Napoleans

On Tuesday, we made Napoleans in my Laminated Doughs class. Napoleans are one of the most traditional French pastries. It has three components - puff pastry, diplomat cream, and flat icing.

To make the puff pastry, we docked the dough (this is the process of putting holes into it) and baked it between two sheet pans. For this pastry, the dough must baked thin and this process is how we achieved this. We then cut the dough into three equal 4 in x 12 in pieces.

To prepare diplomat cream, we made pastry cream and whipped cream, and combined them together. The diplomat cream is layered between the layers of puff pastry, then the whole piece is put into the freezer to set up. After it sets, flat icing is placed on top and then chocolate flat icing is piped onto that, then a paring knife is used to get the appropriate design. Flat icing is strictly confectioner's sugar with milk, and the chocolate is made using cocoa powder. This is then put into the freezer to again set up before being sliced into pieces.

Here's what the end result looks like:



And here is Chef's final presentation of his product: