Mazarin is a classic Swedish pastry, well known in neighbouring countries as well in lots of variations. It seems that – as one with a bit of historic background may guess – it is of French origin.
Mazarin tarts, cakes or pastries are said to have been named after the
French-Italian cardinal and diplomat Jules Mazarin (1602 – 1661),
successor of the powerful Cardinal Richelieu.
(Quote from here.)
My wife is running a Finnish bakery where she is baking variations of this cake; however, she couldn't find any more detailed explanation about the origins of this cake and how it is linked to cardinal Mazarin, not even from Swedish sources.
On another forum, I found this:
i just found another referance to MAZARIN in LAROUSSE GASTRONOMIQUE
guide , and they say that mazarin is a kind of a genoise cut that is
shaped like a cone , covered with PINK fondunt and then inserted back
to the genoise form with candied fruits and a little syrop and apricot
jam.
Which could fit into the picture, considering Mazarin was born and raised as Giulio Raimondo Mazzarino in Italy (although not in Genova).
Could anyone with a background in French / Italian culinary history shed light on why Cardinal Mazarin's name was given to this cake, as well as how and when it became a favourite in Sweden?
Best Answer
Well, it seems that Mazarin's predecessor (and at the time, mentor), Cardinal Richelieu, was instrumental in the creation of the Treaty of Bärwalde, which made Sweden and France steadfast allies (with the French basically funding nearly forty thousand Swedish soldiers). Once Mazarin replaced Richelieu there were already strong diplomatic ties between the two countries. Mazarin was also on amiable terms with Anne of Austria, the queen of France, and as they were both food lovers and promoters (Mazarin in particular worked to spread pasta throughout France) it would make sense that Mazarin, spreading some Italian pastry (perhaps crostata di mandorle?) to Sweden, would end up with the local variant named after him. In short, diplomatic ties brought a new pastry to Sweden, and the Swedes named their version of that pastry after the diplomat in question, Mazarin. I don't have any direct evidence of this happening, but it seems to make sense.
Sources:
http://www.cmariec.com/?p=9157
http://acuriouslittleblog.blogspot.com/2013/10/cardinal-mazarin.html
http://samples.sainsburysebooks.co.uk/9781134741274_sample_496911.pdf
My friend's mother is a Swedish baker and knew Mazarin was some sort of diplomat with ties to Sweden