Buttery, flaky pastry layers generously filled with sweet cream filling…This Russian cake “Napoleon” is the sweetest taste from my childhood.
I can’t imagine my childhood without this cake called “Napoleon”.
You see, my mom is a talented baker, and I think I got the love for baking from her. Among many sweet treats, she used to bake this particular cake quite often, for us, for friends, and for coworkers. It’s her signature cake, if you will, and we absolutely loved it. One bite of this cake sends me right back to my happy childhood!
I don’t bake this cake as often as I should though, but it’s definitely one of my top favorites. The cake consists of five flaky, buttery pastry layers with sweet buttercream filling. It’s rich, buttery and oh-so-delicious! Best paired with a cup of tea without sugar.
This recipe is right from my mom’s oldest recipe notebook. You know, the old and worn-kind, filled with lots of handwritten recipes, mostly Russian sweets and treats. Her recipes are short and not as detailed, much like the one your grandma would’ve passed down.
I shared this recipe back in 2013. Last month, my mom made this cake for me, when she was here to help me with my newborn. So I took the opportunity to re-shoot the photos and re-share the recipe with you again.
We’ll start with making buttery, flaky pastry layers. Just like making a pie crust, we’ll incorporate cold butter into the flour and mix it with egg mixture until nice dough forms. It’s ok to have a small pea-size butter pieces here and there. It’s actually desirable for ultra-flaky layers.
Resting the dough in the fridge helps us to easily roll it out into nice and thin circle. We’ll bake each layer separately in a hot oven for a few minutes. And once the pastry layers are baked and cooled, we will trim the edges to form perfect circle. Save those extra trimmings for later!
Ok, this sweet cream filling is what really makes this cake. It’s buttery, smooth and fluffy. Not your regular buttercream here. The technique is rather strange, but it yields the most delicious, silky smooth filling.
We’ll generously fill each layer with said filling and let it rest for at least 5 hours, or preferably overnight. That’s the thing, it requires major patience. But it’s essential to give the filling enough time to soak into the flaky pastry layers and soften them for that perfect bite.
Hope you enjoy this recipe!
Russian Cake "Napoleon"
Ingredients
For pastry layers:
- 1 large egg
- ¾ cup 180ml water
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 18 tablespoons 250gr unsalted butter, cold
- 3 cups 375gr all-purpose flour
For filling:
- 1 cup 240ml milk (whole or 2%)
- 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
- 1 ½ cups 300gr sugar
- 1 cup 225gr unsalted butter
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
Instructions
- To make the pastry layers, mix together the egg, water, baking soda and salt.
- Blend cold butter cubes with flour. Add egg mixture and mix until well combined. Divide the dough into 5 equal pieces. Wrap each ball in a plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30-60 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).
- Roll each dough ball into 10-inch circle on slightly floured surface. Transfer it onto a baking sheet and pierce it with a fork everywhere. Bake each layer for 10-12 minutes, or until golden brown.
- To make the filling, mix flour and milk and whisk until well combined. Bring it to boil on medium heat, stirring frequently. Once the milk mixture is thick, let it to cool completely.
- Beat softened butter and sugar until sugar is mostly melted. Add vanilla extract. Add cooled milk mixture and beat everything on high speed until well combined.
- To assemble the cake, once every layer is baked and cooled, trim each layer, using a 9-inch round plate. Save the leftover crust edges.
- Spread the filling between each layer and stack them up on top of each other. Then frost the entire cake with the remaining filling.
- Crush the saved crust edges into crumbs, using rolling pin or blender. Sprinkle the crust crumbs all over the cake.
Tips & Notes:
Val says
My mom used to make this cake every year during the Ester and Christmas time. As she got older less and less she would make it. She passed away a few years ago and unfortunately I never wrote down the recipe. I have been looking for it for a long time. Most didn’t sound like my mom’s but this one does. The only difference is that my mom used to add ground walnuts in the filling, and sometimes she would make one with different fruits.
