Rhubarb Napoleon Cake

Layers of flaky puff pastry, orange and vanilla bean yogurt pastry cream, and tart rhubarb compote make up this simple Rhubarb Napoleon Cake.

Prep Time30

Cook Time45

Chilling8

Total Time9 15

Course: Afternoon Kaffee, Dessert

Cuisine: German, Russian

Keyword: puff pastry, rhubarb, yogurt pastry cream

Servings:

Calories: 523kcal

750 grams rhubarb
35 grams granulated sugar add more to taste depending on the season of the rhubarb!
1 orange juiced

Rinse and chop the ends off of the rhubarb stalks. Chop the rhubarb into 1″ chunks and add them into a medium pot.
Pour in the sugar and then add in the orange juice.
Place over medium low heat and cover with a lid. Cook covered for about 5 minutes or until the mixture starts to bubble. The lid on will keep the rhubarb from burning.
Once it starts to bubble, remove the lid and continue to cook, for about 10 minutes until you are left with a thick syrupy type of sauce.
Pour the compote into a large shallow bowl and leave to cool to room temperature. Use same day or store covered in the fridge until you’re ready to use it.

In a large pot, whisk together the corn starch, salt, and sugar.
Pour in the milk and whisk to combine. Add in the egg yolks, orange zest, and vanilla bean paste, and whisk once more.
Place the pot over medium low heat and whisk constantly scraping the bottom and edges of the pot. It will feel like it’s taking a while but all of a sudden it’ll get really thick so don’t stop whisking.
Once thick, remove the pot from the heat and pour through a fine mesh sieve into a heat safe mixing bowl.Whisk in the greek yogurt.
Cover the surface with a layer of plastic wrap to prevent a skin from forming.
To cool it down faster you can always spread it on a quarter sized baking sheet and cover the surface with plastic wrap.
If making it in advance, store it in the fridge. Otherwise you can leave it at room temperature until assembling.

Preheat the oven to 400 F and place a rack in the center of the oven.
Working with one sheet of pastry at a time, sprinkle the top of the sheet with 1 teaspoon of granulated sugar. Use a rolling pin to roll over the pastry and press the sugar in. Use flour as needed to keep the other side of pastry from sticking to your work surface.
The pastry sheets should be close to 12" x 17" once rolled out. Different puff pastry brands will have different sizes but just make sure you have the area of two 12" x 17" rectangles before baking.
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and lay the pastry on top. Prick the surface all over with a fork.
Bake the pastry for about 15 minutes, then rotate the baking sheet 180 degrees and bake for another 10 minutes until golden brown and flaky.
Remove the baking sheet from the oven. If puffy, immediately flatten the layers by pressing the air out with a metal spatula and leave the pastry to cool completely.
Repeat these steps with the second sheet of pastry.
Once completely cooled, use a 6" cake pan or circle of some sort to cut a total of 5 circles. I can usually only get 2 whole circles from each sheet of pastry and then cut half a circle from each sheet which can be used for the 5th circle. Save your scraps of pastry without a cover on a baking sheet at room temperature until the next day!

Place a piece of parchment paper on a large plate or 1/4 sized baking sheet. Lay one of the whole circles of pastry onto the parchment. Place the cake ring around the pastry and tighten to hug the pastry round.
Top it with just over 1/2 a cup of the yogurt pastry cream and smooth it into an even layer.
Carefully spoon or pipe about 1/5th of the rhubarb over the pastry cream. It just needs to be enough to create a thin even layer.
Lay another round of pastry on top.
Repeat with layering the cream, then rhubarb, then pastry until all layers of pastry have been used. Finish it off with a layer of cream and then rhubarb. Lay a sheet of plastic wrap over the surface and place it in the fridge overnight.
The next day, remove the plastic wrap and cake ring. Crumble the scraps of pastry into a bowl and then sprinkle them into a complete layer over the surface of the rhubarb and cream.
To serve, slice through use a sharp knife to it into 8-12 slices.
Store leftovers, uncovered in the fridge.

Tips for making a Rhubarb Napoleon

If you don’t have access to rhubarb I recommend cooking down a mixture of peaches and raspberries. White peaches are ideal and start with about half the sugar. Alternatively using just raspberries will work too!
To keep this cake simple I usually buy store bought puff pastry but the pie dough from this pie also works great!
If you don’t have forced rhubarb aka the super pink one, I would make this compote. It includes raspberries to create that beautiful pink color!
Make sure your oven is hot enough. I prefer to bake all puff pastry at or around 400 F no matter the package instructions because I find it gives the best puff and bake.
Allow the layers and fillings to cool completely before assembling the cake.
To assemble this cake you’ll have the best success with a cake collar. I love this cake ring from ikea but any ring or even a springform pan will work to create the stability to stack the cake.
For the cleanest slices you'll want to let this cake set overnight in the fridge!

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