Napoleon cake with passion friut and lemon praline cream

This delicious cake originated in France but i have especially adapted it to suit New Zealand tastes and conditions. The original Napoleon cake had a lot of pastry cream and no fruit at all. However I use cheese cream icing and butter in my cream plus large amount of fresh passion fruit and lemon.These changes have made the cake much lighter and more manageable and they give it an attractive yellow and brown appearance.

The general concensus among the food history books is that napoleons, a popular flaky pastry dessert, were not named for french famous emperor Napoleon. The name is thought to be a corruption of the word "Napolitain," referring to a pastry made in the tradition of Naples, Italy.

Puff pastry 

Sift the flour onto the cold cubes of butter. Using a pastry scraper or a large chef's knife, cut the butter into the flour. Work until you have a crumbly mixture. Flatten any large chunks of butter with just your fingertips. Add the ice-cold water, white vinegar, melted unsalted butter and salt a little at a time to loosely bind the dough. Mix the dough with the pastry scraper until it just hangs together. Shape the dough into a rough rectangle and roll it out until it's 1/2 inch thick.

Use the pastry scraper to fold the dough in thirds like a business letter. Don't worry if it folds in pieces. Turn the package of dough 90 degrees so the folds run vertically. Square off the edges of the dough as you work. Roll the dough into a rectangle that's 1/2 inch thick, always rolling from open end to open end. Continue rolling, folding, and turning until the dough looks smooth. By four or five "turns," the dough should hang together well. For even more layers, fold the smooth dough up like a book. Wrap the dough and chill it for half an hour before giving it two final turns.

Heat the oven to 375°F. Lightly grease 2 baking sheets. Unfold the pastry sheet on a lightly floured surface. Roll the pastry and cut into circle. Place the pastries onto the baking sheets and put in fridge for 15-20 minutes. Brush the pastries with the egg and sprinkle with the sugar.
Bake for 10 minutes or until the pastries are golden brown. Remove the pastries from the baking sheets and let cool on wire racks. Split each pastry into 3 layers.

Passion fruit and Lemon Praline Cream 

Stir together 1 cup sugar, lemon juice and the pulp of Passion fruit  in a saucepan over medium heat, and cook, tilting pan to melt sugar evenly and stirring occasionally, until sugar melts and turns a light golden color. Stir in butter.

Whisk together remaining 1 cup sugar, egg yolks, milk, and flour in a heavy saucepan; bring just to a simmer over medium heat, whisking constantly.

Add sugar mixture to milk mixture immediately, and cook, whisking constantly, for 5 to 7 minutes or until it has a pudding-like thickness.

Assemble

Spread the cake layers with a layers of cream. Frost the top and sides of the cake. Crumble the remaining pastry layer on the top. Refrigerate for 5 to 6 hours. Can garnish the cake with icing sugar, cashew nuts and can decorate with apple roses.

If you have tried this recipe, please tell me what you think