Guys, are you always happy to bake, regardless the reason? You finally told your boss that you need a salary raise? Let’s celebrate that with some cake. You passed the Statistics exam after the third try? Cake it is. It is just a regular Sunday, nothing special? Well, of course we want to have the German “Kaffee und Kuchen” (coffee and cake), so I need to bake a cake. In my opinion there is always a reason to celebrate, a reason to bake some cake. Today’s reason is pretty big, I am celebrating my third anniversay of the bike accident with no permanent damage.
Warning, this cake requires a lot of work! Especially the cake layers take there time as you will need to make 12 cake layers in total and usually can only bake two at the same time. But if you are up for the challenge, you will get a delicious and impressive cake, which is made with quick puff pastry and a decadent caramel cream very similar to dulce de leche. This Russian cake was invented for the 100th anniversiary celebrating the “victory” over Napoleon when he tried to conquer Russia 1812. What once started as a smaller triangle to represent Napoleon’s hat, changed to a traditional cake and is known throughout the world as one of Russia’s finest cakes. I had the pleasure of eating it during several Russian-German weddings where it is traditionally served.
Even though you “only” need to make two components, beware, this cake requires quite a bit of work. You will need to make quick puff pastry and roll out 12 (!) cake layers, which all need to be baked. After that you will need to make the cream and spread it on each of those cake layers. Since puff pastry is rather stiff, I highly recommend allowing the cake to chill overnight for the cream to soften and marinate the cake layers. So this cake can and should be made in advance. There are two different creams commonly used for Napoleon torte, the one with dulce de leche below or one, which is similar to a custard-based buttercream. If you prefer this type of cream, feel free to use the one from this recipe.
This Russian Napoleon Torte is made with quick puff pastry and filled with a caramel-like cream. For the dough mix together water, vodka, vinegar and eggs and set asode. Then look for a big (!) bowl and mix together flour and salt. Add the cold butter in cubes and work this mixture into crumbs the size of peas. Try to do this as quickly as possible. Now add the wet ingredients and work everything together, it is OK if you still see a few patches here and there. The dough will be sticky, but try not to add any futher flour. Form into a ball, cover and chill for at least one hour. Then divide this into 12 equal parts (I like to weigh each one to be sure they are the same). Put back 10 pieces into the fridge and only keep 2 to work on. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius and line two baking sheets with parchment paper. First form a small ball and then roll out into a circle on a floured surface. Using a plate, springform or similar, look for something with a diameter of 20cm. Place the rolled-out dough onto the baking sheet and cut out the circle on there. Do not discard the scraps, but leave them on there. Repeaht the procedure with the second piece of dough, rolling out, placing on the baking sheet and then cutting out the circle, but leaving the scraps on. Bake these two circles for about 10-11min, it is OK if they are barely golden. Let cool. While the two circles are baking, continue with two more pieces. Repeat the process with all 12 pieces, you should have 12 baked circles and scraps at the end, let everything cool. If you want to, you can continue the next day. Cover tightly or freeze until further use. For the cream beat the soft butter for about 7-10 minutes until fluffy and much lighter in color. Slowly add the dulce de leche by the spoonful. Only cream in cream cheese, vanilla extract and salt last and mix until combined. Now take one bake circle as the bottom and evenly spread about two heaping tablespoons of the cream on it. Place a second circle on top and repeat this procedure until you have stacked the 12 circles, each time with cream in between. You still should have enough cream left to frost the outside of the cake. Now either create crumbs with the sraps using a zip-lock bag and a rolling pin to smash them, or a food processor. Pat these crumbs onto the top and sides of the cake. You should do this as long as the cream still is soft as it will serve as a glue. Once done, chill at least for one night or longer. This time is needed for the cake layers to soften and for the cream to marinate the quick puff pastry. Otherwise it is going to be hard to cut through. I served the Napoleon cake with some frozen raspberries, which I cooked with some sugar to create a sauce, but kindly note that this is not traditional for Napoleon. However, all my test eaters prefered it with it.
Russian Napoleon Torte
Ingredients
Instructions
Have you ever tried the combo apricot with rosemary? My apricot rosemary jam became so popular that I decided to invent a cake with this flavor combination. I find that it is perfect in summer, it has this fresh taste to it and feels light and fluffy. So here you go, here you get a very light sponge cake, which is filled with an apricot cream and topped off with some caramelized apricots. Yum, so good!
