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One of my readers, Natalia wrote in with this old family recipe for Napoleon cake (Mille-feuille). I doubled this recipe to make a large Napoleon cake for our Mother’s Day church potluck and there was not a slice left! Thank you Natalia for sharing this family recipe!
I don’t claim to be a professional cake decorator, so I’m sure you can make it much prettier than mine, but non-the-less, it was смачненьке (delicious)!! This cake is best served the following day after the cake layers have had a chance to soften from the cream.
Ingredients for Napoleon Cake:
1 lb package of Puff Pastry (Pepperidge Farm brand), thawed according to package instructions.
2 eggs
1 cup light brown sugar (or 1/2 brown sugar, 1/2 white sugar)
1/2 cup milk
2 Tbsp all-purpose flour *measured correctly
1/2 lb (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 tsp vanilla powder, optional
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
You will need:
1 large sheet of parchment paper.
How to Make Napoleon Cake Cream:
1. Whisk 2 eggs and 1 cup light brown sugar in a medium sauce pan – do not beat, just mix.
2. Whisk in milk and flour and put the pot on medium-low heat
3. Cook the mixture, stirring occasionally – (stir more often towards the end so it doesn’t get lumpy) until it becomes thick, like pudding (approx 15-17 minutes).
4. Remove from heat and let it cool for 15 to 20 minutes. Prep the puff pastry in the mean time.
5. Once the mixture has cooled a little, add softened butter to the cream and beat the mixture on medium/high speed for a few minutes. Add 1/2 tsp vanilla powder. The cream is ready.
How to Make Napoleon Cake Layers:
Preheat the oven to 400 ˚ F.
1. Roll 1 of the puff pastry sheets onto a large sheet of parchment paper until the dough is double in size and nearly see-through. Thinner is better!
2. Cut the rolled out sheet into 4 equal squares (about 6″x6″ each).
3. Poke Holes all over the top of the pastry or it will puff up. Make sure to really poke all the way through the dough.
4. Place the parchment paper with dough onto a large cookie sheet. Bake at 400˚ F for 12-13 minutes or until tops are golden. These are easy to burn so keep an eye on them! Set pastry aside, and place the same parchment paper on a cool surface. Re-use the paper to roll out and bake the next sheet of pastry. Repeat steps 1 through 3 for the second sheet of pastry dough.
5. Once the frosting is finished, assemble the cake by placing 2 sheets of pastry side by side and spreading a generous amount of cream over the top. Repeat with all of the pastry. Before glazing the top, gently press down on the cake to make it more compact.
6. To make the topping, Trim the edges of the cake to make it more uniform. Crumble the cut-off sections and sprinkle over the top. (If cut-off pieces do not crumble easily, you may need to bake them until they are browned). Sprinkle 1/2 cup of chopped walnuts evenly over the top.
Notes: My photos are for a double size of this cake. This recipe is for a smaller rectangular cake. You can make a larger cake by exactly doubling the ingredients.
Cover and refrigerate the napoleon cake overnight then let it stand at room temperature about 2 hours to soften prior to serving. This cake is best served the following the next day after the cake layers have had a chance to soften from the cream overnight.
Napoleon Cake Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 lb package of Puff Pastry, Pepperidge Farm brand, thawed according to package instructions.
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup light brown sugar, or 1/2 brown sugar, 1/2 white sugar
- 1/2 cup milk
- 2 Tbsp flour
- 1/2 lb unsalted butter,, or 2 sticks butter, room temperature
- 1/2 tsp vanilla powder, optional
- 1/2 cup chopped walnuts
Instructions
- Whisk eggs and sugar in a medium sauce pan - do not beat, just mix.
- Whisk in milk and flour and put the pot on medium-low heat.
- Cook the mixture, stirring occasionally - (stir more often towards the end so it doesn't get lumpy) until it becomes thick, like pudding (approx 15-17 minutes).
- Remove from heat and let it cool for 15 to 20 minutes. Prep the puff pastry in the mean time.
- Once the mixture has cooled a little, add softened butter to the cream and beat the mixture on medium/high speed for a few minutes. Add 1/2 tsp vanilla powder. The cream is ready.
How to Make Napoleon Cake Layers:
- Preheat the oven to 400°F.
- Roll 1 of the puff pastry sheets onto a large sheet of parchment paper until the dough is double in size and nearly see-through. Thinner is better!
- Cut the rolled out sheet into 4 equal squares (about 6"x6" each).
- Poke Holes all over the top of the pastry or it will puff up. Make sure to really poke all the way through the dough.
- Place the parchment paper with dough onto a large cookie sheet. Bake at 400°F for 12-13 minutes or until tops are golden. These are easy to burn so keep an eye on them! Set pastry aside, and place the same parchment paper on a cool surface. Re-use the paper to roll out and bake the next sheet of pastry.
- Repeat steps 1 through 3 for the second sheet of pastry dough.
