Russian Napoleon Cake – Puff Pastry Cake

Russian Napoleon Cake – Puff Pastry Cake | September 18, 2023

Russian Napoleon Cake is the ultimate Napoleon Cake and a cousin of the traditional Napoleon Recipe, it is made of crispy layers of puff pastry, sandwiched together with creamy and buttery custard.

What is Napoleon Cake?

Napoleon Cake is a traditional French dessert (Mille-feuille) that consists of several, flaky and crispy layers of Puff Puff Pastry filled with thick layers of pastry cream, with the top layer being covered in powdered sugar glaze with swirls of chocolate sugar glaze.

Are there different types of Napoleon Cake?

Yes, there are two general types of Napoleons. One is the French Napoleon cake which I described above. The second is the Russian Napoleon Cake.

The Russian Napoleon cake is different in the fact that it typically has a lot more cake layers (could be as much as 15) of puff pastry, that is rolled super thin. The thin layers are then sandwiched with a moderate amount of pastry cream. This allows the puff pastry to soften and become very moist and tender, as shown below.

It might sound like it defeats the purpose of using the puff pastry in the first place because the glory of the puff pastry is being able to see each and individual layer within the puff pastry. Nevertheless, once you try the Russian Napoleon cake version, you might see why we Slavics go crazy for this cake!