Guys, we need to celebrate! We need to celebrate as we managed to move within the city of Munich, we need to celebrate as it has been three years since my horrible bike accident and I don’t have any permanent damage. We all need to celebrate as during COVID19 we need to hold on to special moments and celebrate life. In this monochromatic time when working from home means that every day looks exactly the same, we need to put time aside to enjoy the moment. For that reason I brought a fruity and moist Piña Colada cake to the party. It contains some coconut sponges, which are filled with pineapple filliing and is then frosted with a coconut yoghurt cream. Of course it is also soaked in some rum. In my opinion this is the perfect cake if you wish to celebrate.
I have a super delicious strawberry stracciatella cake for you for Mother’s day! I won’t deny it, this cake is quite a bit of work, but in my opinion that’s OK for showing your gratitude for your mom. The base is a vanilla sponge cake, which is then filled with a strawberry stracciatella filling and topped off with a Swiss meringue buttercream. I decided to brush the cake layers with some coffee to keep it moist. Also, before we fill the cake, we are going to spread some strawberry jam on each cake layer. This all will help for the cake to stay moist even on the third and fourth day and also gives you the chance to prepare it in advance.
My ten favorite layer cakes, today I am going to introduce them to you! I have to spill a few secrets today, one of them is that you make me so happy! Just looking at the reader’s favorite recipes from 2019 and 2020, I am astonished that so many layer cakes made it to the top. You know, a layer cake usually means several different components. A layer cake means quite a bit of work. This is not like a simple cookie, layer cakes will take time. Yes, and I have also learned a thing or two along the way. Did you know that I didn’t dare to cut a cake into more than two layers? The cake layers were so crooked, it was aweful. Until I learned that you don’t cut through immediately, but you will go around just about a centimeter or so and slowly work your way through. That’s how you get even cake layers! Yes, I have also failed, cakes didn’t turn out or melted away, but regardless, I love making cakes. You apparently, too, at least you seem to really make a lot of them.
And let me spill another secret. I have been making my own birthday cake for years. Each time I am like, OK, I don’t care what people want or which recipes may go viral, I will simply invent a cake I like and which is something for MY tastebuds. And then I sit down and invent a recipe I like. Since I am chocoholic many of my cakes will have some chocolate part. Interestingly enough, many of these layers cakes I made not caring about readers’s interest or whether this was something worth posting, have made it to the top ten. I am beyond happy that you seem to have a very similar taste. I mean, maybe I should only post cakes I like and then somehow they will make it to the top. That makes me so happy! But now let’s get down to business, below you will see MY favorite layer cakes. Don’t ask me how long I had to think about which ten to include, there are simply so many…
Are you looking for inspiration for Easter? I’ve got you covered. Below you will find lots of recipes either for brunch or breakfast, but also if you wish to serve some special cupcakes or treats or even a cake. Check the links below the pictures, I always start from left to right. You will find all recipes from the featured picture in this blog post.
Breakfast or Brunch
Traditional braided bread from Germany
Waffle cake with rhubarb and strawberries
Sourdough pancakes with blueberry sauce,
Thick Belgian waffles with caramelized bananas,
Broken-up pancakes with rhubarb compote
Cupcakes and Cookies
(Fancy) Cakes
If you can’t decide whether you want a cookie or a cake, this chocolate chip cake is for you! It combines the flavors of a chocolate chip cookie with a cake and a glas of milk. My hubby ate it very happily and confirmed that this had been by far his favorite cake in a long time. Since he got so excited about it, I decided to publish it as a possible “Valentine’s cake”, even though it most definitely is not the most common Valentine’s cake. No red hearts, no kitsch, but if hubby is happy, who cares? By the way, I love all the combos of cookie/cake. I also have a gigantic cookie in a pan with the cookie monster on top or this cookie cake with peanut butter frosting.
Today you will get the ultimate chocolate cake with creamy chocolate mousse filling and chocolate ganache! If this is not something for dark days in November, I don’t know what is. I believe there is a reason why the most loved, baked, and clicked recipe on my site are these brownie cookies. I originally posted that recipe in November while living in Hamburg, which is known to be dark in winter. So here we come again with yet another chocolate recipe to cheer you up. As a chocoholic I have a full category dedicated to chocolate of course, feel free to check it out.

How does a chocolate cake as base, lot of bananas, and a stracciatella cream sound to you? For good measure I also included some crunchy banana chips and an elegant chocolate drip. For this cake to look as beautiful as it tastes. My friends, let me introduce you to this banana chocolate cake! Who would like a slice?