Napoleon Layer Cake (Puff Pastry)

Name: Napoleon Layer Cake (Puff Pastry)
Total time: 90 min
Yield: 1 serving
Cuisine: Home cooking
Ingredients: Puff pastry (frozen) — 65 g; Milk 2.5% — 90 ml; Eggs — 0.5 pcs; Sugar — 20 g; Wheat flour — 8 g; Butter — 10 g; Vanilla sugar — 1 g

A classic French-style layered cake with custard cream made from milk and butter. The puff pastry layers soften overnight after soaking.

Time: 1 h 30 min
Serving: 518 kcal
Ingredients: ≈ $0.85
Protein: 11 g

Meat-free Sweet

Ingredients

1 Puff pastry (frozen)pack 500 g ≈ $4.50 65 g
2 Milk 2.5%pack 930 ml ≈ $0.88 90 ml
3 Eggspack 10 pcs ≈ $1.93 0.5 pcs
4 Sugar 20 g
5 Wheat flour 8 g
6 Butterpack 180 g ≈ $1.58 10 g
7 Vanilla sugar 1 g

Grey rows are pantry staples: salt, oil, spices. They are not counted in the serving price.

Method

Thaw the puff¹ pastry, roll it out thinly, and prick it all over with a fork. Bake the shells at 200 °C (390 °F) for 10–12 minutes until golden.
Toast and crumble a small scrap or edge of a shell for sprinkling.
Whisk together an egg, sugar, vanilla sugar, and flour, then stir in milk² until smooth.
Cook the custard over low heat for 6–8 minutes, stirring constantly, until it thickens and leaves a trail on the back of a spoon.
Remove from heat, stir in softened butter⁶, and cool to warm temperature.
Spread custard between the shells, gently pressing each layer. Frost the top and sides with custard and crumbs.
Refrigerate the cake for at least 8 hours to let the layers soak and the cake slice cleanly.

Tips

Why it works: Prick the cake layers with a fork so the steam escapes evenly and they don't puff up while baking. Without pricking, the dough can burst from trapped air.
Substitutions: Replace the 2.5% milk with 2.5% kefir, same amount, for a thicker cream. Skip the vanilla sugar and add 0.5 tsp vanillin on the tip of a knife.
Common mistakes: If the cream doesn't thicken, it will be runny and drip off. Check after 5 minutes: if a spoon leaves no trail, cook for 1–2 more minutes.
Storing and reheating: Keep for 3 days in the fridge, covered with cling film. Cut with a knife at room temperature. Don't freeze, the cream will separate.
Serve with: Serve with tea at a New Year table or birthday, when you need a sweet pause between main dishes.

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Nutrition

Per serving and share of 2000 kcal

Calories	518 kcal	26%
Protein	11 g	14%
Fat	28 g	39%
Carbs	56 g	21%
Per 100 g	234 kcal

Cost

≈ $0.85per serving

Average supermarket prices, BLS (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics), October 2026. Your store will differ: products come in packs and each chain sets its own prices. The priciest item here is puff pastry (frozen).