Strawberry Napoleon Cake

Strawberry Napoleon cake is made of classic thin layers of rough puff pastry and a delicate custard cream with strawberry puree. The cake turns out fragrant, hearty and absolutely delicious, and after a night in the fridge the layers soak through and become soft. I recommend making it during strawberry season!

Strawberry Napoleon Cake

Layered Napoleon cake made of rough puff pastry with custard cream on strawberry puree - fragrant, delicate, and well soaked through.

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Prep Time 40 minutes mins

Cook Time 50 minutes mins

Chilling the dough and soaking the cake 9 hours hrs

Total Time 10 hours hrs 30 minutes mins

Servings: 8 servings

Course: Cakes

Cuisine: Home cooking

Ingredients Method Notes

Ingredients

  

Layers

• 400 g flour sifted
• 160 g butter cold
• 100 ml water cold
• 1/2 tbsp vinegar
• salt pinch

Cream

• 200 g strawberries fresh or frozen
• 2 eggs
• 100 g sugar
• 1 tbsp cornstarch
• 350 ml milk
• 100 g butter room temperature

Method

 

Dough

1. Rub the cold butter into the sifted flour and salt until crumbly. Pour in the cold water with vinegar and knead the dough. As soon as it comes together, shape it into a ball, wrap in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for 1 hour.
   

Cream

1. Take the butter for the cream out of the fridge ahead of time - it should be at room temperature. Put the milk on the stove to heat up.
2. Lightly whisk the eggs with the sugar and cornstarch so there are no lumps. As soon as the milk is hot, pour the mixture in while stirring constantly, and cook over low heat for 7-10 minutes until thickened, stirring the whole time with a whisk or wooden spatula.
   
3. Pour the finished cream into a wide bowl and let it cool. Once it has almost cooled, add the butter cut into pieces and whisk it in, then let it cool completely.
4. Puree the strawberries with a blender and fold them into the cooled cream with a spatula. Refrigerate the cream while the layers bake.

Layers and assembly

1. Divide the dough into 8 pieces. Roll each one out thinly on parchment paper, cut out a circle using a plate, and prick it with a fork. Keep the trimmings for the crumb topping.
   
2. Bake the layers in an oven preheated to 200°C for 5-7 minutes each.
3. Spread cream over all the layers and sprinkle the top with the crumbs from the baked trimmings.
   
4. Refrigerate the cake overnight so the layers soak through. Enjoy!
   

Notes

Recipe taken from Nadine's blog - huge thanks to her. The cake absolutely needs a night in the fridge: during this time the layers will fully soak through with the cream.

Tips

• Dough: the water must be cold, and the vinegar makes the layers flakier. As soon as the dough comes together into a ball, wrap it in plastic wrap right away and put it in the fridge.
• Cream: cook it over low heat and stir constantly with a whisk or wooden spatula - this way you avoid lumps.
• Add the butter to the cream in pieces once it has almost cooled, not while it's hot - otherwise it will separate.
• Don't throw away the trimmings from the layers: bake them along with the layers and crush them into crumbs for the topping.
• Strawberries can be fresh or frozen - just puree them with a blender and fold them into the cooled cream.