Among the real gourmets, sweet tooth, as well as true culinary specialists, the recipe for the most popular Polish dessert - the Pani Walewska cake - has long been known. He is one of the favorite delicacies not only among residents of Poland. Its palatability was highly appreciated in other countries of the world. What is this cake, why does it have such a name, and how to cook it?
Title
Pani Walewska cake got its name in honor of one of the most famous and revered Polish women - Maria Walewska. She was famous not only for being an incredible beauty and of noble birth, but also for the fact that she became the “Polish wife” and beloved of Napoleon Bonaparte, as well as the mother of his child.
And not one emperor was fascinated by this luxurious woman, since delicacies were even created in her honor!
Maria Valevskaya: an excursion into history
As already mentioned, Mrs. Walewski in Poland was loved and respected for many years. At one time, even perfumes with the same name and a portrait of a beauty on a box came out in this country. Maria's popularity was great - and this was understandable even in her teenage years: it was then, at sixteen, that the girl had her first fans - and in a rather large number. Among the applicants for the hand and heart of a young beauty was even a young man from Russia. Despite his wealth and attractive appearance, as well as the fact that he, in general, liked Maria, marriage with him was impossible precisely because of his origin: after all, Russia in those years was only engaged in what divided Poland.
In the end, Maria married a rather elderly, but very, very wealthy Count Anastasia Valevsky (from the family estate of Valevitsa), to whom she gave birth to a son - Anthony. At one time, the couple lived on her husband’s estate, but when the French troops led by Napoleon entered Poland, the Walewski Castle was taken under headquarters, and the couple themselves moved to their housekeeper’s house. It was at that time at one of the balls that the first meeting of the Polish beauty with the French emperor took place. Napoleon fell in love with twenty-year-old Maria right away, wrote numerous letters to her, but he had to try for quite a while before the girl’s stern heart melted, and she yielded to his perseverance.
Napoleon was famous for his frequent connections with various women, all this was nothing more than a hobby. However, everything turned out completely wrong with Maria - what was supposed to be a short affair, first turned into a stormy romance, and then into a fairly strong relationship, which brought as a result a child - the son of Alexander, who was given the surname of Maria's legal husband.
Subsequently, after the fall of Napoleon, Mary repented of her relationship with him, was tormented by remorse and tried to give everything that happened a political-patriotic color: she claimed (and wrote in her memoirs that way) that she went to the name of freedom and independence of Poland such a connection. Be that as it may, no one is now able to find out her exact and true motives. Mrs. Valevskaya died very young - she was only thirty-one years old.
Cake Composition
So, knowing now who Mrs. Valevskaya is and what she is famous for, you can talk about a cake named in her honor. Of course, now the original, classic recipe varies in every possible way with different culinary experts - some ingredients are replaced by others, something is removed at all, something is added. However, the initial composition of the Pani Valevskaya cake is as follows: sand cakes, meringues (egg whites beaten in a special way) and cream. In modern recipes, they also like to add jam - currant or plum (most often the first).
Pani Valevskaya cake: ingredients
The components that were added to the cake by Polish pastry chefs of the nineteenth century, and those that are modern, are slightly different. Below are two different options - you can choose at your own discretion.
The original Polish version of the Pani Walewska cake with meringue includes:
- Dough (a glass of sugar, one egg, not more than one hundred grams of butter or margarine, two large spoons of flour, honey and sour cream, one small spoon of soda and grated lemon peel).
- Meringue (ten pieces of protein and four hundred grams of sugar).
- Cream (ten pieces of yolks, two hundred grams of milk, sugar, walnuts, butter (not margarine!) And a bag of vanilla sugar).
Another version of the Pani Valevskaya cake is as follows:
- Dough - four yolks, butter (a whole briquette), three hundred grams of flour, sugar - a quarter cup, a pinch of vanilla sugar and a baking powder - just a little bit.
- Meringues - four protein, a glass of powdered sugar, four hundred grams of currant jam, one hundred grams of walnuts, a little starch.
- Cream - two glasses of milk, two eggs, a briquette of oil, fifty grams of starch and sugar, a pinch of vanilla sugar.
There are many other options, each chef has his own "chips" and secrets, many "upgrade" old recipes. By and large, the number of components is not so important, the main thing is that the basic cooking technology is followed.
How to make a cake "Pani Valevskaya": an original recipe
In total, there must be three cakes in the treat, so from the above components it is necessary that such a quantity is obtained. Egg, sugar and butter (or margarine) are ground, honey, sour cream, lemon peel and soda are added to them. All this mixture must be thoroughly mixed before flour is added to it (after that everything needs to be mixed again). The dough should be thick, stretching. A third of it must be poured onto a greased form (or a baking sheet; you can also cover it with paper) and bake the cake for twenty minutes at a temperature of one hundred and eighty degrees. Do the same thing two more times.
