{"id":8338,"date":"2026-10-19T23:30:52","date_gmt":"2026-10-19T14:30:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/parade.kyoto\/?post_type=sweetlore&p=8338"},"modified":"2026-10-31T18:49:53","modified_gmt":"2026-10-31T09:49:53","slug":"le-russe","status":"publish","type":"sweetlore","link":"https:\/\/parade.kyoto\/en\/sweetlore\/le-russe\/","title":{"rendered":"Le Russe"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Praline cream is sandwiched between thin layers of nut sponge, and the top is dusted white with icing sugar. Le Russe, the signature cake of Maison Artigarr\u00e8de in Oloron-Sainte-Marie in southwestern France, is made of soft stacked layers and cut into squares. The shop’s version holds the cream between two thin layers of sponge. Published recettes (ingredient proportions and methods) also include a three-layer version, which differs in the number of layers and the thickness of the cream.<\/p>\n

\n\"An\n
An example of a Russe (2018, location unknown). Cream lies between the thin upper and lower layers of sponge, and white powder is visible on top. Photo: Pasc64 \/ Wikimedia Commons<\/a> \/ CC BY-SA 4.0<\/a>. Reduced-size version obtained from the source. No content alterations or cropping made for this use.<\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n

Thin Nut Sponge and Praline Buttercream<\/h2>\n

Sponge of this type is made by bringing together almond and hazelnut flours, icing sugar and wheat flour with milk, folding in whipped egg whites, and baking it thin. Compared with a dry meringue disc, it keeps more softness. Together with butter, milk and eggs, two kinds of nuts create the flavor.<\/p>\n

The version that the culinary expert Mercotte presents, based on Yves Thuri\u00e8s’s formula, has three layers. For the praline, roasted nuts are combined with hot sugar syrup, first forming white, gritty crystals, and are then heated further until they turn into brown caramel. When this is cooled, crushed and ground continuously, the oil in the nuts turns the powder into a paste. The order in which the aroma is developed differs from simply mixing crushed nuts into butter.<\/p>\n

Hot syrup is poured onto egg yolks and whisked until cool, then softened butter is added and the praline is mixed in. Sponge and cream are placed alternately in a frame, pressed lightly to even out the thickness, chilled, trimmed around the edges, and finished with icing sugar. Trimming after chilling gives straight edges, but before eating, the cake is brought back toward room temperature for a little while to soften butter that has become hard from over-chilling.<\/p>\n

Differences in the Number of Sponge Layers and How the Cream Is Aerated<\/h2>\n

Artigarr\u00e8de’s two layers and the three layers based on Thuri\u00e8s are not necessarily the same in thickness, proportion of cream, or even texture. The pastry maker Jean-Claude Montauriol also publishes a two-layer version, made by combining Italian meringue with praline butter so that the egg-white foam incorporates air. Among the Russes made widely, the mouthfeel changes depending on whether the cream uses egg yolks or has egg-white foam added, and on how many layers of sponge are stacked. There are also differences between the \u201cRusse d’Artigarr\u00e8de\u201d handed down by the shop and these published recettes.<\/p>\n

\n\"A\n
A Russe from a pastry shop in Maul\u00e9on-Licharre (2024). Cream is piped on the surface dusted with white powder, and pale cream is also visible between the layers of sponge. Photo: Tangopaso \/ Wikimedia Commons<\/a> \/ Public domain dedication by the copyright holder<\/a>. Reduced-size version obtained from the source. No content alterations or cropping made for this use.<\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n

From the Oloron Workshop to Beyond the Town<\/h2>\n

Adrien and \u00c9lise Artigarr\u00e8de opened their shop in 1923, selling cakes suited to family tables on weekends. Customers began to come from B\u00e9arn and from the neighboring Basque Country, and in 1930 the shop moved in front of Sainte-Marie Cathedral. The later workshop was set up on the site where Adrien had kept chickens and cows to obtain ingredients.<\/p>\n

In 1969 \u00c9lise and her daughter Odette took over the shop, and from 1988 the grandson Jean-Paul and his wife Nadine expanded sales to Pau. In the 2000s, Michel of the fourth generation also joined, and the cakes came to be sold in Tarbes and Saint-Jean-de-Luz as well. Even so, production is concentrated in the Oloron workshop. Although sales spread beyond the town, the production base remained in Oloron.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

Oloron-Sainte-Marie and Sainte-Marie Cathedral. The Artigarr\u00e8de shop moved in front of the cathedral in 1930. 2007. Photo: Jean Michel Etchecolonea<\/a> \/ CC BY-SA 3.0<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

Legends of a Russian Princess and Prisoners, and the Crimean Almond Theory<\/h2>\n

Russe<\/em> means \u201cRussian\u201d in French. According to the story handed down at Artigarr\u00e8de, in the winter of 1923 a Russian princess in exile was unable to continue on to Spain because of snow and, in thanks for the hospitality she received, passed on the secret of making the cake. The white icing sugar on top is likened to the snowfields of Russia and the peaks of the Pyrenees. This legend, passed down by the shop, links the cake’s white surface to a snowy landscape.<\/p>\n

Montauriol separately lists a story that Russian prisoners who came to Oloron gave the recette, and a theory that the name comes from almonds imported from Crimea. However, he himself questions explaining the name by the almonds’ origin alone, since almonds were also grown in southern France. The prisoners and the princess are handed down as separate storylines, and doubts also remain about the explanation that ties the name to where the almonds came from.<\/p>\n

