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When my in-laws celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary, I wanted to create something elegant, delicious, and meaningful. That’s how this number-shaped mille-feuille (pronounced meel-foy) came to be.
This classic French dessert features layers of flaky puff pastry, smooth vanilla cream, and fresh berries. It’s light yet indulgent—perfect for those looking for a beautiful birthday cake alternative or a unique number-shaped dessert to celebrate a special occasion.
This puff pastry celebration cake makes a statement. Whether you’re baking for a milestone birthday, an anniversary, or another special event, creating numbers with puff pastry allows you to personalise your bake and tell the story of the day. Our customers often tell us how easy the templates are to use and how convenient the printable number template format is—just print, cut and go.
And while this mille-feuille looks like something you’d see in a pâtisserie window, it’s also surprisingly achievable at home with a bit of guidance. It’s an easy milestone dessert that delivers the wow factor without the stress.
To shape the numbers, I used our print-at-home number templates. These templates make it easy to cut your pastry into perfect shapes without fuss. You can print the number you need, trim it, and use it to guide your cutting before baking. It’s a quick way to create a professional-looking number-shaped cake idea.
For this recipe, I used Careme brand pre-rolled butter puff pastry—it’s one of the best store-bought options available. If you’re feeling adventurous, I now use my Thermomix to make rough puff pastry at home. It’s more affordable, incredibly tasty, and ideal for recipes like this mille-feuille for birthdays.
Cut your pastry sheets using the template and bake until golden and crisp. Make sure the pastry is fully cooled before assembling. You can even bake the shapes ahead of time and store them, which is great when prepping for a busy event.
Once your pastry is cool, pipe vanilla cream onto one layer. Use a round nozzle for a neat, decorative finish.
Gently place the second pastry number on top. Pipe more cream and decorate with fresh berries, edible flowers, or chocolate shavings.
This dessert is best served fresh to maintain the crispiness of the pastry. Assemble close to serving time, and store any leftovers in the fridge in an airtight container—though I doubt you’ll have any left!
If you love the idea of edible numbers, check out our full collection of print-at-home templates. They work beautifully for cookie cakes, puff pastry bakes, and more. Whether you're baking for a 1st birthday or a golden anniversary, a number-shaped dessert is always a sweet way to celebrate.
If you'd prefer to make a traditional cookie cake we have a full guide for that too - check it out here.
I used this recipe from Taste.com.au as the basis for my mille-feuille with a few changes. The recipe below makes enough for 2 numbers or letters. I made the number 50. You can halve the recipe if you're only making 1 number or letter. This would make a perfect alternative to a traditional 50th birthday cake,too.
A printable version of the mille feuille recipe is at the bottom of the page.
2 x 375G Packs Puff Pastry (I highly recommend the Careme All Butter Puff Pastry if you can find it in your local area)
2 TBS custard powder
2 cups milk
2 TBS caster (superfine) sugar
1 TSP vanilla bean paste or extract
300ML thickened (whipping) cream
Fresh seasonal fruit for decorating
Preheat oven to 200°C. Defrost pastry until just thawed. Flour and then roll out the pastry slightly larger to fit 2 numbers on it. Place pastry onto a silicone baking mat or baking paper.
Using your choice of cookie cake template shapes, cut around your letter or number template to create the pastry cutout shape. Carefully slide your cutouts on the silicone mat or baking paper onto a cookie sheet or large baking tray. Top the pastry cutouts with baking paper and then place another tray on top. This prevents the pastry from puffing up too much.
Bake in the oven for 25 minutes until pastry is a lovely golden brown. This is key! The golden brown colour equals amazing toasty buttery flavour. Allow the pastry to cool completely. Repeat with remaining pastry shapes.
Meanwhile, whisk together the custard powder and 120ml (1/2 cup) milk in a saucepan until well combined. Add the sugar, vanilla bean paste and remaining milk. Cook over medium heat, stirring, for 8-10 minutes or until custard thickens and coats the back of a spoon. Remove from heat and place a piece of plastic wrap directly on the surface. Set aside for 1 1/2 hours to cool.
Use a balloon whisk or an electric mixer with whisk attachment to whisk the cream in a bowl until firm peaks form. Fold the cream into the custard mixture. Chill custard cream mixture for at least 30 minutes.
Place bottom layer of pastry shapes on a cake board, platter or serving plate. Place fresh fruit on bottom layer and then pipe remaining pastry layer with the custard cream filling. Place top layer of pastry cut outs on top. Pipe remaining custard cream and decorate with fresh fruit.
When serving, cut the mille feuille with a sharp serrated knife into serving sizes.
ENJOY!
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Lisa @ DoughCuts
November 27, 2020
Yes I think you could use creme patisserie for a biscuit cake. You would need to refrigerate it well after piping the creme patisserie and before adding the new biscuit layers so the weight of the biscuit didn’t squish the creme pat but I think it could work. I’d love to hear how it goes. – Lisa