Following my dear sister into cyberspace in the hope of trading culinary treats! What a wonderful idea. Since every important moment in our family has revolved around food in some way, this is a subject near and dear to my heart.My first act as an official BLOGGER is to publish the recipe for Gateau Basque. This fine confection is a treat found in the area of France and Spain on the Western side of the Pyrenees. The cake has ground almonds and rum in its thick pate (crust), which is on top and bottom of a filling - either the local black cherry preserves or a classic French custard. Its simplicity is its genius.
After a gorgeous holiday with our family in the charming town of Sare, France, I came home determined to re-create the dish.
Despite using various English, French and Spanish search terms, it took me forever to find this recipe. But once found, it has been used for countless occasions.
None have been quite as memorable as my father's birthday, which we celebrated with two Gateaux Basques - one custard and one dark cherry - on top of a mountain near Sare. We took an old cog railway and basked (no pun intended) in the sunshine. What a lovely afternoon!
Here's the recipe:
Pate:
-2 eggs
-1/2 cup sugar
-1/2 cup butter
-1 cup flour
-2 tsp baking powder
-2 pinches salt
-1 tbsp almond powder (or finely ground almonds)
-1 tbsp vanilla
-3 tbsp rum
Filling:
-450g cherry jam
OR
-1/4 cup brown sugar
-1/4 cup cream
-1 pat butter
-2 tbsp milk
-1 tbsp flour
-1 tbsp cake flour
-1 tbsp rum
-1 egg yolk
-1 vanilla pod
-1/2 piece lemon zest
1. Make pate: Mix two egg yolks and sugar rapidly. Incorporate most of butter, flour, baking powder and salt. Add almond powder. Work into a ball. Add vanilla and rum until well-mixed.
2. Put in fridge at least 1 hour.
(3.) Make fruit filling: open jar of black cherry jam.
OR
(3.) Make custard: Split vanilla pod, scrape into saucepan with milk, lemon zest and cream. Over heat, add flour, yolk, brown sugar and bring to boil. Add rum. Whip while cooling to avoid crust.
4. Preheat oven to 325 degrees
5. Roll out pastry into two rounds approximately 2 mm thick
6. Butter round pan, place half of dough over it and cut edges. Press down sides.
7. Put filling onto base.
8. Beat one yolk for glaze. Brush edges of dough with yolk, and place second half of dough on top. Remove excess dough from edges. Glaze with remaining egg yolk and score with a fork.
9. Bake 45 min at 325 degrees. Cool to room temperature before eating.
I like to experiment with different dough shapes on top of the cakes, and making little Basque tarts, but neither of these are authentic.
