Napoleon Cake is a classic Russian cakes, made of very thin and flaky puff pastry cake layers and a smooth, rich and luscious pastry cream in between the layers.
Napoleon Cake is one of my favorite classic Russian cakes. It has a multitude of very thin cake layers that are made from puff pastry dough and are so flaky, puffy and delicate. The smooth, rich and luscious pastry cream is such a magical combination with the cake layers. I make my frosting even better with a combination of pastry cream, buttercream and lighten it up with some whipped cream, which makes it so fluffy, luxurious and velvety in texture. It becomes so billowy and soft, almost cloud like.
The pastry cream frosting softens the thin, puffy cake layers and they become so tender and the whole cake simply melts in your mouth. The cake needs to stand in the refrigerator for a few hours to soften, as the frosting seeps into the cake. I like to let the cake stand at room temperature for just a bit before serving, and it becomes even softer and gentle in texture.
You can most certainly use store bought puff pastry instead of making it from scratch. In that case, roll out the dough to make it thinner before baking.
Even though this cake is time consuming, none of the steps are difficult. I break it up into several days, which makes it very doable and not as tedious. If you make the puff pastry dough and the pastry cream in advance, neither take too long to make and it will speed up the process considerably when you are baking the cake layers and assembling the cake. It's definitely worthy of a special occasion.
Instructions:
Cake Layer Dough:
When making the cake layer dough, I usually do it on the counter, using a plastic pastry mat on top of my counters as a work surface so I don't damage the counters. Since it's a large portion of dough (10-12 cake layers), I find it easier to mix it on the counter by hand, using a knife to work the butter into the flour and then adding the liquid ingredients and mixing it by hand very quickly.
You can also divide the ingredients in half and use a food processor to pulse the butter into the flour, then pour in the liquid ingredients and pulse just enough times for the dough to come together.
Both methods are very quick, it usually takes about 5 minutes total. You don't want to overwork the dough or it won't be as tender.
Combine the flour and salt on the counter or food processor. Add the cold butter, cut into chunks, into the flour and use a knife to work it into the flour, until there are pea sized bits of butter throughout the dough.
In a medium bowl or large mixing cup, whisk the water, vinegar, vodka, and beaten eggs until evenly mixed. The vinegar and the vodka help to make the cake layers really tender and flaky. The vodka gives the dough more liquid and makes it easier to work with and roll out, but when the cake layers bake, the vodka will cook out, which makes the cake layers more crisp. You won't be able to taste the vinegar or vodka in the cake at all.
Make a well in the center of the flour on the counter and pour in the liquid ingredients. 
Gently but quickly mix the dough, just until it comes together. Knead just a little, working the flour into the dough. Work as quickly as you can, so that the chunks of butter don't completely melt into the dough. The chunks of butter will melt as the cake layers bake and will form air pockets in the cake layers and give them that wonderful thin, flaky, puffed texture.
Form the dough into a disc shape. Wrap the dough into parchment paper or aluminum foil and place it into the refrigerator. Chill for a few hours or overnight.
Pastry Cream:
Make the pastry cream. Follow the instructions in this post. The recipe is slightly different, but the technique is exactly the same, so use the ingredient amounts from this post, following the instructions in the other post.
Chill the pastry cream in the refrigerator until completely cool, a few hours or overnight.
I usually make the cake layer dough and the pastry cream the day before I am planning on making the cake.
Baking the Cake Layers:
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Prepare 2 large rimmed baking sheets, so you can bake the cake layers quicker, if you interchange them, putting one in the oven, rolling out the next layer and then immediately putting it into the oven as soon as the first layer bakes and so on. Also prepare 10-12 pieces of parchment paper as big as the baking sheet.
