Napoleon Cake

The Napoleon is a cake found in many parts of Eastern Europe; it’s a sibling of the French mille-feuille, or a cake of a “thousand layers.” This version is special to Odesa: It’s light and very moist. The recipe comes from Maxim’s grandmother, who would prepare this huge, delicious cake in her tiny kitchen with its standard Soviet oven. Maxim explains that for many years, he couldn’t understand how his granny could manage to make such a big cake. The secret was in the way she put together e