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1
For the pastry cream: Put 2 1/2 cups milk, sugar, vanilla and almond extracts in a small boil to come to the boil.
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2
Dissolve the corn flour in the remaining milk and pour into hot milk.
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3
Whisk the corn flour into the milk and turn off heat.
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4
Beat the egg yolks in a medium-sized bowl and slowly whisk in some of the hot milk into the yolks, whisking all the while.
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5
Do this until you have incorporated nearly all the milk into the yolks, whisking constantly, to temper the yolks.
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6
Add any leftover milk mixture and place a sheet of plastic wrap directly on the surface of the custard.
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7
Refrigerate and cool completely.
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8
For whipped cream: Place all ingredients in mixer bowl and whip until snowy peaks form.
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9
Remove 1/3 of whipped cream and fold into pastry cream.
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10
For pastry: Preheat oven to 425F.
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11
Take 1 sheet of puff pastry and lay out flat, with long side facing you.
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12
Cut in 1/2 lengthwise.
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13
Repeat with other sheet of puff pastry, so you have 4 equal pieces.
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14
Butter a cookie sheet or baking pan large enough to contain the puff pastry pieces and place the pastry on the cookie sheet.
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15
Pierce the pastry all over with a fork.
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16
Bake in preheated oven for 10 minutes, then reduce temperature to 300F and bake a further 35-40 minutes (pastry should be baked through and a deep golden-brown).
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17
To assemble: Place 1 sheet of pastry on a platter, spread with half of pastry cream, ensuring you don't spread all the way out to the edges of the pastry.
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18
Place another sheet of pastry over and spread with remainder of pastry cream.
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19
Place third sheet of pastry over and spread top and sides of assembled pastry with whipped cream.
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20
Crumble up the fourth pastry sheet with your hands and sprinkle broken pieces of pastry on top of whipped cream and press some onto sides.
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21
Place in refrigerator for 1/2 hour to set.
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22
Just before serving, place 2 tblsps of icing sugar into a sieve and sieve directly over cake.
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23
Serve immediately.
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24
This is a dessert that is quick to make and assemble but has to be eaten close to making, otherwise the puff pastry absorbs moisture and becomes soggy.
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25
Note: A very nice variation is to thinly spread the first and second puff pastry sheet (the ones that you spread with the custard) with a thin scraping of seedless raspberry jam before you spread with custard.
