Gateu Basque
- Brika N Fika
- May 10, 2021
- 4 min read
Updated: May 14, 2021
A traditional French recipe from the Basque region - with a little boozy twist :)
Gateau Basque is, just as you could guess from the name, a classic French cake. It's all you could ask for in a cake - crumbly, chewy, creamy and tender, all at once!
To spice this classic up a bit, we added some boozy dram to the cherry jam which gave extra flavor and character of the cake. We only added 2 tsp, but if you're into it, you could add some more.
This cake takes quite some time to make but it's much easier than it might look. And it will be worth it!
Boozy, Crumbly, Tender
Let's get cookin'
Serves: 10 Prep time: 1 hour Total Time: 4 hours 45 minutes
Ingredients
Pie Crust
200 g Unsalted Butter
200 g Powdered Sugar
1 Egg
1 Egg Yolk
260 g All Purpose Flour
7 g Baking Powder
1 Lemon (the zest)
2 g Salt
Vanilla Cream
250 g Whole Milk
1 Vanilla Bean
60 g Sugar
3 Egg Yolks
20 g Cornstarch
Boozy Cherry Jam
200 g Black Cherry Jam
2 tsp Dram (or Rum or any other type of liquor you like in your baking)
1 Egg Yolk to brush the cake
Butter for the tin
Instructions
Prepare the Dough
1. In a mixing bowl, add flour, baking powder, lemon zest, salt and cold cubed butter. Pinch together using your fingertips until it's well combined and has a crumbly consistency.
2. Combine the powdered sugar, one whole egg and one egg yolk using your fingertips or a spatula.
3. Transfer the dough onto a work surface and smear it using the palm of your hands until it's well combined. Don't overwork it but make sure that there are no pieces of butter left. The dough should be pretty sticky still but if it's completely unworkable, you can add a little bit of flour, no more than 1/2 dl.
4. Flatten the dough slightly (as opposed to having it rolled into a ball), cover with plastic and leave in the fridge for at least 2 hours.
Prepare the Vanilla Cream
5. Whisk the egg yolks together with half the sugar. Add cornstarch and mix until well combined, there should be no lumps of cornstarch. Set aside.
6. Bring the milk, the second half of the sugar and vanilla bean seeds to a boil. If you want extra vanilla flavor, you can also leave the remaining stick of the vanilla bean in the milk.
7. Remove the sticks (if you added them) and pour half the boiling milk over the sugar, egg yolk and cornstarch mixture and whisk together. Pour the mixture back into the pan and bring to a boil over medium heat whisking constantly. Cook for about a minute whisking energetically, set aside.
8. Transfer to a container and cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until completely cool. Make sure that the plastic is actually touching the surface of the vanilla cream, otherwise it will form a thick layer on top.
Prepare the Cherry Jam layer
9. In a small bowl, simply mix the jam and the liquor together and set aside.
Assembly
You will need to move fairly quickly once you take out the dough from fridge. Before taking it out make sure you:
Preheat the oven to 180 C°
Butter a pie tin (we used a 20 cm round pie tin with high removable sides, but ideally a pie tin with 3 cm height should be used for a more beautiful even crust)
Have all the layers prepared
10. Take the dough out of the fridge and divide it into two, one slightly larger than the other. Take the bigger piece (put the smaller one back in the fridge) and place it between two floured baking sheets and roll our into a circular 5 mm thick shape. If it has softened too much in this process, put it back in the fridge for a few minutes to solidify. Place it over your tart tin.
11. Bring out the vanilla cream from the fridge and whisk until smooth. It will have a jelly like texture at first. Set a side for a minute while you add a thin layer of the boozy cherry jam at the bottom of the tart. Top the jam with the vanilla cream - it can quite thick still so this can be a bit challenging, be patient as your spread out the vanilla cream in an even layer using a spoon or a spatula.
12. Take the second half of the dough out from the fridge and repeat the roll out process. If you're using a 3 cm high pie tin, you can simple add this on top and remove any excess dough on the sides. If you have one with higher sides, like we do, put the tin on top of the rolled out dough and cut it into the same size circle as the tin and then carefully lay it on top of the vanilla cream layer. Make sure that you "close" the sides so nothing escapes as you bake it. Cut off any excessive dough on the sides and place in the fridge for 30 min.
13. Brush the cake with egg yolk and decorate it using a fork, place it in the oven and bake for about 40 min, or until golden brown.
Let it cool down before serving.
Enjoy!
Nutrition facts
The information shown is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator.
It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
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