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There is no baking required for this napoleon cake! It’s so easy and you’ll be surprised by the “cake” layers. It has all the same great flavors of a classic napoleon cake but it’s really easy to prepare.
This cake is beautiful served plain with the crumb coat but the ring of berries is strikingly beautiful and so easy to create – you’ll want to use it on all of your cakes! The layers soften under the custard cream as it rests overnight making it super simple to slice and giving it the look and taste of a classic napoleon cake.
P.S. If you don’t have a springform mold, by all means, assemble this as a 3 layer cake in a 9×13 glass casserole dish. It will still look really pretty because you can see the layers through the dish and you can even crumb coat the top before you refrigerate so it’s even easier :).
Ingredients for No-Bake Napoleon Cake:
800-900 grams Palmier or “elephant ear” cookies (we buy the 2 lb box from Costco)
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2 whole eggs + 3 yolks (from large eggs)
1/3 cup corn starch
1/2 cup sweetened condensed milk
3 cups milk (2% or whole milk)
1 Tbsp vanilla extract
1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, softened
Berries to Decorate the top
What You Will Need:
9″ springform pan (or a 9×13 glass casserole dish)
Cake platter
How to Make No-Bake Napoleon Cake:
1. In a medium saucepan, combine 3/4 cup sugar, 2 whole eggs and 3 yolks and thoroughly whisk together 1 minute. Add 1/3 cup corn starch and whisk until smooth. Whisk in 1/2 cup condensed milk. Add 3 cups milk while whisking. Once milk is incorporate, place over medium heat and continue whisking frequently until thickened and it just starts to boil (8 to 10 min)*. Remove from heat right away.
*Tips for success: Stir custard often on the stove, and whisk constantly towards the end so it doesn’t get lumpy. As soon as you feel it starting to thicken, watch it closely since the boil can be hidden by the milk foam at the top.
2. Whisk in 1 Tbsp vanilla extract then add pieces of butter and whisk until fully incorporated. Cover the surface with plastic wrap so a film does not form and let stand at room temperature for one hour until just barely warm.
3. While custard cools, prep cookies and cut in half if they are large so you can fit more in the pan. To slice, stack a few cookies and saw carefully with a serrated knife. For the crumb coat, place 3-4 cookies in a large ziploc bag, seal and crush with a rolling pin.
4. Remove the base of a 9″ springform pan and place the tightened ring over the center of a cake platter. Spread 4 heaping Tablespoons of custard into the center, holding the ring steady. Arrange as many cookies as you can fit in a single layer into the bottom of the pan**. Cover with 5 heaping Tablespoons of custard and spread evenly with a spatula. Repeat with remaining cookies and custard until you have 4 layers of cookies. Spread remaining frosting over the top, sealing any gaps. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.
**Add broken pieces of cookie to fill any large gaps.
5. Once you take the cake out of the refrigerator, run a thin spatula or knife around the edge to loosen it from the pan. Sprinkle crushed cookies over the top and sides, gently patting to get a good crumb coating. Arrange berries over the top in a ring and serve.
No-Bake Napoleon Cake Recipe
Ingredients
For the Napoleon Cake:
- 800-900 grams Palmier or "elephant ear" cookies, we buy the 2 lb box from Costco
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar
- 2 whole eggs + 3 yolks, from large eggs
- 1/3 cup corn starch
- 1/2 cup sweetened condensed milk
- 3 cups milk, 2% or whole milk
- 1 Tbsp vanilla extract
- 1 stick, 1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
- Berries to Decorate the top
What You Will Need:
- 9 " springform pan, or a 9x13 glass casserole dish
- Cake platter
Instructions
- In a medium saucepan, combine 3/4 cup sugar, 2 whole eggs and 3 yolks and thoroughly whisk together 1 minute. Add 1/3 cup corn starch and whisk until smooth. Whisk in 1/2 cup condensed milk. Add 3 cups milk while whisking. Once milk is incorporate, place over medium heat and continue whisking frequently until thickened and just starts to boil (8 to 10 min)*. Remove from heat right away.
- Whisk in 1 Tbsp vanilla then add butter and whisk until fully incorporated. Cover custard surface with plastic wrap so a film does not form and let stand at room temperature for one hour until just barely warm.
- While custard cools, prep cookies and cut in half if large to fit more in the pan. To slice, stack cookies and saw carefully with serrated knife. For the crumb coat, place 3-4 cookies in a large ziploc bag, seal and crush with rolling pin.
- Remove the base of a 9" springform pan and place the tightened ring over the center of a cake platter. Spread 4 heaping Tablespoons of custard into the center, holding the ring steady. Arrange as many cookies as you can fit in a single layer into the bottom of pan**. Cover with 5 heaping Tablespoons custard and spread evenly with spatula. Repeat with remaining cookies and custard until you have 4 layers of cookies. Spread remaining frosting over the top, sealing any gaps. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.
