Me & Napolean….
I am as big as a house already and my lovely students still get me more cakes/pastries….they are like Rinpoche “You have to watch your health” and then they turn around and get me cakes….eeeeeeeeeeeeeeevil or what???hehehehe…
This is a Napoleon cake and my favorite cake in the whole world. It’s layer cream cake and it’s fabulous with a cup of milk tea. Cannot find this anywhere in Malaysia…Recently the Kechara Care dept under Suming went to Singapore for a day trip for Kechara work..so they stop by a bakery in Takashimaya on Orchard…and brought this back…I was like THANK YOU.
When I was in the States I loved this and in India, there was one bakery in Connaught Circle, Delhi that sold this and it was good….But I was only able to find it in Delhi and Singapore and nowhere else…Andrew at the Ladrang Dept said he will try to replicate this by finding it on the net for the recipe…hurry please!!!!
Well, the Kechara Care group brought back five pieces…one went on the shrine for the Buddhas, one went to the ladrang kitchen division for them to try, one for Sengpiow and one is in my stomach…hehehehee..the last one is in the fridge still…
Tsem Rinpoche
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This is so funny yet so cute. The fact that they tell Rinpoche to take care of his health, ended up buying cake for Rinpoche it just to funny. The photo of the cake makes me drool. Thank you, Rinpoche for sharing this with us
HEHEHE! Rinpoche sure is funny, I love Rinpoche’s sense of humor very much and Rinpoche’s lovely students sure is evil. The cake looked like is tasted very nice and I have never seen one of those cakes before. I hope that Rinpoche enjoyed Rinpoche’s cake very much.
Yummy, I tried a slice of Napolean cake and it was heavenly. I think Levi does make an exceptional version of Napoleon cake a few weeks back. I still think that it is possible to get this cake here. Perhaps, we have not look at the good bakers yet. Anyway, Singapore ain’t that far and I know exactly where to get it when I am in Singapore – a japanese baker in the food court of Takashimaya. The last time I was down in Singapore last year, I did manage to get a few slices for Rinpoche as well.
The closest place I know to get Napoleon in Malaysia would be Tom’s in Sarawak. Haha. I love Napoleon cake too. Forgot how I ate it or when but I know I love it. Does Rinpoche want me to bake some? I would love to bake some Napoleon cake for Rinpoche 😀
The frist paragraph is similar to how life works. We want to do something good but temptation continually arises.
I tried a prototype of this from Ladrang, gulppppppppp, sinful……….
A nice receipe for Andrew to try out. Yum yum.
http://www.azcookbook.com/cake-napoleon/
CAKE NAPOLEON
For the Dough:
7 oz (200 g) cold unsalted butter, cut into chunks
4 cup all-purpose flour
1 egg
1 cup sour cream
For the Cream:
3 eggs
1 1/2 cup sugar
6 tablespoons flour or cornstarch
4 cups milk
7 oz (200 g) unsalted butter
Note: The cream can be prepared a day in advance and stored in the refrigerator until needed.
First, prepare the cream. In a medium mixing bowl, beat the eggs with sugar, until pale. Pour the mixture into a medium saucepan. Add the milk and flour. Stir vigorously with a balloon whisk to break the lumps. Turn the heat to medium to high. Cook the mixture, stirring constantly until the mixture thickens, 6-7 minutes. Remove from the heat. Let cool about 10 minutes. Add the butter and beat with a mixer until the ingredients are well blended and the mixture is smooth and creamy. Cover the cream with a plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator.
Meanwhile, prepare the dough. Put the flour in a large mixing bowl. Add the butter and, using either a fork, or a knife (or pastry blender, if available), or your fingers, cut in the butter until you obtain large pea-size crumbs.
In a separate bowl combine the egg and sour cream and stir to mix. Make a well in the center of the flour-butter mixture. Pour the egg-sour cream mixture into the hole. Toss with your hand until the dough comes together in a mass. It should be gentle to touch. If the dough is still sticky, add a little more flour.
Divide the dough into 7 equal parts (you can divide into more if you think you can roll them into super thin layers later. 7 layers works fine for me), forming each one into a disk. Wrap each disk in a plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator for 2 hours.
Once the dough has chilled, you can bake the layers. Remove the dough from the refrigerator.
Preheat the dough to 400F (200C).
