Wednesday, April 17, 2013

PASTRIES & VARIATIONS: The Napolean cake refers to a cake made with puff pastry dough and fresh cream. Please try out my version of this classic french dessert.



FRESH CREAM NAPOLEON CAKE:

 

 

 

 

1/2 to 2/3 quantity of prepared puff pastry, see basic recipe

1 yellow sponge cake, see basic recipe for sponge cake

fillings:

    2 cups whipping cream                                           
    4 tbsp. icing sugar
    ½ tsp. vanilla extract           

egg wash

 

 

 

Roll out puff pastry into roughly 1/8 to1/4-inch thickness. Use the bottom piece of an 8-inch spring-form cake-pan as a guide to mark out 2 circles on the pastry. Mark out 8 equal triangles on one of the circles and cut the triangles out almost all the way through.  Arrange pastry on a large baking sheet; prick it all over with a fork and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes before baking.

 

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Brush pastry with egg wash and bake 15-20 minutes or until puffed and golden. Remove from oven and cool on rack. Transfer cooled pastry to a work surface. Use a sharp knife to cut out the triangular pieces from one pastry circle as well as the complete pastry circle; then crush the rest of remaining pastry with a rolling pin into crumbs and reserve.

 

Remove 1/8-¼-inch of cake from top and bottom of the sponge cake; and reserve for use as cake crumbs in other recipes.  Slice rest of cake horizontally into 2 layers. Set aside.

 

Whip cream until soft peaks form. Add icing sugar and vanilla and continue whipping until stiff. 

 

To assemble cake:  Use the complete piece of puff pastry circle as the base of the cake, spread a layer of whipped cream on top. Layer a piece of sponge cake on it and spread it with whipped cream. Top this with the other piece of sponge cake.

 

Cover the top and sides of cake with whipped cream. Use reserved puff pastry crumbs to cover the sides of the cake. Dust each piece of pastry triangle with icing sugar and arrange them in a “windmill” design over the top layer of whipped cream. Chill well before serving.      

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