Divide the dough into 10-12 layers. If you want an 8-9 inch cake, you will probably end up with 12 cake layers. If you want the cake to be 10 inches, you will have 10 cake layers. Also, I often make 2 smaller, shorter cakes out of this recipe, instead of one large, tall cake. In which case, you will have 2 (8-9 inch) cakes that are 6 layers high, and 2 (10 inch cakes) that are 5 layers high. You can easily halve the recipe for this cake.
Roll out each portion of cake dough right on top of a piece of parchment paper, sprinkling a bit of flour on it before rolling out the cake layers. Roll out thin circles.
Place a 8-10 inch round plate, cake pan, springform pan, etc. on top of the rolled out dough.
Use a small paring knife to cut out an 8-10 inch circle, all around the outside of the circular object that you are using. Leave the dough remnant just where they are. 
Transfer the rolled out cake layer along with the parchment paper to the prepared baking sheet. Use a fork to prick some holes all over the center of the cake layers to keep them from puffing up unevenly.
Bake in the preheated oven for about 8 minutes, until lightly golden. 
Repeat will all the cake layers. Set aside to cool. Save the cake dough scraps that baked along with the cake layers. You will use those later as crumbs to decorate the cake.
Pastry Cream Frosting:
Before you start making the frosting, make sure the pastry cream and the butter are both at room temperature. If one or the other is too cold, the frosting will not be smooth and consistent, but will have a curdled appearance, with bits of butter flecks throughout the frosting that you will not be able to fix.
In a large bowl or a standing mixer a using a hand mixer, cream the butter, powdered sugar and vanilla extract, mixing until smooth and fluffy. 
Add the pastry cream, a few heaping Tablespoons at a time, mixing on low speed, gradually increasing to medium speed, until all of the pastry cream is incorporated into the buttercream.
In a separate bowl, whip the heavy cream until soft peaks form. 
Fold in the whipped cream into the pastry cream.
Assembling the Cake:
Line your edge of your serving plate/cake stand with aluminum foil. This is a trick I use to keep the edge of the plate clean. Place a dollop of frosting into the center of the plate, just to keep the cake from sliding around.
Top each cake layer with a generous amount of frosting and spread it around evenly. 
You will need to use all of the frosting for the cake, so divide it evenly between all the cake layers. The frosting should be approximately the same thickness as each cake layer. Repeat will all the cake layers and frosting.
Smooth out the frosting over the sides and top of the cake. 
Place the cake layer scraps into a large ziplock bag. Use your hands or a rolling pin to crush them into fine crumbs. Press the crumbs over the sides of the cake and sprinkle them evenly over the top of the cake. 
Keep it simple like that, or decorate with fresh berries, chocolate shavings, nuts, etc. Gently pull out the aluminum foil out from underneath the cake. 
It is best to refrigerate the cake overnight, so that the frosting soaks into the cake layers and gets really soft and tender. It will get slightly shorter as the frosting seeps into the cake layers.
Keep the cake refrigerated. It helps to let it stand a room temperature for 30 minutes or so before serving.
Napoleon Cake
Napoleon Cake is a classic Russian cakes, made of very thin and flaky puff pastry cake layers and a smooth, rich and luscious pastry cream in between the layers.
- Total Time: 2880 minutes
- Yield: 1 cake 1x
- Category: Dessert
Ingredients
Cake:
- 4 ½ cups all purpose flour (plus another ½ cup or so for dusting the counter when rolling out the cake layers)
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 3 ½ sticks butter (cold) (total: 14 oz)
- ¾ cup chilled water
- 1 Tablespoon distilled white vinegar
- 2 Tablespoons vodka
- 2 eggs (beaten)
Pastry Cream:
- 5 cups milk
- 10 egg yolks
- ¾-1 cup granulated sugar
- 6 Tablespoons cornstarch
Cake Frosting:
- 12 oz butter (room temperature)
- ¾ cups powdered sugar
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 ½ cups heavy cream
Instructions
Cake Layer Dough:
- Combine the flour and salt on the counter or food processor. Add the cold butter, cut into chunks, into the flour and use a knife to work it into the flour, until there are pea sized bits of butter throughout the dough.
