The final dramatic episode of the eleven month-long Siege of Sevastopol came on September 8, 1855, when, on the third attempt, the French army commanded by General Patrice de MacMahon stormed the Malakoff-Kurgan ridge that overlooks the city's estuary and harbour, capturing the fort at its peak. The next day, Russian troops bid a retreat as Sevastopol fell to British, French, and Ottoman forces. The attack on the Malakoff, the image of French forces planting the tricolore atop the ridge, and the name of the new Duke of Malakoff, Aimable Pélissier, who had planned the final assault, became famous across Europe. A suburb of Paris took the name Malakoff, as did an avenue in Paris' 16th arrondissement and numerous honorific dishes from the western Swiss Malakoff, a deep-fried cheese ball, to the towering Austrian creation, the Malakofftorte.
In a certain sense a cousin of the Italian tiramisu, the key ingredients when it comes to making a Malakofftorte are orange liqueur, usually Cointreau, and ladyfingers, known in Austria as Biskotte. The assembly of the torte often, though not always, begins with a base layer of genoise sponge. If not, then the cake entirely consists of layers of ladyfingers soaked in Cointreau and a gelatinous cream flavoured with vanilla and ground almonds and enriched with egg yolks. (In some recipes, the cream more closely resembles a buttercream that has been lightened with whipped cream. Either way, something, be it gelatine or butter, has to set the cake once it is placed in the fridge.) Variations on the Malakofftorte include those made by Heiner, which forgoes ground almonds in favour of walnuts, and Aida, who soak their ladyfingers in a combination of coffee and rum, which really would make it a kind of tiramisu cake.
