Recipes · Russian · Cakes

Napoleon (Russian Many-Layered Custard Cake)

One serving has 411 kcal and 7 g protein, and at least a fifth of a woman's daily need of selenium (33%), vitamin A (31%), riboflavin (30%) and thiamin (26%). Ready in 768 minutes.

• Preparation: 700 min
• Cooking: 68 min
• Makes: 1 serving (143 g)
• Difficulty: Hard
• Diets: Vegetarian
• Contains: alcohol, dairy, egg, gluten

Ingredients

• 32 g Flour, all-purpose
• 0.1 g Salt
• 24 g Butter, unsalted, cold
• 3 g Eggs, whole, raw
• 8 g Water, ice-cold
• 1 g Vinegar, white
• 50 g Milk, whole
• 5 g Egg yolks, raw
• 10 g Sugar
• 0.3 g Vanilla extract
• 10 g Sweetened condensed milk

Method

1. This makes 1 of 16 slices; multiply everything by 16 for a whole cake. Keep back an eighth of the flour and a third of the butter for the cream. Grate the rest of the cold butter into the rest of the flour with the salt and rub it in quickly to coarse crumbs.
2. Beat the egg with the ice-cold water and vinegar, pour it into the flour and gather it into a dough without kneading; divide it into 8 balls, wrap and chill for 1 hour.
3. For the custard, whisk the egg yolks with the sugar and the flour you kept, whisk in the milk and cook over medium-low heat, stirring all the time, for 6-8 minutes, until thick and bubbling; stir in the vanilla, press cling film onto the surface and leave to cool completely.
4. Roll each ball out on baking paper as thinly as you can, about 2 mm, cut it round a 24 cm plate, keeping the trimmings, and prick it all over with a fork.
5. Bake the layers one at a time, with the trimmings, at 200°C for 6-8 minutes until golden; they are fragile, so slide them onto a rack on their paper.
6. Beat the butter you kept, softened, with the condensed milk for 3-4 minutes until fluffy, then beat in the cold custard a spoonful at a time.
7. Stack the layers, spreading the cream generously over each one and over the top and sides; crush the trimmings into crumbs and press them all over the cake.
8. Leave at room temperature for 2 hours, then in the fridge overnight, so the layers soften into the cream before slicing.

Nutrition per serving

Shares of a day's need are for a woman of 30, 165 cm, 60 kg, lightly active, by the US and Canadian Dietary Reference Intakes. SustainBite works out each person's own needs, by the standard where they live: the Nordic Nutrition Recommendations in Norway, the UK's, EFSA's in the EU.

Climate footprint

0.3 kg CO2e a serving: about average for breakfasts, sides, desserts and drinks on SustainBite. Source: ADEME, Agribalyse 3.2.

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