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Mille-feuille 20100916.jpg
Alternative names Napoleon, gâteau de mille-feuilles, vanilla slice or custard slice
Type Pastry
Place of origin France
Main ingredients Puff pastry, pastry cream, powdered sugar
Cookbook: Mille-feuille  Media: Mille-feuille

The mille-feuille (French pronunciation: ​[mil fœj], "a thousand leaves"),[notes 1] vanilla slice, custard slice, also known as the Napoleon, is a French pastry whose exact origin is unknown. Its modern form was influenced by improvements of Marie-Antoine Carême.



The exact origin of the mille-feuille is unknown. François Pierre La Varenne described a version in Le Cuisinier françois, 1651.[citation needed] It was later improved by Marie-Antoine Carême. Carême, writing in the early 19th century, considered it of "ancient origin". According to Alan Davidson in the Oxford Companion to Food (p. 505), the invention of the form (but not of the pastry itself) is usually attributed to Szeged, Hungary, where a caramel-coated mille-feuille is called Szegedinertorte.[1]

A mille-feuille pastry that has combed glazing


Traditionally, a mille-feuille is made up of three layers of puff pastry, and two layers of crème pâtissière. The top layer is coated with a sprinkling of powdered sugar.[2] In later variations, the top is glazed with icing, in alternating white (icing) and brown (chocolate) strips, and then combed. Today, there are also savory mille-feuille, with cheese and spinach or other savory fillings.

Variant names and forms[edit]

A mille-feuille pastry (Japan)

According to La Varenne, it was earlier called gâteau de mille-feuilles (English: cake of a thousand sheets), referring to the many layers of pastry. Using traditional puff pastry, made with six folds of three layers, it has 729 layers; with some modern recipes it may have as many as 2,048.[3]

The variant name of Napoleon appears to come from napolitain, the French adjective for the Italian city of Naples, but altered by association with the name of Emperor Napoleon I of France.[4] The Larousse Gastronomique does not mention the Napoléon, although a gateau napolitain is listed, with a note that while the cake itself is not often seen, small biscuits known as fonds napolitains are still made, decorated with butter cream or conserves.[5] There is no evidence to connect the pastry to the emperor himself. In France, a Napoléon is a particular type of mille-feuille filled with almond flavoured paste.[1]

Russian Napoleon cake

In Russian literature, a cake named Наполеон (Napoleon) is first mentioned as early as in the first half of the 19th century.[6] Alexander Bestuzhev explained the emergence of such names by the romantic and historicist spirit of that time.[6] The cake has enjoyed an especially great popularity since the centenary celebration of the Russian victory over Napoleon in the Patriotic War of 1812. During the celebrations in 1912, triangular-shape pastries were sold resembling the bicorne. The many layers of the cake symbolized La Grande Armée. The top is covered by pastry crumbs symbolizing the snow of Russia which helped the Russians defeat Napoleon. Later, the cake became a standard dessert in the Soviet cuisine. Nowadays, the Napoleon remains one of the most popular cakes in Russia and other post-Soviet countries. It typically has more layers than the French archetype, but the same height.

Italian mille foglie filled with pastry cream and garnished with strawberries and powdered sugar

In Italy, it is called mille foglie and contains similar fillings. A savory Italian version consists of puff pastry filled with spinach, cheese or pesto, among other things. Another important distinction of the Italian variety is that it often consists of a layer of puff pastry with layers of sponge cake as well (e.g. from bottom to top, puff pastry, sponge cake strawberries and cream and then puff pastry).

In the United Kingdom, the pastry is most often called a vanilla slice or a cream slice, but can, on occasion, be named mille-feuille or Napoleon on branded products.

In Canada, mille-feuille is more commonly named gâteaux Napoléon or Napoleon Slice (in English Canada). It is sold either with custard, whipped cream, or both, between three layers of puff pastry. Almond paste is the most common flavoured variety. There is a French Canadian way where the mille-feuille is done with graham crackers instead of puff pastry, and where pudding replaces the custard layer.

In South Africa and Zimbabwe, it is called a custard slice.

In Australia it is called a custard slice or a vanilla slice, using a gelein set crème pâtissière, and in many cases, passionfruit icing. Victorians refer to them as snot blocks. "French Vanilla slice" refers to a product similar to that in the main article.

In New Zealand it is variously known as a 'custard slice', a 'custard square', a 'vanilla slice', or, with passionfruit icing, a 'passionfruit slice'.

In the German speaking part of Switzerland and also in Austria it is called Crèmeschnitte. In Israel it is known by a variation of that name, kremshnit (קרמשניט).