- Once you take the cake out of the refrigerator, run a thin spatula around the edge to loosen it from the pan. Sprinkle crushed cookies over top and sides, gently patting to adhere crumbs. Arrange berries over the top and serve.
Notes
**Add broken pieces of cookie to fill any large gaps.
If you make this recipe, I’d love to see pics of your creations on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter! Hashtag them #natashaskitchen
I hope you love this simple and yummy no-bake napoleon cake!
This cake is amazing. Tried it once for my husband’s birthday, turned out heavenly. I have a question. If I make it the same day, can I refrigerate it for a few hours only? How many? Since I would like to offer it for my mom tonight, thank you
Thanks for your excellent, review Sofiya. I haven”t tried making this cake on the same day to advise, if you do give it a try please share with us how it goes!
Hi Natasha, i am going to make your napoleon cake this weekend just wanted to know can i use homemade custard instead and i hoping if i make it 2 days before i’m hoping that the cookies will be soft and not hard. what do you think? Please respond as i will be making this tonight for Saturday night.
Hi Mars, the recipe uses a custard and it does soften the layers nicely. I hope that helps.
Hi Natasha, so i made this cake Thursday night and had it Sat. night the cake was very dry and really did not have any taste, maybe if i make it again i would add some sliced strawberries after adding the cookies. what went wrong! mars
Absolutely amazing Napoleon and so easy to make! So soft, not dry, taste like heaven!
Thank you so much for sharing that with me, Jennifer and for giving great feedback! I hope you love every recipe you try!
Wow! No bake!
I was thinking to make my son Napoleon for his 5th birthday but the real one! ( I made your honey cake ( Medovik) a few years ago … it looks like similar principe … but after finding this I might just go that lol xx
I’ve made this recipe 2 other times and it turned out perfectly every time. But this time my custard is not thickening I have no idea what I did wrong. I’ve read over the recipe twice and I have no idea what I did wrong this time
Hi Angela, did you use any substitutions or change proportions in the recipe? Were you using large eggs? The thickening results from both the eggs/yolks and the corn starch so I’m guessing one of those might be the culprit.
Ok it was most likely the eggs than. I was worried they looked smaller than usual. I’ll keep that in mind next time. Gonna try making it again in a couple days
I hope it turns it out better for you next time! We look forward to your feedback.
I love Napoleon! And i love how easy this recipe is! It tastes so good just like the one my mom used to make. Next time I will make more custard though because even now almost 48 hours later cookies are not entirely soft. Or maybe I’ll crush cookies not just for the top, but for layers as well.
Do you know if the cream would work with traditional puff pasty dough? Also I usually shy away from the egg, is there any odor that comes from it?
I haven’t had that experience, Lori.
So do you think this receipt will work with custard as well
Hi Mars, this recipe has instructions for the custard. I’m not sure I understand your question?
Well this was a fail for me. My custard turned out watery and never thickened like it should have. I guess I’m too much of a novice for this recipe.
I’m sorry to hear that. I’m always happy to help troubleshoot. I would suggest reading over the recipe again to see if there were any changes in the process. Also, check the ingredient list to see if any substitutions were made.
This recipe is as close to the real Napoleon Torte as you can get, without the work of making your own pastry. I have made it several times and have some advice for those who have had problems, because success depends on the cookies. Costco in Canada doesn’t carry palmier cookies, but I found another brand that were rather hard and dense, and they simply would not soften. I even tried leaving the leftovers in the fridge for 3 days and some of the cookies were still a bit too tough. I then tried some rectangular Italian puff pastry cookies (which were very light and fluffy) and made a rectangular cake by crisscrossing the direction of the layers, and it worked beautifully. I’ve also used these puff pastry cookies to make small square individual cakes and they were great too and very convenient for serving. I then tried using the large pre-rolled sheets of puff pastry by cutting them into 4 circles, then splitting them in half once they were baked, ending up with 8 layers. There was actually enough custard to do more layers if you wanted a taller cake. Puff pastry was excellent, but obviously a little more work than the cookies, but still easier than making your own pastry from scratch. I think that the custard recipe is perfect and the directions are easy to follow. Thank you Natasha for the great recipe!
I’m so happy you enjoyed that. Thank you for sharing that with us all, Sharon!
What’s the name of the Italian cookies at Costco in Canada?
I haven’t been able to find them at Costco. Sobey’s carries them, but they are very expensive and I haven’t tried them. I looked everywhere for a cheaper alternative and only found them at Dollarama (strange place, I know), but they wouldn’t soften, even after several days. Dollarama also sells small rectangular puff pastry cookies and they worked perfectly. As per my review, frozen puff pastry works well too.
Hi Natasha, hope you are doing well. I have already made couple of times Napoleon cake. SUPER HIT
Now question is, after making can I freeze it for 2 weeks?
