Ways to decorate a Napoleon cake at home

“Napoleon” is a traditional French and Italian dessert, prepared on the basis of numerous puff pastry cakes and aromatic vanilla cream. Today, there are dozens of recipes that use custard, protein, and butter cream, and even one made on the basis of heavy confectionery cream. However, preparing such a dessert is not so bad. After all, it still needs to be properly formatted. Let's find out how to decorate a Napoleon cake at home.

Two in one: both tasty and healthy

How to decorate a Napoleon cake if you don’t have pastry tools at hand and your culinary skills leave much to be desired? Fresh berries will come to the rescue, which will not only look beautiful and fabulous on dessert, but will also make it tasty and healthy. To decorate a layer cake, you need to select the ripest, but not soft or loose fruits. Otherwise, they will yield juice and become wilted within a few hours, causing the dessert to lose its appetizing quality.

This is cake decorating for beginners. After all, all that is required is to beautifully and carefully arrange strawberries, raspberries, blueberries or currants on the surface, then sprinkle everything with powdered sugar. Use a sieve to evenly cover the berries, like frost. Don't forget to add some green color by using mint leaves. Decorating the Napoleon cake with berries will be appreciated by both adults and children.

Nuts

Any nuts look harmonious in “Napoleon” - hazelnuts, walnuts, peanuts, cashews, pine. Fry the kernels, grind them in a blender and sprinkle this mixture not only on the top, but also on all other layers. Decorate the cake with whole nuts. Before this, it is advisable to caramelize them by frying them together with butter and sugar in a frying pan.

Chocolate heaven

It doesn't matter what cream you use in making the dessert. Either way, the final step is to spread it on top of the cake layers and cover them with crushed puff pastry shavings. Let's change the usual look of the Napoleon cake? The decoration will be products made from pure chocolate, which we will prepare ourselves.

What you will need for this:

• Dark chocolate bar.
• A pot of water.
• A heat-resistant bowl, the diameter of which is slightly larger than the width of the pan (saucepan).
• Wooden spatula.
• Baking paper (parchment).

Break the chocolate into pieces and pour into a bowl. Then we put it in a saucepan and place it on the stove. As the water begins to boil, it will create a sauna effect and the chocolate will slowly begin to melt. To get a homogeneous mass, you need to stir it constantly. Once the chocolate has completely melted, let's start making the parts. To do this, we will use a wooden spatula to create droplets, patterns and even inscriptions, not forgetting to apply melted chocolate onto the parchment. In the worst case scenario, you won't be able to carefully remove the pattern from the surface without breaking the fragile piece. You can place the chocolate product in the freezer for several hours until it completely hardens.

We separate the finished patterns and drops from the paper using a thin knife, and then transfer them to the surface of the confectionery product to create an original pattern. This Napoleon cake decoration will look as if the dessert was made by a professional pastry chef.

Video recipe

In the proposed video recipe you can see in detail how to prepare the most popular Napoleon cake, what ingredients were used, how to work with the dough, bake the cakes, make a delicate cream and assemble the cake. Enjoy watching!

If you like the classic Napoleon cake, you want to share your options for preparing, decorating the dessert, make additions, suggestions, then be sure to leave your review in the comments below. Let this version of the cake bring you joy and taste pleasure!

Confetti rain

All girls are sweets. They love bright clothes, sweet cakes and all the colors of the rainbow. Their cheerfulness, and sometimes naivety, pleases and inspires. Therefore, we will tell you about a possible option for decorating a cake for a 10-year-old girl. And for this we will use multi-colored confetti.

You can usually find them in any supermarket by looking in the spices, seasonings and baking herbs section. However, you can also look into a candy store, where you will be offered confetti of completely different sizes and shades. To make our cake for a 10-year-old girl colorful, we will also use whipped cream mixed with food coloring.

