My Mother-In-Law’s Napoleon Torte

My Mother-In-Law is an amazing cook. As much as I enjoy baking, I had to take her up on an offer to bring a dessert for our Thanksgiving weekend feasts. After one bite of this beautiful torte, my son exclaimed that it was the best dessert he has eaten in his entire life. I knew that I had to share her recipe as a guest post of sorts. My son wanted the title to be “The Best Dessert the World Has Ever Known.” 🙂

Delicious and pretty! Here it is:

For the Cake Layer:

• 3 cups (390 g) all-purpose flour
• 2 1/2 sticks unsalted butter
• 3 large egg yolks
• 1 cup light cream

For the Caramel:

• 2 sticks unsalted butter
• 2 cans (14 oz each) sweetened condensed milk (Carnation or Borden’s Eagle Brand)

For the Pudding:

• 3 large egg yolks
• 2 T sauce flour (Wondra brand)
• 1 T granulated sugar
• 1 cup milk
• 1 cup light cream
• vanilla extract or 1 envelope of Dr. Oetker vanillin sugar
• 3 oz (1 package) serve and cook vanilla pudding (Jello brand)

For the Apricot Layer:

• 1 12-oz can Solo Apricot Cake and Pastry Filling

To Make the Cake Layer:

1. Combine the flour, butter, egg yolks, and light cream until a dough is formed.
2. Divide the dough into 7 equal balls; refrigerate overnight.
3. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
4. Line 9.5″ cake pans with parchment; coat with cooking oil spray.
5. Roll out each ball of dough into a 9.5″ circle (to fit into the cake pan), trying to make rounds of equal thickness.
6. Prick each round of dough with a fork, cover with aluminum foil (or parchment), and pie weights. Bake for 15 minutes.
7. Remove the foil and weights and continue baking for 4 to 5 minutes, or until lightly brown. (You may have to use a shield to prevent the edges from over browning.)
8. Repeat these steps and bake the remaining rounds.
9. Use 6 rounds for the torte. Crumble one round for decorating.

To Make the Caramel:

1. Place the cans of sweetened condensed milk in a large saucepan and cover with water. Bring water to a simmer and cook for 1 1/2 hours- making sure that the cans are covered with water at all times. Cool completely. (This step can be done in advance.)
2. Cream the butter until fluffy.
3. Add 1 1/3 to 1 1/2 cans of caramel (to taste) and mix to incorporate well.

To Make the Pudding:

1. Beat 3 egg yolks with granulated sugar and vanilla until lemon-yellow.
2. Mix in flour.
3. Combine the milk and light cream.
4. Add one cup of the milk-cream mixture to the egg-flour-vanilla mixture. Mix well.
5. Transfer the mixture to a saucepan; add the remaining milk-cream mixture. Add the vanilla pudding mix.
6. Mix well and heat on medium until the mixture comes to a boil. Cover with plastic wrap and cool completely in the refrigerator. (The pudding must be cold!)

To Complete the Filling:

1. Fold the Caramel into the Pudding until a uniform mixture is achieved.

To Make the Apricot Layer:

1. Using a small blender, immersion blender, or food processor, blend the apricot filling to make a uniform mass.

To Complete the Torte:

1. Spread the first cake round with a thin coat of apricot filling and then spread the Caramel/Pudding on top.
2. Top with the second round of cake; top with the Caramel/Pudding filling layer only.
3. Continue the process, spreading the apricot filling on every other round.
4. Cover the top and sides of the cake with the remaining Caramel/Pudding filling.
5. Crush the 7th round of cake and decorate the sides of the cake to hide any imperfections.
6. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

One Year Ago:

• Vanilla Bean Milk Tart with Brown Sugar Crust
• Tate’s Chocolate Chip Cookies

Two Years Ago:

• Pecan Pie Bars

Three Years Ago:

• Carrot Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Icing
• Cranberry Bread