For ten eggs, separate the yolks from the proteins, add sugar to the last and beat. Put on a baking sheet and bake at a temperature of one hundred and fifty for about fifteen minutes. After that, it is necessary to dry everything: the fire must be reduced to a hundred, the oven door must be opened ajar and left so for about an hour and a half.
During this time, a cream is prepared: milk with sugar is heated (but it should not be brought to a boil!). The remaining yolks are whipped, after which they must be added to the milk. Heat the mass again so that it thickens (again, make sure that it does not boil!). Allow to cool, then pour in oil and vanilla sugar - and then beat again. At the end, put nuts in the mixture and mix well. It is important not to forget to fill up not all the nuts, but to leave a little bit to sprinkle on the cake.
Dried meringues should be crushed into pieces and also left a little to decorate the treat. Now you can assemble the composition together: first cake, then cream, then - meringue. Then the manipulation is repeated twice more in the same order. Top with the resulting delicacy should be sprinkled with the remains of nuts and meringues, and then put in the refrigerator for several hours - so that it is well-soaked.
Other recipes
You can use a different recipe for the cake "Mrs. Valevskaya." For example, the one for which the ingredients are indicated above. It is prepared as simple as the original.
Flour should be mixed with baking powder, and then add chopped butter to the mass. Grind the mixture. The yolks should be mixed with two types of sugar, and then added to the flour-oil composition, grind well. You get a dough - thick and dense. Pour it (whole!) Onto a baking sheet covered with paper or oiled. Bake for ten minutes at one hundred and eighty degrees. While the dough is in the oven, make meringue: beat the squirrels with powder. Add starch, mix.
Remove the pan, but do not remove the cake: spread it with jam from the currant, place the squirrels and nuts on top. Put in the oven again - this time for half an hour at the same temperature. During this time, you need to make a cream: mix two types of sugar, starch and eggs. Bring milk to a boil, pour into the mixture, mix thoroughly. Allow to thicken over a fire, stirring constantly to prevent crust. Cool the finished cream. When it cools down, introduce softened oil into it, not forgetting to whip the mixture.
Get the cake, let it cool. After that, divide in half, spread the first part with cream and close the second. Put in the refrigerator for impregnation.
Varieties
As mentioned above, plum jam is often used instead of currant jam , but, of course, you can take any other one that you like. Someone adds chocolate to the cake - in the cream, for example, or simply sprinkles a treat on top. Instead of walnuts, some use almonds. Cake is also decorated with coconut flakes or icing, brandy is added to the composition. The recipe for the Pani Valevskaya cake is uncomplicated, and what ingredients are not included in it will still turn out to be very tasty.
How to cook meringues
It often happens that it is with meringues that many have difficulties. However, the recipe for classic meringues is quite simple - the main thing is to strictly follow all the instructions. It is important to prepare the required amount of ingredients: you should know that one protein accounts for about fifty grams of sugar.
The oven must be preheated in advance - a temperature of about one hundred and ten degrees is enough. Then you can proceed to the separation of "grains from the chaff" - that is, proteins from the yolks. Dishes for this must certainly be clean, dry, without streaks. There are several options for separating the yolk from the protein - for example, you can break an egg with a knife and “isolate” the protein by simply pouring the yolk from one half of the shell to another. You can use a special kitchen appliance, you can take a bottle - there are a lot of ways, everyone chooses at his discretion. The main thing is to place the proteins immediately in the container in which they will be whipped (it should be deep enough). Pour in sugar and begin to beat the mixture. It is best to do this with a mixer, because the blender grinds the products more than whips them, and to work with a manual whisk requires a considerable amount of effort. Beat up to “stable peaks” - this expression means that the consistency of proteins with sugar is such that they hold their shape well when creating any shapes from them. It will take at least ten minutes to bring them to a similar state.
When the mass is ready, it can be laid out on a baking sheet (greased or laid). The process of "drying" takes quite a long time - more than an hour. That's the whole recipe for classic meringue!
Important Tips
There are some tips for cooking the cake "Mrs. Valevskaya". Firstly, baking one cake without meringue and cream, do not leave it in the oven for more than fifteen minutes. Secondly, if the cake is baked with jam and meringue, the time spent in the oven should automatically double at least twice. Thirdly, it is best to take pans and shapes that are not too large in size to get the normal size of the cake. Forty thirty centimeters is ideal.
The Pani Valevskaya cake, despite the abundance of ingredients, is quite easy to prepare and tastes so incredible that no one will regret the time spent on it.