To prepare the cream, pour in a small amount of heavy cream and beat with a mixer until stable peaks form. You need to add a little vanilla and red dye to the finished cream and mix until you get a homogeneous mass. Using a pastry syringe or a regular spatula, you need to apply the cream to the surface of the “Napoleon”, and then generously sprinkle the dessert with multi-colored confetti. And don’t be afraid that the cake will turn out too sweet - the bright scattering, although edible, is practically tasteless.

Several options using creams

For decoration you need a thick cream that will not spread. We will use it to make patterns, inscriptions and decorations. In order not to make a mistake and not spoil the cake, you must first practice using a pastry syringe or its equivalent.

Decoration creams:

• From cream. To prepare it, it is better to use cream with a fat content of 33%. Pre-cool them and a glass of blender in the refrigerator. Then beat, being careful not to overdo it and get butter. Blender speed is no higher than average. After the mixture has thickened, place the cream in a pastry bag and paint a decorative finish on the sprinkled surfaces of the cake. These could be words of congratulations, a kind of ornament - it all depends on your intention and skills in handling a syringe.

• Oil. It allows you to decorate “Napoleon” with a variety of roses, drawings and congratulations, but contains a lot of calories. To fix this, add condensed milk to the butter. This cream will be lighter. If you add boiled condensed milk to the mixture, you get a beautiful creamy color.

• Protein. It makes a good variety of patterns. The idea is to bake meringues in different shapes and decorate the cake with delicious details. If the figures are made flat, they are suitable for decorating the sides.

• Chocolate. If you add cocoa (for cooking) or a melted bar to any of the above creams, you will get a delicious chocolate cream. This decoration will especially appeal to children and will add a new flavor to the classic dessert.

Tip Add food coloring to the creams to make the decoration colorful and truly festive.

Available means

“Napoleon” with chocolate balls is another cake decorating idea that will definitely please both the hero of the occasion and all the guests. All you need to decorate the dessert is corn balls dipped in chocolate glaze, round wafer cookies or thin chocolate chips. Of course, you can admire such a cake for hours. However, its appearance will give everyone unforgettable visual pleasure.

To prepare, you need to select cookies of the same length, and also stock up on chocolate balls in advance. This is a great cake decorating idea. After all, even the most inexperienced cook can cope with its implementation. Carefully stick one waffle at a time to the cream so that they form a fence. Don't press too hard or you will break the fragile cookies. Tie a ribbon around the cake to ensure that no waffles fall off while being carried. Carefully place chocolate balls in the middle or add more to cover all the creamy gaps. This decoration of the Napoleon cake with candies will delight all household members.

Sprinkles

The classic version of the “Napoleon” design is to sprinkle it with crumbs left over from the cakes. The easiest and fastest way. A cake with this design comes out dry on top and is suitable for transportation.

• When baking the cakes, roll out the last piece of dough, but do not cut a round or square cake out of it. Just place it on a baking sheet and dry it well - more than the other cakes, until it is dark golden brown. Place the cooled piece of dough on a surface (table, board) and roll it out with a rolling pin. You should end up with crumbs of different sizes. Don’t try to turn the cake into powder; let there be some fairly large pieces. Both the sides and top of the cake are sprinkled with this crumb, the excess falls off on its own, and the remaining sprinkles are pressed with your hands. Ideally, there should be no uncovered areas or drops of cream on the surface.
• Sprinkle + powder. If there are very few crumbs, you can combine them with powdered sugar. The entire cake is coated with cream, the top is sprinkled with powdered sugar, and the sides are sprinkled with crumbs. You can also use the sprinkles to make small edges on the top of the cake.
• Stencil. On the surface of the Napoleon cake, using a stencil, you can create almost any design - New Year's, birthday greetings, children's, and so on. To do this you will need dark grated chocolate or powdered sugar. On a surface sprinkled with crumbs, the prepared stencil is carefully laid out in the center and sprinkled with grated chocolate or powder.
• As a topping, you can also use grated chocolate, both white and dark, finely crushed nuts (hazelnuts, cashews, walnuts, peanuts), coconut flakes or special confectionery topping.

