A Celebratory Cake

I write this in the midst of the novel coronavirus pandemic that some here are likening to World War III. The difference is that now it’s not different alliances fighting against one other, but the whole world fighting against a virus. In a situation when even tomorrow seems unclear, it may be difficult to find reasons to celebrate. And yet there are.

This May, the world celebrates the 75th anniversary of the end of World War II. And since we are all cooped up in our homes with nowhere to go, with lots of time on our hands, we share a festive Napoleon Cake that was often served in Soviet families for big holidays, such as birthdays, anniversaries, or New Year’s. And it is plenty complex to offer lots of stress baking relief.

I received the recipe from my mother and she received it from her mother-in-law, my grandmother, who had every reason to celebrate Victory Day in 1945.

My grandmother was not quite 17 when the war began in 1941, still a high school student and living in Moscow. Evacuated with her family to the industrial town of Magnitogorsk, she and a friend, without telling her parents, decided to enlist in the army. Her friend had her enlistment overturned after her parents paid a bribe, but my grandmother was sent to Sverdlovsk (now Yekaterinburg), where she completed training at the School of Small Unit Leaders.

While she was never sent to the front, she served in the army throughout the war, and, as a sergeant, headed a unit that guarded Sverdlovsk heavy munitions plants. She was discharged as a staff sergeant, then returned to Moscow to complete her high school studies at a night school.

Thankfully for me, just a few months after her return to the capital she was swept off her feet with a marriage proposal, and she and my grandfather left the city to live in Siberia. It’s funny, but I don’t remember her making this cake, but I did watch my mother make it many times, and it was always a special affair.

The Napoleon is by no means unique to Russia. It is known in France and Italy as millefeuille (thousand layers) and in England as vanilla slice or cream slice. There are different theories regarding the provenance of the recipe, but, for the sake of the story, let’s go with the one that dates it to 1912, when Russia celebrated the 100th anniversary of Napoleon’s defeat. The flaky pastry was served in the form of triangles that were supposed to remind one of Napoleon’s tricorn hat.

Whatever the backstory, the cake became popular, and while the essence remains the same, different versions abound, most of them passed, as was mine, from mother to daughter.

Napoleon Cake

CAKE

2½ cups flour
6 ounces (1½ sticks) refrigerator cold butter
1 egg
1 tbsp of vinegar and ½ tsp of salt
½ cup cold water

CREAM

3 eggs
¾ cup sugar
5 tbsp flour
4 cups milk

Grate the ice-cold butter into the flour and use your hands to rub the butter into the flour until it resembles a coarse sand.

Once you have a uniform mixture of butter and flour, make a deep well in the mixture, pour in the salt, vinegar and egg, and start slowly adding the water, mixing the dough as you do.

After that is done, you should have a nice, pliable dough that is not too sticky. Divide the dough into equal parts (seven large parts and one small part for topping). Wrap each part in plastic wrap, and put in the refrigerator for an hour.

In the meantime, make the pastry cream. Beat the eggs together with the sugar until foamy. Then add the flour and mix well. Heat the milk in a thick saucepan to about 100 degrees, then slowly add in the egg mixture, and continue to cook slowly while constantly stirring. When bubbles start forming on the surface, remove the pan from the heat and allow the cream to cool. It will have the texture of runny pudding.

Heat the oven to 400º F. Remove a single piece of dough from the refrigerator and roll it out on a floured surface to make a rectangle (don’t worry about uneven edges, you’ll trim the cake’s sides to be even once the dessert is assembled). Pierce (“dock”) the dough with a fork 15-20 times (this helps it stay flat) and bake for about 10 minutes, watching closely after 5-7 minutes (you may also flip the layers over on their trays toward the end of their time to ensure even cooking. While the layer bakes, prepare the next one. Don’t rush. Just prepare and cook the layers one at a time. Victory takes patience and persistence. When you take the layers from the oven, allow each one to cool completely.

Assembling the cake: spread the cream liberally on the layers and stack them one by one. It’s best to use something tart (like buckthorn or cherry plum jam) on one of the central layers, to give the cake a little oomph.

Take the smallest layer and roll over it with a rolling pin to create crumbs. Scatter these on top of the cream on the top layer. Let the cake stand overnight in the refrigerator so that the layers can soak in the cream. The next morning, trim the uneven edges to give the cake a nicer appearance. Cut into squares or triangles and enjoy.