What is Napoleon cake?

Puff pastry and cream, and the proportion is the point: a Napoleon is mostly cream, held in shape by many more pastry layers than a French slice would use. Ours is built with a Diplomat cream — pastry cream lightened with whipped cream.

Each layer is rolled and baked separately, trimmed to size, then stacked with cream between every one. The trimmings are crushed and scattered over the top and sides, which is where the pale, crumbly crust comes from.

Because it is meant to be. A freshly stacked Napoleon is crisp and almost impossible to cut cleanly; left to stand, the cream moves into the pastry and the whole stack settles into layers that give under a fork.

That waiting is part of making it, not a sign it has gone stale, and it is the main difference between this cake and a mille-feuille eaten within the hour of assembly. We build the resting time into the order, so the cake arrives at the right point.

All three are the same architecture — many thin layers with cream — built from different sheets.

• Napoleon is puff pastry: buttery, flaky before it rests, mild once it has.
• Medovik is honey dough: darker, with the caramel note honey gives when baked.
• Spartak is the chocolate version of medovik.

If you like a cake that tastes of butter more than of sugar, Napoleon is the one. The three, and what is in each, are in the table below.

Ours starts at £100 and comes in three sizes; the table above gives the price each one starts at. Send the size and the date through the enquiry form and the price comes back within a day.

Our usual notice is 7–10 days, or at least 14 for two tiers, the same as for any cake we bake to order, and the table below sets it out for everything else. Delivery across Berkshire starts at £30, and collection from our Bracknell studio is free.