- In a medium bowl or large mixing cup, whisk the water, vinegar, vodka, and beaten eggs until evenly mixed. The vinegar and the vodka help to make the cake layers really tender and flaky. The vodka gives the dough more liquid and makes it easier to work with and roll out, but when the cake layers bake, the vodka will cook out, which makes the cake layers more crisp. You won't be able to taste the vinegar or vodka in the cake at all.
- Make a well in the center of the flour on the counter and pour in the liquid ingredients. Gently but quickly mix the dough, just until it comes together. Knead just a little, working the flour into the dough. Work as quickly as you can, so that the chunks of butter don't completely melt into the dough. The chunks of butter will melt as the cake layers bake and will form air pockets in the cake layers and give them that wonderful thin, flaky, puffed texture.
- Form the dough into a disc shape. Wrap the dough into parchment paper or aluminum foil and place it into the refrigerator. Chill for a few hours or overnight.
- Make the pastry cream. Follow the instructions in this post. The recipe is slightly different, but the technique is exactly the same, so use the ingredient amounts from this post, following the instructions in the other post.
- Chill the pastry cream in the refrigerator until completely cool, a few hours or overnight.
- I usually make the cake layer dough and the pastry cream the day before I am planning on making the cake.
Baking the Cake Layers:
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Prepare 2 large rimmed baking sheets, so you can bake the cake layers quicker, if you interchange them, putting one in the oven, rolling out the next layer and then immediately putting it into the oven as soon as the first layer bakes and so on. Also prepare 10-12 pieces of parchment paper as big as the baking sheet.
- Divide the dough into 10-12 layers. If you want an 8-9 inch cake, you will probably end up with 12 cake layers. If you want the cake to be 10 inches, you will have 10 cake layers. Also, I often make 2 smaller, shorter cakes out of this recipe, instead of one large, tall cake. In which case, you will have 2 (8-9 inccakes that are 6 layers high, and 2 (10 inch cakethat are 5 layers high. You can easily halve the recipe for this cake.
- Roll out each portion of cake dough right on top of a piece of parchment paper, sprinkling a bit of flour on it before rolling out the cake layers. Roll out thin circles.
- Place a 8-10 inch round plate, cake pan, springform pan, etc. on top of the rolled out dough.
- Use a small paring knife to cut out an 8-10 inch circle, all around the outside of the circular object that you are using. Leave the dough remnant just where they are. Transfer the rolled out cake layer along with the parchment paper to the prepared baking sheet. Use a fork to prick some holes all over the center of the cake layers to keep them from puffing up unevenly.
- Bake in the preheated oven for about 8 minutes, until lightly golden.
- Repeat will all the cake layers. Set aside to cool. Save the cake dough scraps that baked along with the cake layers. You will use those later as crumbs to decorate the cake.
Pastry Cream Frosting:
- Before you start making the frosting, make sure the pastry cream and the butter are both at room temperature. If one or the other is too cold, the frosting will not be smooth and consistent, but will have a curdled appearance, with bits of butter flecks throughout the frosting that you will not be able to fix.
- In a large bowl or a standing mixer a using a hand mixer, cream the butter, powdered sugar and vanilla extract, mixing until smooth and fluffy.
- Add the pastry cream, a few heaping Tablespoons at a time, mixing on low speed, gradually increasing to medium speed, until all of the pastry cream is incorporated into the buttercream.
- In a separate bowl, whip the heavy cream until soft peaks form. Fold in the whipped cream into the pastry cream.
Assembling the Cake:
- Line your edge of your serving plate/cake stand with aluminum foil. This is a trick I use to keep the edge of the plate clean. Place a dollop of frosting into the center of the plate, just to keep the cake from sliding around.
- Top each cake layer with a generous amount of frosting and spread it around evenly. You will need to use all of the frosting for the cake, so divide it evenly between all the cake layers. The frosting should be approximately the same thickness as each cake layer.
