Napoleon II - the Pastry

you know this napoleon cake is also apparently known as a mille-feuille cake?
mille-feuille means a thousand leafs
and i have done a little bit of research to discover that a possible difference between the mille-fueille and napoleon is that mille feuille is puff pastry and napoleon is a butter-sour cream pastry.
and i was trying to work out why the cake would have changed name and pastry... (that didn't involve the region of naples)
so i came up with a theory that napoleon may have been afraid that a thousand leafs of puff pastry indicated that he was concerned that there should be added puff, just in case the cake was on the short side... or maybe he originally wanted to be assured that there was no shortage.
and i like to believe that napoleon, knowing that his stature would be the very height of humour, wanted to try and dispel some of the associations related to his... conquering (that has had such long standing over the years...)
so he opted for butter cream pastry... and tried to lose the over-compensating exaggerated name of 'thousand leaf'
i think it was a bit of a tall order really..
(okay enough! although i do relish these short jokes)
NOTE: this post may take a while to load... so just give it say... 32 seconds?
(don't forget, that the cream in Napoleon I can also be a two day process, so you can generally do the first process of the cream, and this process for the pastry on the same day. and the next day you will whip the cream, cook the pastry and assemble... the reason i haven't included the cooking of the dough in this post is because the post would be way too large...)
approx 230g butter.
butter.
BUTTER.
if even so much as hear a whisper of margarine...

then all into a mixing bowl like so:

so then add 4 tbs of white sugar...

approx 240 ml of sour cream (1/2 pint)

butter, sour cream, sugar; can you even imagine my delight at seeing all these rich flavours together?
okay, eggs. 6 of them

then, gotta add the flour...
the flour is added in stages... (a total of 2 1/2 cups of self-raising and 2 1/2 of plain flour)
add 1 cup of each:
i made a gif -

then mix... like so:

then add another cup of each flour...
mix
then add another 1/2 half cup of each...
mix
lookin' pretty good:

so, kneading the big pastry...

then you gotta cut the big pastry into fourteen pieces!

 and then you gotta knead those little pieces into round balls, and store them all together in a bowl:

ta-da!

and now my friends, you leave it overnight...


verbal trailer for the next post:

you laughed on the day napoleon was whipped into cream.
you cried when he was kneaded and separated into fourteen parts of himself.
now, you'll be on the edge of your seats as napoleon undergoes the transition from dough to cooked pastry.
from the makers of Napoleon I - the Cream and Napoleon II - the Pastry comes the gripping story of napoleon, as he clings to the edge of the rolling pin, only to have himself completely laid out along the line of the baking dish.
coming to you, christmas 2010.

Napoleon - The Trailer

okay.
where in g's name have i been? i am positive that napoleon would not have left a job (such as an invasion) unfinished for this long. therefore, whilst i'm not really one for excuses (boring, boring), i should explain my absence..

see, you kind of caught me at a bad time back in july; i had a month to finish my degree which was entirely hectic.
i then decided to gift myself with a trip overseas.
and now, voila, i am returned. with a killer tan. and delightful memories such as a passionfruit macaron that i ate in switzerland and a crunchy rice dish from a persian workers restaurant...

in any case, i have not yet put the second Napoleon post together, but i thought i would tantalise your taste-buds with these two photos... consider it a trailer for the bigger picture...

so divine!