Shinee says
Hi, Val. I’m so sorry for your loss. Yes, I’ve seen it’s very common to add fruits and nuts into the layers. I’m so glad you found this recipe and I hope you’ll give it a try. And please let me know if it’s similar to what your mom made. Thank you for sharing your memories.
Rachel says
Thank you for this recipe! When she was alive, my grandmother made a Napoleon every year for my father’s birthday. I wanted to try my hand at it, but her recipe is very vague — I didn’t understand the composition of the cream. Your recipe uses the same components as hers, and now I feel like I can actually give it a try! Thank you thank you thank you 🙂
Shinee says
Yay, so happy you came across my recipe. It’s one from my mom’s recipe notebook and it was also pretty vague. Luckily, my mom was able to show me everything and I put it down in detail. Hope you’ll give it a try and let us know how it turns out. Thanks, Rachel!
Vee says
Hi Shinee,
I’d love to make this cake. I live in a high altitude area (7,000 feet). Do I need to make any adjustments to the recipe?
Thank you. Vee.
Shinee says
Hi, Vee. I, honestly, have no experience with high altitude baking and I’m not comfortable offering advice on adjustments. Sorry.
Ch says
Hi,
Can I make the pastry layers with cold margarine instead of butter?
Can I use any custard recipe for the filling?
Thanks! 🙂
Shinee says
Yes, you can use margarine. As for custard filling, I’m not sure. I’ve never tried it.
Julia Irina Enescu says
Best cream ever. Best “blat” ever (that’s the cake layer). WARNING though: use powdered sugar! I used regular sugar and the cream turned out grainy despite beating it for over an hour (tried 2 different attachments on my hand blender, a separate immersion blender, and also by hand trying to crush the sugar grains–nothing worked). I finally left it overnight following a tip online, the idea being that the sugar would soften, and beat it again, but still grainy. Despite the texture this cake was phenomenal, and I look forward to trying it again with powdered sugar (using a vitamix to make it fresh from regular sugar that day). Thank you for this unbelievably delicious recipe!
Shinee says
Hi, Julia. Thank you so much for your feedback and tip! I’ve never had problem with sugar, but that may be because I use super fine sugar. I’ll add a note in my recipe about this. And again I’m so glad you liked the recipe.
Anna says
Turned out great.
Shinee says
Awesome. Thank you for your feedback, Anna!
Tatiana says
Hi, all who made this cake Napoleon. I have this recipe from my mother and grandmother. I have been making Napoleon since I married over 50 years now. Those who ate it loved it and always asked for the recipe.
it takes a lot of time to make it because of the layers you have to bake, but it worth it.
Sometimes I make filling milk-butter-eggs (5). It feels very delicious..
Unfortunately, not all English people like it, even don’t try to taste it, because of different appearance of it.
All my friends love it and I indulge them on special occasions.
I am happy to read comments of those who make it and love to eat it.
It is great undisputedly for tea! Enjoy and present Napoleon to your relatives and friends!!!
Shinee says
Tatiana, I so agree with you all the work is totally worth it when it comes to Napoleon. And it’s so good with tea. Thank you for your lovely comment.
Leah says
Tell people whose cream was too liquid that it has to be a consistency of pudding.
If not, they can add a tsp. of flour dissolved in a bit of cold milk or water, this time it should be thick pudding.
I cooked the milk, flour and sugar together to make sure the sugar dissolves properly.
Used only 1 cup of sugar, this was sweet enough for me. About the layers, I too like them thicker, because the next day they turn moist and soft , yummy
Shinee says
Leah, thank you for the great tip and for your feedback!
Tatyana says
Hi SHINee, this cake looks so different from my Napoleon, mostly because of you the thick layers.(that’s what made me click on it on Pinterest) I know you said your mom made it, but I was wondering how it tastes/feels that way..does it have the texture of a honey cake? That’s what it looks like to me. Very curious!
