Millefeuille - a simple recipe for a delicious cake

Preparation

Break the dark chocolate into smaller pieces and then melt it in a water bath.
Meanwhile, on sheets of parchment paper we will draw circles that will be 4-5 cm smaller in diameter than the diameter of the form in which we will assemble the Mille-feuille cake .
We grease the sheets of parchment paper with a thin layer of vegetable oil, after which we apply a thin layer of melted chocolate on them and place the sheets of parchment paper with chocolate in the freezer for 10 minutes. We apply chocolate to the sheet and fill the drawn circles with it, that is, the chocolate should not protrude beyond the line. This amount of chocolate yields approximately 6 chocolate discs.
After 10 minutes of setting the chocolate discs in the freezer, remove them from the freezer and carefully remove them from the parchment paper, then fold them one on top of the other, placing cling film between them, after which we send the folded chocolate discs back to the freezer.

"Millefeuille": how to prepare a French dessert at home

The mille-feuille dessert is a puff pastry with very rich cream, decorated with fresh fruit.

In its essence and preparation technology, it is very similar to our “Napoleon” and, strictly speaking, is not much different from it.

Equipment and kitchen appliances : a very sharp knife, a baking tray for baking dough, a container for preparing cream (preferably glass), a culinary syringe (optional for restaurant serving).

The word “millefeuille” is made up of two French words: “mille” (mile) - thousand and “feuille” - layers, sheets. Usually in cookbooks this combination is translated as “yarrow,” but personally I like “a thousand layers” better; in my opinion, this suits the cake better.

Preparing sponge cake for Mille feuille cake

Now we will bake a biscuit. Separate the whites from the yolks of 4 eggs.
Beat the separated yolks with 60 grams of sugar until slightly thickened.
Beat the whites with a pinch of salt into a stable foam, then add 40 grams of sugar to the whites and beat again to medium peaks.
Add starch, milk and flour to the beaten yolks, then mix everything thoroughly, then pour the whites into the yolk mixture and carefully mix everything with slow movements in one direction. We made dough for a sponge cake.
Carefully pour the dough into the mold, then place the mold with the dough in a preheated oven and bake the sponge cake until ready at 160°C.
The sponge cake is ready, remove the pan with the sponge cake from the oven and turn it upside down and place it on a wire rack or tray and let it cool slightly. This is done so that the sponge cake does not sag. Once the biscuit has cooled slightly, turn the pan with the cake over and remove the biscuit cake from the springform pan, let the cake cool completely.

Cooking process

First we'll make the cream. Place the saucepan on low heat, pour sugar into it and beat in 3 eggs. We also send the zest and juice of lemons, as well as oil. The cream must be constantly stirred to prevent lumps from forming. When it thickens, remove from heat and place in the refrigerator.
Take the dough and brush one sheet with egg white. Place the next one on it, brush it again with egg white and cover with the last sheet. Take any round shape, even a glass will do, and cut out cookies from the dough.
Place the frying pan on the heat, add ghee and fry the cookies on both sides for a few seconds until golden brown.
Take a serving plate, pour a couple of spoons of cream into the center and place one cookie on it. Place a few spoons of cream and berries on it again, cover with another cookie on top. We repeat the procedure again. That's it, dessert is ready.

Millefeuille cakes, the recipe for which we have just reviewed, will certainly delight all members of your family.

Mille-feuille // Puff pastry recipe // Baking with Dianatadi

Preparation of Italian meringue cream

Place a container on the stove into which we put 80 grams of sugar and pour 50 grams of water into the sugar, bring everything to a boil over low heat, stir constantly, boil the sugar syrup for 1 minute, let it cool slightly.
Meanwhile, separate the yolks from the whites of the remaining eggs. Beat the separated whites with a pinch of salt, lemon juice and 60 grams of sugar until medium peaks. Then pour the slightly cooled sugar syrup into the protein mixture in a thin stream, while continuing to beat the mixture. All the Italian meringue cream for the Mille-feuille cake is ready, set it aside.

Cooking process

The Millefeuille cake, the recipe for which is very simple, takes just over an hour to prepare.