- Once the frosting is finished, assemble the cake by placing 2 sheets of pastry side by side and spreading a generous amount of cream over the top.
- Repeat with all of the pastry. Before glazing the top, gently press down on the cake to make it more compact.
- To make the topping, Trim the edges of the cake to make it more uniform. Crumble the cut-off sections and sprinkle over the top. (If cut-off pieces do not crumble easily, you may need to bake them until they are browned). Sprinkle 1/2 cup of chopped walnuts evenly over the top.
Notes
Yum, yum, yum!!!! Loved this cake! It’s so easy to make.
Thanks Natasha 🙂
thank you for everything you do!
keep up the good work!
Oh my, you are very welcome Mr/Mrs Anonymous 🙂
Finally a good napoleon recipe. Just what I was looking for 🙂
THANK YOU !
can u post some cupcake recipes?
My mom, God bless her, taught me a very small fraction of Ukrainian recipes. Everyone loves what I can make. But discovering your blog today has opened up my eyes to not only some more amazing food but to the culture and habits of my mother’s fore bearers. You are bookmarked…fer shur…I can’t wait to make Okroshka, Kiev Cake, Piroshki ( with yeast in the dough, who would have thought).
As an aside, my son recently served store bought (ugh) piroshki to his kids. He said that his 7 year old daughter ate 10! She said that she liked these more than chocolate. My son told her that if she really wanted good piroshki, to ask Nana to make them. Do you think he was giving me a hint??
Natasha, so looking forward to more wonderful ideas/thoughts/and recipes.
Thank you Cathy! Homemade piroshki are the best!! I hope you enjoy the recipes you try.
Hi natasha!
im a ninth grader working on a history report on russia and i was wondering if you had a puff pastry recipe to go along with this dessert. love your recipes! your very inspiring 🙂
olivia
Hi Olivia – thank you! Unfortunately I don’t really have a go-to recipe for puff pastry. I just buy the Pepperridge Farms brand from Winco or Walmart and it works great and it’s easy. It’s also not too expensive when you consider how much butter you need to make puff pastry, so I think it’s worth it to buy it from the store.
Oh my word! This is awesome Natasha! A woman that I know baked this for my friends and I once, but I had no idea what it was called. Thanks for the recipe! 😀
Great! Thanks Natasha!:))))))
This cake looks mouth-watering! Is it crispy when eating it or does it soften up when you put the cream and refrig it? :))))))))
It softens up, but still maintains it’s layers. It doesn’t turn to mush 🙂
Your so awesome! This is the best food website ive ever came across! Love every single of your recipes! All of them are so yummy and the photography is super!
Thank you Galia! I’m so glad you are enjoying the recipes (and photos!) I’ll tell my husband since he is responsible for alot of the photography.
Aww thank you! i eat a ton of cereal too lol Im just really craving for russian food like meat piroshki & meat chebureki and manti! If u have any plez post id appreicate it!
I’ll try to post meat piroshki today. The draft is almost finished.
Can you post some recipes that you ate when you were preggo! Im pregnant and would really want some advice from a professional cook!:)
Hi Galia – I am not professional cook but thank you 🙂 . When I was preggo, my taste buds went a little crazy. I didn’t like the same kinds of food that I normally loved (like shrimp!!) I don’t think I’m the person to ask. I wanted very plain food like buttered macaroni pasta with a pickle on the side. I ate a ton of cereal too. I was afraid that my love of shrimp and garlic and good food in general was gone forever, but as soon as I delivered, I wanted it all!! Sorry, I’m not much help. Hope you have a nice blessed pregnancy.
Great cake will try today! Got all the ingredients!!! Excited lol Thanks for posting this recipe! Can you also post piroshki with meat?
Hi Jenna! Hope you enjoy the cake! Yes, I’ll try to post meat piroshki today.
I came across this cool website and was wondering if youll be able to post a cake thats called “Spartak” its so tasty i really want to bake it! plez post —-dimKa
My Mama makes that cake – I’ll put it on my list 🙂
thanks hon!
Hi Natasha you have wonderful recipes! I was wondering if you have any deli sandwiches recipes that i can make my hubby 4 work? Thanks!
Hi Dina – I’ll see what I can do. For now, I have a couple of tea sandwiches and a pastrami sandwich, but the pastrami one is really best served warm. I’ll put your request on my (rapidly growing) to-do list 🙂
Thanks for the cream info! Gonna try!
ohh ok thanks a lot 😀
wow sounds delicious! Do you know by any chance the recipe for the filling like at the Russian store? the one puffy cream?
Sofia – My mother-in-law made this cake today and she said, she let the cream cool almost completely and she beat the softened butter separately until it became a frosting texture, then she mixed the cream and whipped butter together. It was more of a fluffy frosting texture. She sent me a picture and it looked great on the cake!
yay thank you! will make it yum yum yum!!!!!!!!!!!!!