Walnut Pastry

One of the best desserts I tasted in Georgia is an East-West hybrid, the treasured recipe of Ira Kandelaki, whose mother was Russian and father Georgian. This cake is called pakhlava, but unlike its close cousin baklava, it is made with a modern Russian baking soda and sour cream dough rather than with phyllo. The result is a tender pastry with a devastatingly rich walnut filling. Serve in small portions.