It's sweet, it's fluffy, it's delicious. It's almost as unhealthy as a bowl of butter, sugar and liquid fat, but once in a while - it's totally worth it. Also, it depends which kind you end up buying or making. The vegan edition is somewhat healthier, and judging by the ingredients of one recipe I found, it sounds delicious and not so different from the non-vegan kind.
This recipe isn't vegan, tho.
I will make the vegan version once, and most likely post it, but this time it's the OG version.
I was out for 3 hours yesterday, painting some patio furniture. For the first hour or so, I listened to Andrea Bocelli. Then, for the last hour, I listened to a yoga master, Balakhilya das, in a session of questions and answers. I'd listened to him the weekend before, when he held a session on how to overcome anger and frustration (which I will mention in a later post).
When suddenly the beautiful, creamy thought popped up in my head - why not treat myself with Napoleon Cake?
Apparently, I'm not the chef I thought I was
It started off like this. Even tho I stabbed the puff pastry sheets all over the place - it didn't help. They even got bigger
And so I improvised
And then I improved. Even tho I should've placed another sheet of baking paper between the puff pastry and second baking tray. But you live and you learn, right?
But then this happend - lumps. Everywhere. And it was too liquidy. But even then, I still had hope
The strawberries helped. Only by making the picture better, but still
Servings: 1. Or 8
Time: 15min prep + 20 min in the oven + a few hours in the fridge
Ingredients
4 frozen puff pastry sheets
4 tsp agar agar or pectin (mixed with a few tbsp water)
5 dl vanilla pastry cream
3 dl heavy cream
2-3 dl icing sugar
2 tbsp water
Instructions
- Thaw the puff pastry sheets until they fold easily. If they're wrapped in pastic, remove the plastic and place the sheets on thin layer of flour
- Then, roll 'em flat. Either - one by one, or place the long edges slightly on top of each other before rolling. Make sure they stick, or else they might seperate like mine did
- Slightly cut the puff pastry sheets as that will make it easier for you - I didn't
- Bake in a reheated oven for 17 min at 200 °C. Then, set them aside
- Mix the agar agar/pectin with water and set it aside
- Whip the heavy cream, then add the agar agar/pectin and whip some more
- Stir in the vanilla pastry cream (I whipped the entire thing, so maybe that's why it turned out the way it did)
- Option 1: Place one after one puff pastry sheet in a plastic container, then add the filling, add the final layer and top it off with icing
- Option 2: Cut the huge rectangle of puff pastry sheets in two, and pour the filling between the layers and top it off with icing
- Place in the fridge for some hours
Tips, Tricks etc
- Learn from my mistakes
Enjoy.
Did you know?
There are no health benefits from eating this cake, except that it's good for your soul - in moderate amounts, of course.
A wise man once told me that a fool learns from his own mistakes, while a wise one learns from the mistakes of others.