When sprinkling the surface and sides of the cake, the cream that covers the cake is of great importance. In order for the sprinkle to last a long time and not crumble, the cream must be thick enough, sticky and dense. The classic recipe uses custard (sometimes with the addition of sour cream or condensed milk) - it fits perfectly. The main thing is not to make it too liquid.

Decorating the famous “Napoleon” with cream is also used by housewives quite often. “Napoleon” decorated in this way looks more festive and elegant. This is especially important if it is baked for a reason, but for a birthday or anniversary.

There are several options for decorating with cream:

• The fastest way is to whip the cream and use a bag with a nozzle to squeeze roses, stripes or zigzags onto the surface of the cake. For this purpose, it is recommended to use cream with a fat content of at least 33%. Before whipping, both the cream and the container into which you will pour it are cooled. It is important not to “beat” the cream so that you don’t get butter. To do this, set the mixer to medium speed and increase it gradually.
• Using a syringe, you can create voluminous jewelry using butter cream. Purely oily – too greasy for everyone. But cream with the addition of condensed milk is what you need to decorate “Napoleon”. It is less caloric, light, airy. Condensed milk can be used both raw and boiled.
• Protein cream is a snow-white mass from which it is very easy to make even the most intricate flowers and patterns. It can remain pure white or be tinted with food coloring. Use only liquid dyes, adding them to the cream one drop at a time and constantly whisking it. The secret of a tasty and fluffy protein cream is cooling the proteins and high-quality whipping. You can always make the cream thicker by adding a thickener or a little starch. The mass is transferred into a syringe or bag and the patterns and flowers you need are squeezed onto the surface of the Napoleon cake.
• Chocolate cream. Chocolate probably cannot spoil any cake or dessert. Moreover, you can use both white and bitter in Napoleon. Even white is preferable, because we are all accustomed to the light shade of the classic version of the cake. Chocolate can be added to the cream, melted, grated, or replaced with cocoa powder. From melted chocolate on the surface of the cake, covered with white icing, you can make a “cobweb” or simply chaotic stripes.

Oh these boys

How to decorate a boy's birthday cake at home? To do this you need to be creative and a little diligent. After all, if in most cases little ladies are delighted with pink flowers, then boys are more serious and strict critics. They want to see both their favorite superheroes and the latest car models. To surprise a little boy you have to try.

There is a great idea that will tell you how to decorate a birthday cake for a boy - use mastic.

Truly, this is a unique confectionery product that allows you to mold any shape from an edible material reminiscent of clay or plasticine. The fondant rolls out easily and the colors can be adjusted using food coloring. For example, try to recreate a football field if your child enjoys an active lifestyle and is a fan of this sport.

First, take the cake and white stable cream. Add green dye to it, and then use a pastry syringe to smoothly apply feathers to imitate grass.

And what is a football field without a ball? Using mastic, you need to roll a uniform ball and place it in the creamy grass. We are sure that such a dessert will not leave even the most picky boy indifferent.

Custard for “Napoleon” - prepare at home

To prepare a delicious cake cream that will remind you of your childhood, you will need the following ingredients:

:

• 2.5 cups sugar
• 250 grams butter
• 3 egg yolks
• 1 glass of milk
• Half a glass of flour

Cooking technology:

1. You should start with eggs. Carefully separate the whites from the yolks, take 3 yolks and grind thoroughly with 3 tablespoons of sugar.
2. Add 3 tablespoons of flour to the mixture of sugar and yolks, stir, add a little milk and bring until smooth.
3. Take half a liter of milk, boil and add to the mixture of sugar, flour and yolks. Bring all this to a boil, stirring.
4. Beat the butter by adding 2 cups of sugar. Now, add the custard mixture little by little and beat each time until smooth with a mixer at medium speed.

The custard for Napoleon is ready!

