Serious Eats: Recipes
Cook the Book: "Russians" Nut Cakes
[Photograph: Caroline Russock]
After putting the finishing touches on these little "Russians" Nut Cakes from The New Portuguese Table by David Leite, I poked around to find out where the Russian influence comes into play in this Portuguese dessert. I searched all combos of Russian, Portuguese, cakes to no avail and decided the only thing left to do was contact Leite directly.
As it turns out, Leite ran into similar problems pinpointing the story behind these lovely little cakes, even though he contacted several bakeries that sold them and grilled his friend who shared the recipe.
But etymology aside, these Portuguese-Russian cakes are gorgeous. Toasted, ground walnuts and almonds are incorporated into the clove scented batter, and then lightened with whipped egg whites. Once the cake is baked and cooled it's topped with a pristine layer of vanilla butter cream, sprinkled with more ground nuts, then sliced into perfect little squares. For an added layer of flavor you can spread the cakes with bitter orange marmalade before topping them with the buttercream.
As always with our Cook the Book feature, we have five (5) copies of The New Portuguese Table to give away this week.