The finished dough should be cut into 3 pieces measuring 20x30 cm.
Let's start preparing the cream, for which you need to mix milk and cream. Place the pan on low heat. In another bowl, thoroughly mix the egg, 3 yolks, 90 g of sugar and corn flour.
When you see the milk begin to boil, pour a third of the milk into the eggs, stirring constantly. After this, add the resulting mass to the remaining milk and continue stirring until the cream is brewed. Wrap it in film so that it touches the cream and put it in the refrigerator for an hour.
Now let's prepare the praline. Take a frying pan, pour 50 g of sugar into it and stir until it melts. Once this happens, add the nuts and stir until the caramel coats them completely. Be careful not to let the sugar turn brown as it will taste bitter. Then place the nuts on baking paper and let them cool. Then take a blender and turn them into powder.
The dough should be divided into 3 equal parts and baked at 170 degrees in the oven for half an hour. After this, take out the baking sheet and turn the cakes over so that excess air comes out, press them down with a towel. Place the cakes back in the oven for half an hour.
Let's return to the cream. In a bowl, beat butter, cognac and praline until smooth. Take out the cream that has been infused in the refrigerator and stir lightly. Now you need to carefully combine the two creams into one.
It's time to finish the Mille-feuille cake, the recipe for which was just reviewed. Coat the cakes one by one with cream, and then cut the dessert into portions, which should be sprinkled with powdered sugar before serving.

Preparing the tiramisu cream base

Beat the yolks with 180 grams of sugar, then place the whipped yolks and sugar in a water bath and continue beating until thickened, then set the egg mixture aside. The tiramisu cream base is ready.
Whip the cream, then put a third of the whipped cream in another container, and add cream cheese to it, mix gently until smooth, then add half of the Italian meringue cream and half of the tiramisu base cream to the mixture of whipped cream and cream cheese, mix everything gently until homogeneous consistency.

Millefeuille cake with strawberries

Kitchen appliances:

pan, stove, mixer, ladle, whisk, piece of cling film, several bowls, sheet of parchment paper, baking sheet, oven, wire rack, rolling pin, pastry bag, rectangular dish, knife.

Ingredients

Choosing products

Frozen food must be purchased at a retail outlet where optimal storage conditions are provided for it: a freezer with a stable temperature of 18° and an uninterrupted supply of electricity, eliminating defrosting.

We inspect the packaging and read the information on it:

ice crystals on the surface of the dough indicate that it has been re-frozen;
stains on the dough are most likely mold caused by non-compliance with storage standards;
the correct composition should include 5 ingredients: flour, salt, water, margarine and amplifier;
Shelf life is from 6 to 12 months, a longer period indicates the use of preservatives.
If fresh vanilla is not available, 1/2 teaspoon dried vanilla seeds or 3 ml of alcohol-based vanilla extract can be substituted, albeit with some loss of flavor. If you don't have cornstarch, double the amount of flour.
You don’t have to use frozen berries for decoration, but if possible, choose those that will contrast the red color of the strawberries - blueberries, blueberries, blackcurrants or blackberries.