- Repeat will all the cake layers and frosting.
- Smooth out the frosting over the sides and top of the cake. Place the cake layer scraps into a large ziplock bag. Use your hands or a rolling pin to crush them into fine crumbs. Press the crumbs over the sides of the cake and sprinkle them evenly over the top of the cake. Keep it simple like that, or decorate with fresh berries, chocolate shavings, nuts, etc.
- Gently pull out the aluminum foil out from underneath the cake.
- It is best to refrigerate the cake overnight, so that the frosting soaks into the cake layers and gets really soft and tender. It will get slightly shorter as the frosting seeps into the cake layers.
- Keep the cake refrigerated. It helps to let it stand a room temperature for 30 minutes or so before serving.
Notes
When making the cake layer dough, I usually do it on the counter, using a plastic pastry mat on top of my counters as a work surface so I don't damage the counters. Since it's a large portion of dough (10-12 cake layers), I find it easier to mix it on the counter by hand, using a knife to work the butter into the flour and then adding the liquid ingredients and mixing it by hand very quickly. You can also divide the ingredients in half and use a food processor to pulse the butter into the flour, then pour in the liquid ingredients and pulse just enough times for the dough to come together. Both methods are very quick, it usually takes about 5 minutes total. You don't want to overwork the dough or it won't be as tender.
Hi Olga,
We used to live in Russia and this is our favourite cake so I am really looking forward to trying to bake one myself.
Unfortunately, I have not been able to find distilled white vinegar in Germany. What can I replace it with? Japanese rice vinegar 5,8 % acidic? Or is there something better?
Thanks
Hi Anneli,
I hope you will enjoy this cake:). I'm not sure what you can use instead of distilled white vinegar. It has a very neutral flavor, so most other vinegars will give the cake layers a bit of their flavor too, so just be aware of that. The acidity should be about 1%. Try to find a vinegar that has as little flavor as possible.
I want to make this beautiful cake. I am wondering if you have ever made the cake in advance and froze the cake, assembled, for 2 or 3 weeks and then defrosted in the refrigerator?
Hi Ruti,
I never freeze cakes, so I can't advise you on how well it works or not.
I shop at "Sweet Buns Asian bakery they have a version that's a bar of sponge encased in pastry cream with broken puff pieces on The outside. Im curious if anyone has tried this version?
Guys, Thanks For sharing this Great Recipe. My Family Loved it. I am definitely sharing this recipe and this website with my friend. Hope they also love it. Thank you again for sharing such a great recipe.
Hi Olga. I have not done the recipe yet, but have a question... when you bake the puff pastry, I didn't understand if I should leave the pan on top of it (like we do with regular puff pastry by placing a tray on top) or if I should remove it after using it as a guide to cut the circle. Would you mind clarifying?
Thank you.
Bruno
I don't have a pan on top. Poking holes in the pastry should be just fine to make sure the pastry doesn't puff up too much but gets some lift and gets much more golden and crisp without the pan on top. It will puff up a bit, but will be just right for the cake.
I made this cake twice. And both time very disappointed. Can you help me. Wonder what I am doing wrong. How long do you mix your butter before adding custard cream?? My butter always separates and I end up at a point where I dont know what to do. Custard always stays in fridge over night so its not like I can redo it again real quick . I had both butter and custard in room temp for almost half day and I had same thing as first time making this cake . Separation. Also what kind of butter do you use ?? Wonder how to fix this. I really love this cake and so does my husband. I want to master it . Thanks
Hi Mariyka,
Sorry to hear about your struggles with this cake. I know it is very frustrating when a recipe isn't working out.
First of all, if you make the custard the day before, make sure to bring it to room temperature. I would also suggest mixing it up separately with a mixer to make sure it's nice and smooth first.
