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A piece of napoleon cake topped with fresh raspberries and blackberries served on a small round plate, more berries are lying around.

Napoleon cake

This napoleon cake recipe, with multiple thin buttery layers of easy puff pastry and vanilla custard pastry cream whipped with heavy whipping cream in between, is a cake that you have to try at least once in life. This cake is not overly sweet and tastes like vanilla ice cream.
5 from 4 votes
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Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 3 hours
Total chilling time for the dough, pastry cream and assembled cake: 4 hours 30 minutes
Total Time: 7 hours 40 minutes
Servings: 14 pieces
Calories: 703kcal
Author: Anna

Equipment

  • Digital kitchen scale
  • Stand mixer
  • Rubber spatula
  • Rolling Pin
  • Saucepan
  • Parchment paper

Ingredients

For the cake layers

  • 740 g all-purpose flour + for dusting
  • 400 g unsalted butter very cold and cubed
  • 2 large eggs (110g)
  • 250 ml ice-cold water
  • 25 ml apple cider vinegar or white vinegar
  • 1 teaspoon salt

For the cream

  • 300 g granulated sugar
  • 3 large eggs can be cold
  • 45 g corn starch
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • 600 ml whole milk can be cold
  • 40 g unsalted butter can be cold
  • 500 ml heavy whipping cream cold
  • 3 tablespoon powdered sugar
  • Fresh berries for decoration

Instructions

For the pastry (read the post to learn how to make this cake with store-bought puff pastry)

  • Place the flour and salt into a food processor. Add the butter and pulse until it resembles a coarse meal. Work in batches if needed. Then, place the mixture into a large bowl.
  • In another bowl, add the cold eggs, ice-cold water, and vinegar. Whisk with a fork to break the eggs. Pour into the center of the dry ingredients.
  • Combine everything using a fork. Finish bringing the dough together with your hands but don’t knead it. Form a log, split it into 15 even pieces around 100g each, and roll them into balls. Place them on a large plate, cover them with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for an hour or overnight.
  • Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 210C or 410F and prepare 6 pieces of parchment paper and a baking sheet.
  • When the dough has chilled, take one ball at a time out of the fridge. Dust the rolling surface, the pin, and the dough ball itself with flour. Thinly roll it out (dust more with flour and flip the dough if it’s sticking to the surface or rolling pin) so you can cut out an 8" or 20cm disk and have some leftovers around the edge. The disk will shrink to 7" or 18cm during baking. Or, you can roll out the dough, prick it, bake it, and then cut out the disk.
  • Put the rolled-out dough on the piece of parchment paper on the baking sheet and cut the disk out. Prick it with a fork so it doesn’t puff up unevenly and spread the leftovers a bit so they don't touch it.
  • Bake for 8-9 minutes or until golden. While one cake layer is in the oven, roll out the next piece of the dough. Remove from the oven and place the disc on a cooling rack. Place the leftovers on a separate plate. Repeat with the rest of the dough. Each piece of parchment paper can be reused two times.

For the pastry cream

  • In a bowl, combine the eggs, corn starch, sugar, salt, and vanilla extract until smooth.
  • Heat the milk in a saucepan just until it starts simmering. Remove from the heat and slowly pour into the bowl with the egg mixture, whisking vigorously. Then, pour the mixture back into the saucepan and return to the heat.
  • Cook the mixture over medium heat, whisking nonstop (can take 5-8 minutes). When it thickens, lower the heat to medium-low and cook for 1-2 minutes whisking continuously. Remove from the heat. The mixture should resemble pudding and have no corn starch flavor left. Add the butter to the hot mixture and mix until incorporated.
  • Pour the mixture into a large dish (I use a baking dish), cover with plastic wrap so it touches the mixture, and place in the freezer for 30 minutes to 1 hour or until cold. Alternatively, you can keep the mixture in the saucepan that you were using for cooking, cover it with plastic wrap the same way, and place it in the fridge overnight.
  • When the cake layers are baked and at room temperature and the pastry cream is cold, whip the heavy cream with powdered sugar (in a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment) to stiff peaks. You can also use a bowl and a hand mixer instead.
  • When done, gradually, 2-3 tablespoons at a time, add the cold pastry cream and whip on medium-low speed until no pastry cream is left. Scrape the sides and the bottom of the bowl and whip for 15 seconds on high.

Assembling the cake

  • Place a small amount of cream on a plate that you're going to use for assembling the cake. Place the first cake layer on top and press gently.
  • Add the cream (approximately 95g) on top of the cake layer and spread evenly with an offset spatula or a large spoon. Place the next cake layer on top and press gently. Continue until no cake layers are left.
  • Make a crumb coat with the rest of the cream and fill the gaps, if they’ve appeared. Wrap the cake with plastic wrap and place it in the fridge for 4 hours or overnight.
  • When the cake has chilled and the cream hardened, place the cake leftovers into a food processor and pulse until sandy.
  • Unwrap the cake and dust it with the cake crumbs. Decorate with fresh berries and serve.

Video

Notes

Store it in a plastic cake container in the fridge for 4-5 days. You can also wrap it in plastic wrap if you don’t have a cake container.
Freeze the dough for up to 2 months. Wrap it in plastic wrap and then in a piece of foil before freezing. Thaw in the fridge overnight before rolling out.
 

Nutrition

Nutrition Facts
Napoleon cake
Serving Size
 
1 piece
Amount per Serving
Calories
703
% Daily Value*
Fat
 
43
g
66
%
Saturated Fat
 
26
g
163
%
Trans Fat
 
1
g
Polyunsaturated Fat
 
2
g
Monounsaturated Fat
 
11
g
Cholesterol
 
173
mg
58
%
Sodium
 
304
mg
13
%
Potassium
 
188
mg
5
%
Carbohydrates
 
71
g
24
%
Fiber
 
1
g
4
%
Sugar
 
26
g
29
%
Protein
 
10
g
20
%
Vitamin A
 
1488
IU
30
%
Vitamin C
 
1
mg
1
%
Calcium
 
104
mg
10
%
Iron
 
3
mg
17
%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.
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