Timeless Soviet Napoleon Cake

One of the most delicious cakes! Timeless classic! The Soviet classic Napoleon will never cease to be popular. Everyone knows the delicious taste of this cake. But it takes a lot of time to prepare it. And after trying a piece, you realize that everything is not in vain!
cook time: 24h
Elijah Stroud
Timeless Soviet Napoleon Cake

Nutrition Facts (per serving)

291
Calories
16g
Fat
29g
Carbs
5g
Protein

Ingredients (10 portions)

For the test::

Salt 0.3 tsp
Wheat flour 600 g
Butter 300 g
Vodka 2 tbsp
Water 100 ml
Eggs 1 pc
Sour cream 100 g

For cream 1::

Sugar 400 g
Wheat flour 120 g
Butter 200 g
Milk 1 l
Vanillin 1 g
Eggs 3 pc
Cognac 2 tbsp

For cream 2::

Sour cream 300 g
Powdered sugar 3 tbsp

Recipe instructions

Step 1

Step 1
How to make a classic Napoleon cake? Prepare the necessary ingredients for making the cakes. Sift the flour through a sieve to saturate it with oxygen. You can take 15-20% sour cream. The butter should be hard. You can freeze it a little in the freezer.

Step 2

Step 2
Pour almost all the flour into the bowl for preparing the dough (leave a little for adding) and add the chopped butter. You can grind it in different ways — finely chop it with a knife, chop it with a chopper or grate it.

Step 3

Step 3
Then mix flour and butter. It should look like this.

Step 4

Step 4
Now add egg, vodka, cold water, sour cream and salt to the dough.

Step 5

Step 5
Knead the dough quickly. Cold butter should not have time to melt. There is no need to knead the dough for a long time. It is only enough for it to form into a bun. At this stage, add the remaining flour. You may need a little more or less flour. The finished dough should not stick to your hands. Wrap the dough in cling film and let rest for 30 minutes, then refrigerate for 1 hour.

Step 6

Step 6
While the dough is resting, prepare everything you need to make two types of cream.

Step 7

Step 7
To prepare the custard, pour 2/3 of the milk into a non-stick pan and add sugar. Place on the fire and bring to a boil. Stir until the sugar dissolves.

Step 8

Step 8
Mix the remaining milk with eggs and flour. Add cognac to the cream. You can use a mixer so that there are no lumps of flour left.

Step 9

Step 9
Pour hot milk into the egg mixture, stirring. Then return everything to the heat and bring until the first bubbles appear. The cream must be stirred constantly so that it does not start to burn. To be safe, you can cook the cream in a water bath. The cream will thicken during cooking.

Step 10

Step 10
Remove the pan from the heat and add the butter. It will melt. Immediately stir it into the cream. Cover the finished cream with a lid or cling film and cool.

Step 11

Step 11
Divide the rested dough into 10 cake layers.

Step 12

Step 12
Roll out each cake on parchment and cut out a circle. I have a circle of 22 cm. Prick the cake with a fork so that bubbles do not appear during baking. Do not remove the trimmings, but bake them along with the cake. They will be useful for sprinkling the cake. Bake the cakes in an oven preheated to 180 degrees for 15 minutes each (approximately). The finished cakes should be golden brown.

Step 13

Step 13
To prepare sour cream, you can beat heavy sour cream with powdered sugar, or you can simply mix thick sour cream with powdered sugar. I just mixed it up. The mixture is a little liquid, but it will soak the cake well.

Step 14

Step 14
Assembling the cake. Grease 2 cake layers with custard, the third cake layer with a little sour cream and custard. So collect the whole cake. Do not grease the last cake. But leave a little cream for the final coating. Press the cake down with something heavy. You can cover it with a plate and put a liter jar of water. Leave it in the kitchen for an hour. The cakes will become softer in the warmth. Then put the cake in the refrigerator for 4-6 hours so that it soaks a little.

Step 15

Step 15
Chop the remaining trimmings. You can crush them with a masher.

Step 16

Step 16
Cover the top and sides of the cake with the remaining cream. Sprinkle with crumbs. And put it back in the refrigerator. I usually place the cake in a cake box so that all the moisture goes into soaking the cake layers. And I soak the cake for a day. I like a well-drenched, soft Napoleon.

Step 17

Step 17
Before serving, you can decorate the finished cake a little to your liking. It soaked in perfectly, the cakes became soft and very tender.

Step 18

Step 18
Enjoy your tea!

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