Glaze patterns

It is not uncommon for Viennese desserts such as almond cake or strudel to be double glazed to create a unique design. To do this, you won’t need special pastry syringes to decorate the cake, but you will still have to spend 30 minutes preparing the chocolate coating.

Important note! We'll be using white and dark chocolate frosting to create a contrasting pattern. Under no circumstances should dark and light tiles be mixed, so you must first prepare the fondants in different (separate) containers.

What you will need:

• A bar of dark or milk chocolate.
• Butter (small piece).
• A saucepan with water or a saucepan.
• Deep heat-resistant bowl for creating a water bath.
• Spatula for stirring.
• Tray and metal grate.

Melt the chocolate in a water bath and add butter. If the glaze is too liquid, you can add a little sifted flour, remembering to stir the mixture regularly. We do the same procedure with white chocolate, then place the cake on the wire rack. Don't forget to place a tray under it - this is necessary if you don't want to stain the table and floor with liquid glaze.

Gently pour in the dark fondant, distributing it evenly over the entire surface of the cake, including the sides. Let it cool a little, and then draw neat circles using white icing. Using a toothpick, draw lines over the fondant to create a pattern. When decorating the cake, pay attention to the photo below.

Simple and effective - sprinkling

The most famous option for decorating “Napoleon” is sprinkling with crushed cake scraps, which remain after leveling the sides. Many housewives, in order not to rely on “maybe”, bake an extra cake specifically for crumbs. It is better to overcook it slightly so that it becomes crispy.

Then place it in a baking bag, release the air and tie it, then roll it with a rolling pin. The cake is covered with a layer of cream only on top or on all sides and crumbs are sprinkled onto the cream.

Other topping options:

• Powdered sugar. We add it if there is little dough and there are not enough cake scraps for work. Place crumbs on the sides and decorate the top with powdered sugar. The easiest way to prepare it yourself is in a blender or coffee grinder. The traditional and more complex option is to grind it in a mortar.

• Chopped and whole nuts. The easiest way is to crush the roasted peanuts. You will have to tinker with hazelnuts and almonds. Walnuts crumble easily, but they are labor-intensive to remove from the shell (so it’s better to buy a handful of peeled ones). To get large pieces mixed with crumbs, wrap the nuts in paper and crush them with a hammer or the flat side of an adjustable wrench. For uniform crumbs, put the nuts in a coffee grinder (if the design of the device allows) or a blender. Idea for a man's cake: sprinkle the edges with nut crumbs, cover the top with cream and spread whole hazelnuts around the perimeter.

• Chocolate chips. Choosing dark, milk or white chocolate is a matter of taste. A combination of different types will also be pleasant. Grind the tiles on a fine grater (best of all - on the compartment for preparing baby purees, “stars” or “double-edged cells”).

• Coconut flakes. It is easier to buy it ready-made, but many housewives note that fresh pulp has a more pleasant taste. To grind it, you need to split the nut in half, then each half into more sectors. Scoop out the pulp and grind it on a grater, in a blender or in another convenient way. The idea is to make long shavings using a vegetable peeler and place them on top of the cream or on top of the sprinkles.

All sprinkling options can be solid or form a pattern. To do this, we use stencils made of cardboard or thick paper. We fill the background with a solid layer (or make it out of cream), place a stencil on top and make a pattern. It is better to use contrasting colors for the background and design. For example, white and dark chocolate, powdered sugar and chocolate. A dark backdrop with a light one (nuts, powder, white chocolate, light cream) also looks impressive. drawing.

Tip Additionally, you can put pieces of soft fruits and berries on top of the sprinkles, thin slices of chocolate left over after grinding the sweets on a grater, etc. elements.

Simple decor

What could be simpler than decorating the finished dessert with lush cream? This is a universal way to decorate a cake in a matter of minutes, and it doesn’t require a long period of whipping cream or boiling egg yolks. All you need is a pastry kit for decorating cakes, which consists of a spatula (spatula), a pastry bag (syringe), a specialized nozzle and dye.