Thanks in advance
I’m so happy you enjoyed that! I have not tried freezing that so I cannot advise if you experiment please let me know how you like that!
First of all I’m a big fan of Natasha. But it doesn’t influence me when I’m following her recipes. I would say I am very snobby in food. Anyway.
I just LOVED this recipe…. very light and flavorful. Because there is no cream it’s not too bad for your health like other cakes (that’s my point of view).
– I made 2 days earlier
– I decorated with chocolate coated strawberries
– My custard took 6 minutes to get that consistency
BIG THANKS Natasha
Love you
Awww that’s the best! Thank you so much for sharing that with me :). I’m all smiles!
Followed recipe to a “t”, and even decorated exactly as pictured. Cream was good and everything looked just like the original cake…BUT it was definitely a fail unfortunately:(
Brought it to our Christmas gathering and my chef sister asked what recipe I used for the layers. I said the elephant ear cookies from Costco and she said it tasted bad and not even close to the original, and I agree. Kept the cake for over 2 days hoping something might soften up or change but it was a no go. Have to toss it which I have never done to any of my cakes before.
Ok, update here. So I wanted to toss the cake and just left it in the garage overnight. It was cold so it didn’t spoil. Anyway, I wake up to my husband having discovered it and was eating it right up. I ended up trying it and boy oh boy was I in for a surprise! The cake had transformed over the course of the night. I guess 3 days is the magic number for the layers to finally soften up. Totally different cake today. Yes, the cookies still give it a store bought flavor a bit, but it’s really not bad for a no-bake cake. Thought I would give a final review after my initial comment to not mislead anyone. MAKE SURE LAYERS ARE SOFT BEFORE EATING AND THAT COULD TAKE 3 WHOLE DAYS AS IT DID FOR ME.
Hi Anna, thank you for sharing your update!
I’m thinking your refrigerator might have been too cold, setting set too high? Maybe thats why it got soft the night you left it in the garage because garage wasn’t as cold?
Hi,
I am not a big fan of fruit on top of cakes, although it is pretty and decorative. What might you suggest as an alternative topping? Thanks!
Hi Susanna, chocolate ganache or drizzled chocolate on top would work. You can also decorate with additional frosting.
Thanks very much. I look forward to trying the recipe with one of those toppings. I appreciate your quick response!
You’re welcome!
My family absolutely loved this. It was so much easier to make with the palmier cookies than with traditional puffed pastry
Isn’t it great! Thank you for the great review, Lisa!
Hello. This cake is delicious! I don’t have overnight for this cake. Any way to speed up the softening?
Hi Marina, You can try making it as far in advance as possible day of & make sure you have it covered well. I can’t guarantee it will be soft by the time you serve it but I have my fingers crossed for you! Let me know how it turns out.
Hi Natasha! can i double the custard?
Hi Rica, It can be done but doubling the custard would probably overwhelm the cake unless you were increasing the amount of cookies as well.
Hi Natasha. How early can I make this cake?
Hi Aneta, this cake can be made a day in advance (max 2 days in advance).
This cake was amazing! I made it for Easter and everyone loved it!! Thank you for another amazing recipe!
You’re welcome Aneta! I’m glad the recipe is a hit. Thanks for sharing!
This was by far a NO GO!!! I guess when you are used to the real deal, i should have known this was too-good-to-be-true. My Custard was amazing, but with those cookies together is a failure, even my husband agreed… that was a lot of waisted ingridients. HOWEVER! I do love most of the other recipes Natasha has here!
Hi Sveta, did you allow it to rest for the cookies to soften and absorb the cream. Also, can you share what brand of cookies you used?
Is it ok to substitute vanilla extract with vanillin? Thank you for response.
Hi Natasha, I honestly don’t have any experience using the synthetic vanillin so I’m not sure if it would dissolve and incorporate readily as vanilla extract does. Sorry i can’t be more help with that. It is just a product we don’t use.
Could I use puff pastry sheets rather than cookies?
Hi Hope, I think that would work to bake puff pastry and use it in this recipe. We usually follow this recipe when using puff pastry, but I think it would still work here.
Omg this cake is sooo good! It was probably one of the best Napoleons I ever had! I was very skeptical when I was making it, since it’s a no-bake Napoleon, but I was definitely blown away at how good it tasted when I tried it the next day. I couldn’t find Palmier cookies at our grocery store, so I used Balhsen puff pastry instead (they look very similar) and it turned out perfect. Also, I noticed that the custard took a little longer than 10 minutes to thicken, probably because I was whisking it a lot in the beginning, I kind of backed off from whisking it so much and then it started to thicken, so that’s when I started whisking again. Hope that helps those who had problems with the custard not thickening.
Happy and healthy New Year to you and your family!
Hi Irina, thank you for the wonderful review and happy New Year to you as well!