History:
At the beginning of the 20th century, in France, there was a pastry called "Russian cake". It was created by P.Lacam in 1908, in the historical and geographical memorial of pastry , which dates it from 1895, by Darenne and E.Duval in 1909 in theirtreatise on modern pastry , by P.Quentin in The Country and City Pastry Chef , in 1921. All report a common characteristic, in addition to the presence of almonds:the use of a fluted mold. When, in 1925, Adrien Artigarrède, originally from Bescat in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques, moved to Oloron after having toured France as a pastry chef in Biarritz and Luchon, he bought the fund of a pastry chef who was already offering " Russian" for sale. But of course it wasn't the real thing yet.
Because a whole game of "true" and "false" applies to this cake which is currently made almost everywhere in Aquitaine, but also in the Hautes-Pyrénées and the Gers. Only the Russian made by the Artigarrède house, according to a process never registered or disclosed but very imitated, deserves the qualifier of "true". It is said that the grandson before being initiated, had wanted to discover the knack and the recipe on his own without succeeding. Be that as it may, Russian has gradually become a specialty of the town of Oloron.
The exoticism of the name intrigues and gives rise to various interpretations; it owes its name to a Russian prisoner who would have taken refuge in Oloron and who would have delivered the recipe, or to the origin of the almonds imported from Crimea (supposedly the best), or even to the fact that its appearance would recall the snow of the plains of Russia.
Description:
The Russian comes in the form of a square of 7 cm on a side and weighing 80 g, or 30 cm on a side for a weight of 620 g. It is also given the shape of a rectangle 30 to 40 cm x 20 to 30 cm on a side and 1.5 cm thick, weighing 460 g to 840 g. It is made up of two earth-coloured backgrounds, with a very airy texture, and filled with a light beige cream, which is particularly melting and creamy. The top is sprinkled with white icing sugar and decorated, with a piping bag, with a scallop around its edge and the inscription "Russian" diagonally. It is made with almonds, hazelnuts and meringue for the bases and praline, butter, eggs and sugar for the cream.
So don't count on me to tell you the real recipe, I don't know it! but I send you my recipe that I use regularly.
Difficulty:[usr 4]
Prepare buttercream and pastry cream, keep cool
Mix the almond and hazelnut powders, add 65 g of powdered sugar, beat the egg whites with a pinch of salt and gradually add 85 g of powdered sugar. Then add the mixture of powders and sugar, stirring gently with a wooden spatula.
Preheat the oven to 180°C
On a sheet of parchment paper, draw two discs 22 cm in diameter (or squares)
Pour the dough into a no. 9 piping bag, place it in each disc starting from the center and forming a spiral that stops 2 centimeters from the edge, sprinkle very lightly with icing sugar, each of the discs of dough a first time, wait 10 minutes sprinkle again.
Put in the oven for 25 to 30 minutes. Leave the cookies to cool then peel them off the parchment paper using a spatula.
Prepare the mousseline cream:whip the butter cream briskly with an electric mixer or a hand whisk until it is very light and put in a piping bag (n° 9)
Place the first disk of biscuit on a plate, all around it place balls of cream tight against each other, then fill the center of the biscuit.
Cover with the second disc, pressing lightly on it to fix it, once the cake is thus filled the balls can be seen on the sides, put for one hour in the refrigerator, When serving, powder with icing sugar.
For those who don't have the buttercream and pastry cream recipe:
For 500 g of buttercream:250 g of very soft butter, 5 cl of water, 140 g of powdered sugar, 2 whole eggs + 2 egg yolks
In a container, work the butter into an ointment, pour the water into a saucepan and add the sugar, bring to a boil over low heat, passing a flat brush dipped in water over the inside edges of the saucepan, let this syrup cook until 'with a "small ball", i.e. at 120°C on a sugar thermometer
Put the whole eggs and the yolks in a terrine and beat them with a mixer until they whiten and foam, then when the syrup is ready, pour it in a thin stream over the eggs, still beating at low speed. . Continue in this way until completely cooled, finally add the butter without ceasing to whip, when the cream is smooth and homogeneous, reserve it in the refrigerator.
For 500 g of pastry cream:1 vanilla pod, 30 g of cornstarch, 80 g of powdered sugar, 35 cl of whole fresh milk, 4 egg yolks and 35 g of butter at room temperature
Open the vanilla pod and scrape out the seeds, put the starch and half the sugar in a heavy-bottomed saucepan, pour in the milk, stirring with a whisk, add the pod and the seeds, bring to the boil, whisking,
In a large bowl, beat the egg yolks for 3 minutes with the remaining sugar, sprinkle with a little milk while whisking, return the mixture to the saucepan and cook, whisking, as soon as it boils, remove from the heat and remove the vanilla pod, pour the cream into a bowl and immerse it in a container filled with ice cubes, when the cream has cooled down (50°) add the butter, whisking vigorously.
It can be enjoyed as a dessert, for tea or with white wine from Jurançon.