Step-by-step preparation

Pour 500 ml of milk into a saucepan, add 100 g of sugar, stir and place on the stove.
Open the vanilla pod and take out the seeds. Add the seeds and leaves of the vanilla pod to the milk.
Divide 4 eggs into whites and yolks. We remove the whites - they are not used in the recipe. Place the yolks in a whipping container, mix with 100 g of sugar and beat until the mass becomes homogeneous and slightly increases in volume.
Add 30 g of flour and cornstarch to the yolks and mix with a mixer until smooth.
When the milk in the pan begins to boil, remove the vanilla beans from it. Pour 3-4 ladles of hot milk into the yolk mixture and mix thoroughly with a mixer.
Pour the liquid mixture into a saucepan with boiling milk and stir continuously with a whisk until the contents of the saucepan thicken. This will take about 2 minutes.
Transfer the finished custard into a cold bowl, add 100 g of butter and stir with a whisk until completely dissolved.
Cover the homogeneous shiny mass with a piece of cling film, pressing it to the surface of the cream so that a film does not form during the cooling process. Place the cream in a cool place.
Place 500 g of defrosted puff pastry on a table lined with baking paper. Roll it out into a layer 3 mm thick and cut into 3 strips about 10 cm wide.
We pierce each strip with a fork or knife over the entire area so that the cakes do not rise much during baking.
Place the baking sheet with the dough in an oven preheated to 200°-210° for 15-20 minutes.
Transfer the golden, well-baked cakes to a wire rack to cool evenly.
Pour 500 ml of chilled cream into the mixer bowl and add 25 g of powdered sugar. Whip the cream into thick foam.
Mix the cooled custard and add whipped cream into it in small portions, carefully mixing both masses with a whisk. Place the finished cream in a pastry bag.
Squeeze a little cream into the center of the rectangular dish to fix the bottom cake, and place the first piece of puff pastry.
Spread the cream generously over the entire surface of the cake in balls that fit tightly to each other.
Place strawberries on the cream layer, cutting large berries into several parts so that the cake does not turn out too high.
Cover the strawberry layer with the next layer of puff pastry and press lightly.
We plant balls of cream on the second cake layer and place strawberry pieces in the same way as on the previous one. Cover with the last plate, remembering to press it lightly.
We spread the cream on the top surface of the cake in the same way as on the lower layers, tightly packed with balls. Decorate with whole strawberries, 50-100 g of frozen berries of a contrasting color and leaves with 1-2 sprigs of mint. Sprinkle the berries with 3-5 g of powdered sugar. Millefeuille with berries is ready, you can start tasting.

Video recipe

Watch the video before you start preparing the Mille-feuille cake so that the procedure for completing the above recipe with photos is clearer and the time required is minimal.

How and with what to serve

Serve Mille-feuille as soon as the decorating process is completed. The many hours of soaking required for other cakes will only do harm in this case: the charm of the dessert lies in the combination of the delicate structure of the cream with berries and crispy dough. Cut the cake into pieces with a very sharp knife and serve with tea, coffee or any other hot drink.

To avoid the hassle of cutting the cake, prepare Millefeuille in the form of cakes. To do this, before baking, the dough must be divided into equal rectangles, their number must be a multiple of 3 - the standard number of cakes in this dessert.
Do not assemble the cake in advance, otherwise your dish will look like a Napoleon cake with a layer of fruit. You need to decorate it just before serving, this will take no more than 5 minutes.
When preparing cream for Mille-feuille, you can use another recipe, for example, from whipped cream with mascarpone, taken in equal quantities. Vanilla seeds must be added, and powdered sugar is optional.

Preparing coffee cream

Brew coffee in 160 ml of water and add 10 grams of sugar.
Add the rest of the tiramisu base cream to the container with most of the whipped cream and gently mix everything until smooth, then add 60 ml of brewed coffee and mix everything again, then add the rest of the Italian meringue cream to the coffee cream, mix everything well.
Let's start assembling the Mille-feuille cake . We take chocolate discs out of the freezer and coat them well with a layer of coffee cream, stack the coated chocolate discs on top of each other to form a cake. Place the formed chocolate cake in the freezer for 2 hours.
Trim the edges of the sponge cake by 5 centimeters, and place the trimmed sponge cake in the mold in which we will form the cake. We soak the sponge cake in the mold with the remaining coffee, after which we fill the gaps between the edge of the mold and the sponge cake with half of the butter cream, then cover the sponge cake itself with the same cream. Place the biscuit pans in the freezer for 2 hours.
After the time has passed, we take out the mold with the sponge cake from the freezer, and also take out the formed chocolate cake, which we carefully transfer into the mold and place it on the sponge cake greased with cream. Then fill the space between the chocolate discs and the mold with the remaining buttercream, and then cover the top of the chocolate discs.
We decorate the Millefeuille cake using a pastry bag filled with whipped cream; you can sprinkle the cake with finely grated chocolate on top. Place the form with Mille-feuille cake

Lemon cake

The dish is designed for 2 servings. The Millefeuille cake, the recipe for which we will now look at, takes only half an hour to prepare. For it you will need the following ingredients: 3 whole eggs and 2 whites, juice and zest from 2 lemons, a glass of sugar, 7 tablespoons of butter, 3 tablespoons of melted butter, a package of puff pastry, 7 tablespoons of powdered sugar and a glass of your favorite berries