Work with on dough ball at a time and keep the others covered. Using a rolling pin roll one ball into a very thin 11-inch square (you can roll into a rectangular too, depending on the size and shape of your baking sheet). Carefully transfer the square onto an ungreased baking sheet. If needed, stretch to fit it properly and close any tears by pressing onto the dough. Pierce the dough randomly in 3-4 places. This will prevent the blisters from forming, although they will still form but in smaller numbers (Do not worry. We will take care of them when you assemble the cake).
Bake each layer on the middle rack of the oven until light golden, 6-8 minutes. Watch closely not to overbake. A baked layer will look like patches of white and light brown, and this is exactly what you want to achieve. Carefully lift the baked layer off the pan. Take care not to break – the layers are extra fragile. Do not worry if you slightly overbake or accidentally break one layer – you will need one layer for the crumbs anyway, so the not-so-perfect layer can do that job. Continue with the remaining dough balls, stacking the layers on top of each other as they bake.
Once you have finished baking all the layers, you can assemble the cake. Pick one layer that is not perfect – damaged or slightly overbaked – and grate it to obtain fine crumbles. Reserve. Now, place one layer onto a tray, wide enough to fit the cake. If there are blisters, poke them gently with a fork to break. Do not worry if the layers crack as you assemble them. Spread a generous amount of cream on it ( Be extra generous with cream around the edges of each layer as they are the hardest to absorb the creamand soften). Put another layer on top and spread some cream all over.
Continue in this manner until you have used all the layers. Sprinkle the top of the cake generously with the crumbs. If the sides of your cake are not perfect, do not coat them with crumbs now – reserve some to do it when the cake is moist and you can trim the edges with a knife. If you were able to get perfect edges, press the crumbs on the sides of the cake now. Or, just leave them as is, without crumbs.
Your assembled cake will look like a rock-hard inedible mess now. Do not panic, as the cake is not ready to eat at this stage yet. Allow it to rest at room temperature for at least 7-8 hours, or best, overnight. The layers will absorb the cream and the cake will be soft. The next day cut the cake into pieces and enjoy!
Dearest Rinpoche,
Thank You so much for sharing with us! The Napolean cake looks Yum…Yum…!!
I am very happy to hear that, Andrew from ladrang is looking into the recipe! Eventually, Andrew and his crews in ladrang’s kitchen are able to bake THE BEST NAPOLEAN CAKE IN TOWN for Rinpoche….!
Dear everyone, I would like to share with you guys, two weeks ago a few of us were invited by Tsem Ladrang for dinner together with some of VIP friends. I was surprised, Tsem Ladrang’s Kitchen, Andrew, chief chef Justin R and crews, THEY SERVED AND BAKED THE BEST VEGETARIAN FOOD IN TOWN…! The atmosphere and the food served in Tsem Ladrang are much better than any seven star hotels in town!! Fantastic! Thanks to you Andrew and the crews.
Love, angel
Before reading what the contents of the title means I had this picture of Napolean being short and fat and Rinpoche being tall and heavy set. I didn’t realise it was a cake. So blur and ignorant. Your students love you so much that because they practice Guru Devotion that they have bought and offer you the best you like Napolean cake which is your favourite. On the other hand they also worry about your diet and health. Your students in Ladrang are looking in the internet to search for recipes. Once they find it maybe Ladrang kitchen can find a way to put ingredients that are not threathening to your health but taste just the same. Like what vegetarians are doing now.
Dear Rinpoche,
I have discovered that another name for the Napolean cake is Mille-feuille. They do have Mille Feuille in KL. But I would not know if they are as good as the ones Rinpoche had in USA and India.
Traditionally, a Mille-feuille is made up of three layers of puff pastry, alternating with two layers of cream pâtissière, but sometimes whipped cream, or jam. The top is usually glazed with icing or fondant in alternating white (icing) and brown (chocolate) strips, and combed.
Yes, I am a big fan of Mille-Feuille. The other favourite of mine is Sans Rival. It is sinfully delicious! That is my absolute favourite cake in the whole world. It is also layered with french butter cream and topped with chopped cashews. Divine!
That first paragraph is so funny. The cake looks quite tasty and well made.
The students are concerned for Rinpoche’s health but can’t stop offering nice looking, fattening foods either… Paradox!