Design tips:

• You will definitely surprise your guests with “Napoleon”, which is hidden under the thickness of aromatic vanilla cream. That’s why don’t be afraid to decorate the entire cake, including both the sides and the top.
• The best option for decoration would be whipped cream, which is sold in cans in any supermarket. You can make the cream yourself by buying a full-fat dairy product at the store and whipping it with a mixer until stiff peaks form. For variety, you can add food coloring or make it from natural ingredients. For example, use freshly squeezed strawberry, cherry or currant juice.

A few tricks to create a masterpiece

If we decide to make “Napoleon” not just a festive treat, but a whole work of art, we will have to spend more time and effort. By introducing new ingredients, we will not only decorate our “Napoleon”, but also add flavor shades:

• combine whipped cream with fresh fruits: lay them out whole or cut them into shapes;
• glazed fruits: place pieces of fruit on the cream, put small berries whole and fill them with glazes of different colors; if desired, make several fruit-glaze layers; the main thing is to choose fruits that match the main taste of the cake;

• fruits in jelly: cover the top of the cake with cream and put it in the refrigerator so that the base hardens; Next, place the fruits and berries, pour in the jelly (to prevent the top from spreading, limit the cake with a springform cupcake tin or other sides) and put it in the refrigerator until it hardens completely;
• we change the taste and color of creams: we introduce natural dyes and flavors (chocolate, coffee, cherry and currant juice, some liqueurs and wines, a little cognac, vanilla, cinnamon, cardamom, etc.); choosing the right shades of taste and aroma, maintaining proportions is a real art, but if everything works out, the result will delight the guests; example: add a glass of instant coffee to protein cream and get a creamy shade and a unique aroma;

• we cover it with culinary mastic: it is complex, but beautiful; to apply it to “Napoleon”, you will need to prepare the cake. First of all, we align the sides as much as possible. Then we let the cakes absorb the cream properly so that the cake is not wet and our decor does not “float”. Then we prepare a thick buttercream (experienced housewives recommend adding fine cookie crumbs to it). Coat the top and sides of “Napoleon” with a thick layer. Place the plastered dessert in the refrigerator and let it harden. The final stage is to cover it with purchased or homemade mastic and install the confectionery figures.

Every home pastry chef should have many ways to decorate the Napoleon cake. This way we get the opportunity to prepare one cake for any family celebration and add different decoration options and flavors, making each identical cake different and very tasty. Don’t be afraid to experiment, the cost of purchasing cake ingredients is insignificant, but how warmly the eyes of your children and your loved one will look at you. It's worth it!

Source

What cream to prepare

We present to your attention some of the most popular cake decorating creams.

1. Custard. To prepare you will need milk, sugar, eggs, flour (starch), butter, vanillin or vanilla extract. The ingredients are mixed together and then simmered over low heat, into which flour is gradually introduced until a homogeneous thick mass is formed. This recipe is sometimes called custard. The main feature of custard is that you do not need to add flour, gelatin or starch to it to thicken it. Often the finished custard is poured into a sauce boat and served for dessert. Guests just have to break off a piece of cake and dip it in the most delicate liquid cream.
2. From sour cream. It is best to use full-fat sour cream, which is whipped with a mixer along with powdered sugar. It is not recommended to add sugar, as it does not completely dissolve in the cream, and subsequently it will squeak on your teeth. You can add some crushed nuts, cocoa and chocolate chips to give our “Napoleon” a noble look.
3. Protein. To prepare, you will need egg whites, which are beaten together with powdered sugar until white, stable peaks appear. This cream is applied using a spatula, and for those who want to decorate the cake a few hours before the guests arrive, gelatin will come to the rescue.
4. Oil. You should only use butter, not margarine or spread. Using a mixer, beat it together with sugar or powder until you get a fluffy white cream that is stable.