Shinee says
Hi, Tatyana! The texture is very similar to honey cake for sure. And you can definitely make more layers just like honey cake if you’d like. Thick layers get soaked with cream overnight, and it’s so good. Let me know what you think if you give it a try. 🙂
Guy says
Hey Shinee,
Is it necessary to put weight on the pastry to prevent it from rising?
Thanks
Shinee says
Hi, Guy! I don’t put weight on the pastry. Just piercing with a fork does the trick for me.
Natasha Alavi says
I made this cake for my Russian 102 class and everyone loved it, even my Russian Professor who’s from Siberia. The only thing she said was to make the layers paper thin and that if they broke in the process, that it was fine but what was most important was getting them paper thin. She also mentioned that it’s best to let the layers set with the filling overnight, then frost the rest of the cake the next day, that way the layers set instead of frosting a warped cake.
Thanks again for posting your receipe, I must have gone through a ton before ultimately choosing yours.
Shinee says
Hi, Natasha! Thank you so much for your feedback. I’m so glad you chose my recipe and that everyone loved it. And yes, I agree with your professor, some people make 7+ layers, rolling them super thin. For some reason, my mom only makes 5 layers and she insists Napoleon has 5 layers, and Medovik (similar cake, but with honey) has more layers. Haha Hope you’ll try it with more layers next time. 🙂 Thanks again for your feedback.
Diana says
Not good, followed exactly and the cream turned out all wrong and cake layers were too crunchy. Plus, hate all these whole reviewing and writing comments who haven’t even made it yet.
Shinee says
Diana, you sound pretty bitter about the failed recipe, since you left pretty much the same comment again, yet not providing any helpful details as to what was wrong with the cream. I’m more than happy to help you to troubleshoot the issue.
And how on earth do you know that these comments are fake and people leaving false reviews? Do YOU do that? Because I don’t understand the point of people leaving false reviews! I wouldn’t accuse people without the evidence!
I try really hard not to take your comments insulting. This’s my mom’s recipe that she made 1000+ times throughout my childhood for us kids and her friends for pretty much every holiday. And I make it just fine myself. I’m all about constructive feedback where you share what went wrong and I try help you out to find the solution. But I find your comments less than helpful, more just venting. When something doesn’t turn out right for me, I don’t blame the recipe first, rather I try to figure out what I may have done wrong. But that’s just me, and you do you!
Diana says
The cream was horrible and didn’t turn out at all. Most creams for Napoleon need to be cooked with butter added at the very end when mixture is cooked. Also, my cake sat all night and is still crunchy
Shinee says
Hi, Diana. Sorry to hear your trouble with my recipe. Not sure what was wrong with your filling. And I didn’t get what you mean by adding butter at the end when mixture is cooked. Do you mean butter is added while the milk mixture is cooking? OR after the milk mixture is cooked? In my case, we add the cooled milk/flour mixture into the whipped butter to complete the filling. If your milk/flour mixture was hot, it’ll melt the butter, and the filling gets soupy. Anyway, I appreciate your feedback.
Jalina says
Do you mean to make the filling with powdered sugar or regular sugar, because I made it following the recipe with regular sugar and it didn’t come out fluffy
Shinee says
Hi, Jalina. This filling recipe calls for regular sugar. The most important step for the fluffy filling is to whip the butter and sugar well with a whisk attachment. And make sure the butter is at room temperature.
Marlene says
Holy cow is this soooo good!!! Very, very sweet, but very, very good! A Russian co-worker sent me the link to this recipe – I made some for her! I thought it would be more of a pain to make but it really wasn’t. I did cheat a little and baked 2 of the layers at the same time on different racks in the oven. Have you ever used the crust recipe for pie crust? It is the most flaky crust I’ve ever made! Excellent!!
Shinee says
Hi, Marlene! Soo happy you tried and loved this cake!! Yes, it’s quite rich cake, but it’s just so good, right? And thank you for your feedback! I’ve never used this exact recipe for pie crust, but when I compared it to my foolproof pie crust, they’re actually pretty similar! Hope you’ll try that pie crust recipe, it’s amazing too!