Polish kremówka

In Poland, the local variant of the pastry is called kremówka, or napoleonka. It consists of two layers of pastry separated by a thick cream layer. The whole pastry is then covered with powdered sugar. A similar local variety is called krempita in Serbia, Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, kremna rezina or kremšnita in Slovenia, and krémeš in Slovakia. In Hungary it is called Krémes.[7] Its version francia krémes (French Napoleon) is topped with whipped cream and caramel.

In Sweden as well as in Finland, the Napoleonbakelse (Napoleon pastry) is a mille-feuille filled with whipped cream, custard, and jam. The top of the pastry is glazed with icing and currant jelly. In Denmark and Norway, it is simply called Napoleonskake.[8]

In Belgium and the Netherlands the tompouce or tompoes is the equivalent pastry. Several variations exist in Belgium, but in the Netherlands it has achieved an almost iconic status and the market allows preciously little variation in form, size, ingredients and colour (always two layers of pastry, nearly always pink glazing, but orange around national festivities). The cartoon character Tom Puss by Marten Toonder is named after the tompouce.

Tompouce on the King's Day in Netherlands

In Greece, the pastry is called Μιλφέιγ, which is the transcription of the word mille-feuille using Greek letters. The filling between the layers is cream whereas Chantilly cream is used at the top of the pastry. It also has some resemblance to the traditional Greek dish of Galaktoboureko (literally "milk börek"), though with this dish, the custard is baked with the pastry, rather than added afterwards.

In the Spanish milhojas, the puff pastry is thin and crunchy. They are often far deeper than solely of three layers of the pastry, and reach up to .5 feet (0.15 m) tall.

In latin american milhojas, various layers of puff pastry are layered with dulce de leche and confectioner sugar on top.

A Napoleon pastry in Hong Kong

In Hong Kong, the 拿破侖 (Napoleon) is layered with buttercream, meringue and walnuts. In Mainland China, a similar product also marketed as a Napoleon (拿破侖) varies between regions and individual bakeries, but usually features a top and bottom layer of rough puff pastry, typically made with vegetable shortening rather than butter, and a sponge cake and artificial buttercream filling.

in Philippines, it is called Napoleones (Na-pol-yo-nes); and is composed of 2 layers, with pastry cream or custard as filling, topped with sugar glaze.

In Iran, the pastry is called "شيرينى ناپلئونى" (Shirini-e Nâpel'oni, literally "Napoleonic Sweet Pastry"). It consists of thin puff pastry and often topped with powdered sugar.

In Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia, it is consumed regularly. It is called mille-feuille also. In northern Morocco they call it Milfa which is a combination/portmanteau of the words mille and feuille.


An annual competition for the best vanilla slice baker is the Great Australian Vanilla Slice Triumph held in Ouyen in western Victoria. Judging criteria include "when tasted, should reveal a custard with a creamy smooth texture and a balance of vanilla taste with a crisp, crunchy pastry topped with a smooth and shiny glaze/fondant".[9]

See also[edit]


  1. ^ The name is also written as "millefeuille" and "mille feuille".


  1. ^ a b Davidson, Alan; Jaine, Tom (1999). The Oxford Companion to Food. Oxford University Press. p. 505. 
  2. ^
  3. ^ André Guillot, Vraie Cuisine légère, Éditions Flammarion, 1992, republished in 2007 ISBN 978-2-08-202542-3 (in French). The counting of layers was reported in Compte-rendu du Séminaire n°32 de gastronomie moléculaire (December 18th, 2003) from the French Society of Chemistry, see Compte-rendu (in French).
  4. ^ Food Timeline, on the origin of the name Napoleon
  5. ^ Larousse gastronomique, p702; the mille-feuille is mentioned, page 667, and credited as a late 19th-century creation.
  6. ^ a b «Вонзаете вилку в сладкий пирог и - его имя Наполеон!» из статьи «Клятва при гробе Господнем. Русская быль XV века. Сочинения Н. Полевого. 1832». А. А. Бестужев-Марлинский. 1833. (Russian) -Stick a fork in a sweet cake, and its name is Napoleon! from the article Oath at the Holy Sepulchre. Russian true stories in the 15th century. Works by N. Polevoy. 1832. Alexander Bestuzhev. 1833.
  7. ^ "The Best Krémes in Budapest, Hungary - WSJ". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 16 September 2015. 
  8. ^ Napoleonskake
  9. ^ "Travel news - The Great Australian Vanilla Slice Triumph". Ninemsn. 2006-07-20. Retrieved 2007-01-06. 

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