Napoleon cake in a frying pan

Before you start preparing Napoleon cake in a frying pan, you should consider a few simple but important rules so that you don’t run into problems during the cooking process:

• A frying pan for baking cakes should be taken with a thick bottom. An old cast iron one is ideal, but if you don’t have one, a modern thick one with Teflon coating is ideal. These pans heat up slowly and distribute heat evenly.
• Be sure to grease the surface of the heated frying pan with butter before cooking each cake. But remember that you only need to take a little bit of it.
• When the cake is ready, cool the pan slightly and wipe with a dry cloth. This will remove excess fat and lumps of dough. If you don’t do this, the next cake may burn.

Ingredients:

For the cakes:

• 2.5 cups wheat flour
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 3 tablespoons butter
• 3 eggs
• Half a teaspoon of slaked soda

For cream:

• 1 liter of milk
• 3 eggs
• 2 tablespoons flour
• 1 cup of sugar
• 100 grams of butter
• Vanilla to taste

Preparation progress:

1. Let's start with the test. Beat eggs with sugar in a container, then add slightly melted soft butter, slaked soda and flour. Mix everything thoroughly so that there are no lumps - they will make the dough rougher.
2. Cover the bowl with the dough with cling film or a clean cloth and leave for half an hour. This is a great time to make the cream.
3. Take eggs and mash with sugar. Add flour and pour room temperature milk over it all.
4. Place the mixture on the fire and bring to a boil, making sure to stir. Add vanilla and remove from heat, let cool.
5. Add butter to the cream and stir it in with a whisk.
6. The dough has settled. Divide it into 14 equal pieces, roll it out thinly and bake in a pan. Fry the cakes very quickly - just a few minutes on each side.
7. Place each cake on a plate or board for the finished cake, brushing it with cream.
8. The top cake and walls should also be coated with cream and decorated at your discretion: with grated chocolate, crushed cake crumbs, cookies, nuts or even fruit.

Bon appetit!

Molds for decorating cakes

Silicone molds are a unique way to beautifully and originally design “Napoleon”. The name itself speaks for itself. After all, a mold is a form into which edible mastic is placed to obtain a 3D figure. Today, there are dozens of different silicone models that allow you to create inscriptions, faces, and anthropomorphic figures. It all depends on desire and imagination.

Helpful tip: making mastic at home is easy. It is enough to use powdered sugar, powdered and condensed milk. All ingredients are kneaded until a homogeneous dough-like mass is obtained. Using an ordinary rolling pin and a sharp knife, you can make creative icing and create incredible shapes.

The main feature of mastic is that it is like plasticine, only edible and absolutely safe. If desired, you can cut out flowers, create voluminous inscriptions and even depict small animals. And for those who are not ready to make mastic on their own, a confectionery store comes to the rescue, where they sell a dough-like mass of different colors.

Selection of pastry tools

Tired of plain cream and want to decorate your dessert in an original way? Then give preference to pastry tools that will allow you to decorate a cake as if you were a real ambassador of your business!

Types of tools:

• Bags and specialized nozzles. Pastry bags come in both disposable and reusable varieties. The second type can be washed repeatedly, they dry easily and do not require special treatment. The main feature of the bags is that you can use attachments with them that allow you to create patterns from the cream in 3D format. For example, you can decorate a dessert with simple drops or, conversely, make a huge rose with a bud and petals.

• Shovels and spatulas. If the first tool is used to mix creams and apply them to the surface, then spatulas allow them to be evenly distributed over the cake.
• Plates and molds for chocolate. Silicone heat-resistant plates that allow you to create a unique chocolate pattern. The operation of such a tool is easy. You just need to melt the cocoa product, pour it into the mold and let it cool until it hardens completely.

Napoleon is a favorite and popular dessert around the world. Perhaps, if in many restaurants the taste of the cake may be similar, but you will remember the appearance for a lifetime. This is why it is important to decorate the dessert, even if berries and powdered sugar are used.