I use many different brands of butter and have never had any issues with any particular brand or type. I just make sure it's full fat, not some sort of reduced fat, lactose free or anything like that product. The amount of time is not really specific either, I go by the way it looks and the texture of the butter mixture. It needs to be light and fluffy.
It's also possible that the butter and the custard are too warm or you mixed them too long or not long enough. It's really hard to give advice when I'm not seeing it or how you are preparing it. I try to add as much details as possible and share lots of process pictures and share as many tips as I can. I hope it works out better for you next time.
Hello, does it matter what type of milk you are using for the Pastry Cream? It just says "milk" Thanks!
I prefer whole milk, but 2 % milk will work too.
Hello Olga, i'm loving this recipe and would like to try this, is it possible to get the ingredients in metric measurements? I'm not too good with 'cups', i'm more of 'grams' instead, much appreciated, thank you. Tanya.
Sorry, I don't use metric measurements. I'm sure you can google it.
Thanks for recipe Olga. I tried it. Did not have any issues with cream but layers were not soft after refrigerating overnight ( as said in recipe ). Needs to be eaten with fork and knife. I will try it again after refrigerating one more day. But would be great if recipe mentioned 1-2 days instead of overnight.
Thanks
Hi Nemat,
What a bummer that the cake wasn't as soft as you wanted it. I never make it days in advance and always only keep it in the refrigerator overnight before serving.
Did you use all of the cream?
I love this cake it's really tasty. Mmmm. I'm going to make this cake for my birthday. Thanks for the ideas.
This came out absolutely perfectly! I followed all of the instructions EXACTLY and had zero issues even though it was my first time making it. Thank you for an incredible recipe!!
I'm so happy this recipe worked out so well for you, Karen! Great job! This is definitely an advanced baking skills recipe and you got it.
So I made the pastry cream and frosting following your directions exactly. The pastry cream and butter stood at room temperature for several hours and in the end it still curdled dm and turned out runny! What did I do wrong?
If you followed the instructions exactly, then I don't know what could have made the frosting curdle. I'm sorry that it didn't work out for you, Anna.
Olga. I have had same issue. Made this cake twice and my custard cream and butter also curdled and I dont know how else to troubleshoot this . My custard and butter was in room temp since morning and made this cream around 4pm. Not
I'm sorry to hear that it didn't work out for you. This is definitely a difficult recipe to master. Maybe try to increase the speed of your mixer. It's also really important that all the ingredients are at room temperature. Sometimes if the butter cream and the custard are both at room temperature and the bowl is cold, that can make a difference too.
However, if the ingredients are too warm, that could be a problem too, since they start to kind of "melt" and that will not create the right texture either. I hope it will work out better for you next time.
I made this for my wife's birthday as it is her favourite cake and she loved it. I halved this recipe and it still made a good sized 5-layer cake which would have been enough for 6-8 people easily. I don't know why some people said it was confusing, as long as you read through the recipe before starting, this recipe has been explained well.
Like some people said, I didn't use all of the cream but I think it would have been better if I left it in the fridge before putting it on the cake. We left it for a day and a half before eating it and it was so tasty! I will definitely be making this again.
Hi Chris!
Thank you for taking the time to write. I'm so glad that you enjoyed the cake and were happy with how it turned out. That's awesome! How great that you put were so dedicated to make such a special cake for your wife's birthday.
This part is confusing. Instructions in where in the post? And where is this other post?
"Make the pastry cream. Follow the instructions in this post. The recipe is slightly different, but the technique is exactly the same, so use the ingredient amounts from this post, following the instructions in the other post."
If you click on "pastry cream" it will take you right to the recipe.
Pastry Cream Recipe
For anyone struggling with runny/curdled frosting: stick it in the food processor with 8oz cream cheese and an extra cup of powdered sugar. Then fold in the whipped cream. With that workaround, decent recipe!
Thank you for the feedback, Devon.
It's very important for the ingredients to be at room temperature, otherwise the frosting will curdle.