Cottage cheese Napoleon or how to diversify desserts
You can't surprise anyone with a classic Napoleon cake these days, but in our age of changing habits and preferences, people are returning to the classics to build on them and create something new, unusual, healthy, and even more delicious. The curd Napoleon cake perfectly meets these requirements, as this cake is essentially a mix of a classic dessert with a twist, including cottage cheese, which makes it even healthier due to the calcium it contains. The recipe for this Napoleon cake is very similar to the classic one, and is prepared in almost the same way.
Curd Napoleon
Ingredients:
- Cottage cheese – 300 g (medium fat).
- Eggs – 4 pcs.
- Sugar – 230g.
- Flour – 450 gr.
- Baking powder – 1 heaped teaspoon.
- Salt - 1/5 teaspoon.
Ingredients for the cream:
- Eggs – 3 pcs.
- Milk – 500 ml.
- Sugar – 160g.
- Starch – 2 tablespoons (preferably corn).
- Vanillin - 3 teaspoons.
- Curd cheese – 350 gr.
- Butter – 150 gr.
Cooking process
Recipe for cakes:
- Beat the cottage cheese with a blender until it forms a smooth, soft mass.
- In a bowl, beat the eggs and sugar until they form a medium-thick foam. Gradually add the cottage cheese and salt to the egg mixture, whisking constantly.
- Once the mixture is smooth, add the baking powder and begin mixing in the flour, paying attention to the consistency of the dough. You may need slightly less dough than the recipe calls for, depending on the type of cottage cheese you're using. The dough shouldn't be sticky; stop adding flour when it's almost no longer sticky.
- Form the dough into a ball, place it in a plastic bag, and refrigerate for 30-40 minutes. In the meantime, take a break and check the recipe again.
- Five minutes before removing the dough, preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Remove the baking sheet and line it with parchment paper.
- Remove the dough from the bag, roll it into a thick sausage, and divide it into 9 pieces. Let's begin preparing the cake base.
- Roll each piece into a circle as thinly as possible, about 1 mm thick. While you're rolling one piece, keep the others covered with a towel to prevent them from drying out.
- Bake each cake in the oven for 5-7 minutes, until lightly golden. After removing the cake from the oven, first trim it around the perimeter of the circle or shape you've chosen. Place the trimmings in a bowl for later use.
- Once all the cake layers are baked, set them aside to cool. Grind the scraps in a blender into coarse crumbs.
Cream recipe:
- Break the eggs into a bowl. Add the starch and sugar and mix thoroughly.
- Pour the milk into a saucepan (preferably with a thick bottom) and bring it to a boil, then reduce the heat to low. Stirring vigorously, slowly pour in the egg-starch mixture. Once the mixture has been fully incorporated, continue stirring vigorously and cook for another 5-8 minutes, until the cream thickens.
- Once the cream has reached the desired consistency, turn off the heat and move the pan to a cool place. Cover the cream with plastic wrap, making sure it touches the entire surface to prevent it from drying out. Cool to room temperature.
- Beat the cream cheese with the softened butter, gradually adding the vanilla. Once the mixture is smooth, gradually add the cooled cream, continuing to beat at low speed.
Design:
- We spread each cake layer with cream, and also spread it on the sides of our curd Napoleon cake so that the cake turns out even.
- Then we sprinkle the sides and top of the cake with the same crumbs from the cake layers that we ground in the blender.
- Now all that's left to do is put the Napoleon in the refrigerator for a few hours (the longer the better, ideally 8 hours) so that the cake is properly soaked.
This recipe is indeed easier to make than the classic Napoleon cake. However, since both the cake layer and the cream are made with cottage cheese, this cake turns out especially tender and literally melts in your mouth!
If desired, you can garnish the Napoleon cheesecake with walnuts, finely chopped chocolate, or fresh berries and fruit. And, of course, this recipe can be customized to suit your tastes and preferences. Go ahead, try it, get creative, and enjoy the results!
