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 ½ brown sugar, ½ white sugar)
½ cup milk
2 tbsp flour
½ lb (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
½ tsp vanilla powder, optional
½ 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 ½ 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 ½ cup of chopped walnuts evenly over the top.