Similarities and Differences with the Castel and the Mis\u00e9rable<\/h2>\n

Montauriol also cites Jean-Marie Claverie’s \u201cRusse du Vic-Bilh\u201d in Lembeye as an earlier cake of the same name. The name of a white nut cake has survived not only at the Oloron shop but in another town as well.<\/p>\n

For the castel, which is similar in structure, there is a recette by Assia, who shares Algerian home baking, in which buttercream is sandwiched between layers of almond sponge. She describes it as a cake close to the Russe and the Belgian mis\u00e9rable. Meanwhile, the castel of the Hess family of Ch\u00e2teau-Thierry has a family history in which L\u00e9on Hess won a gold medal at a culinary competition in Paris in 1912 and named the cake in tribute to the town.<\/p>\n

All of them layer thin sponge containing nuts with cream, but the ingredients and mouthfeel differ from shop to shop and home to home, for example in whether praline is used and whether egg yolks or egg whites are added.<\/p>\n

Glossary<\/h2>\n

\u30fbPraline<\/strong>: An aromatic paste made by heating nuts with sugar, cooling the mixture, and then grinding it.\n\u30fbMercotte: A French culinary expert who introduces pastries through explanations of pastry techniques and through television programs.\n\u30fbYves Thuri\u00e8s: A French pastry chef who also passes on pastry techniques through specialist books.\n\u30fbAdrien Artigarr\u00e8de: The founder who opened the shop in Oloron-Sainte-Marie in 1923.\n\u30fb\u00c9lise Artigarr\u00e8de: The person who supported the pastry shop she founded with Adrien and handed the work on to her daughter Odette.\n\u30fbOdette: The daughter who took over the shop as the second generation of the Artigarr\u00e8de family.\n\u30fbJean-Paul and Nadine: The third-generation couple of the Artigarr\u00e8de family, who expanded sales to Pau and elsewhere.\n\u30fbMichel: The fourth generation of the Artigarr\u00e8de family, who joined the work of the workshop.<\/p>

References<\/h2>\n

  1. \u30fbNo contemporary historical record giving the princess’s name, nor a 1923 formula book, has been verified, so the story is treated as the shop’s legend. The prisoner story is also a separate strand of tradition, and no purchasing ledger from the period supporting the Crimea theory has been seen. For the Claverie cake cited by Montauriol, no year of creation or menu from the time is presented.<\/p><\/li>

  2. \u30fbMaison Artigarr\u00e8de \u201cLe Russe\u201d<\/a> \u2014 A regional introduction to the five ingredients; the princess story is presented as a legend.\n\u30fbMaison Artigarr\u00e8de \u201cFamille Artigarr\u00e8de\u201d<\/a> \u2014 Founding in 1923, the move in 1930, succession in 1969, 1988 and the 2000s, and production in Oloron.\n\u30fbMercotte \u201cLe Russe\u2026\u201d 2014<\/a> \u2014 The distinction between the undisclosed original formula and the three-layer Thuri\u00e8s type; crystallization of the praline followed by reheating and grinding; egg-yolk cream; soft baking.<\/p><\/li>

  3. \u30fbJean-Claude Montauriol \u201cRusse pralin\u00e9\u201d<\/a> \u2014 Explanations involving prisoners, Crimean origin and snowfields; mention of Claverie; and a published recette containing meringue.<\/p><\/li>

  4. \u30fbLe Castel de Ch\u00e2teau-Thierry \u201c1903 : S\u2019installer\u201d<\/a> \u2014 The 1912 gold medal and the naming after the town, as told by the Hess family.<\/p><\/li>

  5. \u30fbGourmandise Assia \u201cCastel aux Amandes\u201d<\/a> \u2014 Structural comparison of almond sponge and buttercream.<\/p><\/li>

  6. Editorial Note (Japanese Re-edit)<\/h3><\/li>

  7. Similarities in appearance or ingredients alone among the Russe, the castel, the mis\u00e9rable and similar cakes do not establish a line of descent in which one derives from another. The main text explains their common features and the differences in formulas and processes.<\/p><\/li><\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Le Russe is the signature cake of Maison Artigarr\u00e8de in Oloron-Sainte-Marie, southwestern France. Praline cream is sandwiched between thin layers of nut sponge, and the top is covered with white icing sugar. Each square-cut slice holds soft sponge and rich cream in multiple layers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":7258,"menu_order":109,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_parade_sweetlore_meta":{"en":"Le Russe","subtitle":"A layered white nut cake kept by a B\u00e9arn workshop for four generations","topics":"Thinly baked sponge and layers of praline\uff0fFrom a workshop facing the cathedral to four generations of a family\uff0fA princess's legend that overlaps with the whiteness of snow","country":"B\u00e9arn, France","show_toc":true,"ingredients":["nuts","cream","butter","egg"],"texture":[],"occasion":[],"method":["baked"],"season":[]},"footnotes":""},"sweetlore_category":[154],"class_list":["post-8338","sweetlore","type-sweetlore","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"acf":{"sweetlore_related_products":null,"sweetlore_related_faqs":null,"sweetlore_related_voices":null,"sweetlore_related_mode":"auto","sweetlore_related_articles":null},"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t