneath it. The paper stays put and rolling the pastry thin becomes much easier.
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Tip
If the cream splits into butter and liquid, warm the bowl for a few seconds over hot water and beat again until smooth.
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Swap
Short on time? Use 1 kg of ready-made all-butter puff pastry, rolled just as thin and baked at the same temperature.
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Storage
Keep the cake covered in the fridge for up to 3 days. It is at its best on day two.
Nutrition
| 1 serving | Whole dish 12 servings | |
|---|---|---|
| Energy | 570 kcal | 6,840 kcal |
| Protein | 9 g | 108 g |
| Fat | 35 g | 420 g |
| Carbohydrates | 53 g | 636 g |
Approximate values calculated from standard ingredient data.
Cooked it? Rate the recipe
5.0 out of 5 · 2 ratings
Reviews and questions 1
Write a review or askI made a Napoleon cake for the first time in my life, and using this recipe, it turned out perfectly on the first try and it was even tastier than a store-bought one.
