French cuisine · Desserts & Sweets

Gâteau Basque

Basque cake made of thick butter dough filled with vanilla cream and cherry jam.

Ingredients · for 8 servings

• 300 g flour
• 200 g soft butter
• 220 g sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 pinch salt
• 250 ml whole milk
• 1 vanilla pod
• 3 egg yolks
• 30 g cornstarch
• 150 g cherry jam
• 1 egg yolk for brushing

Instructions

1. For the dough, beat 200 g soft butter with 180 g sugar and the salt until creamy for 4 min, mix in the 2 eggs one at a time, then fold in the flour and baking powder; divide the soft dough into two discs and chill for 1 hr.
2. Bring the whole milk to a boil with the scraped vanilla pod seeds and pod, whisk 3 egg yolks with the remaining sugar and the cornstarch, stir in the hot milk and cook the cream for 2 min, stirring, until it thickens; let cool completely, covered.
3. Preheat the oven to 180 °C top/bottom heat and butter a 24 cm springform pan; roll out the larger dough disc between two sheets of baking paper to 28 cm and line the pan with it, including a 3 cm high rim.
4. Stir the cold vanilla cream smooth and spread it in, leaving a 2 cm border, then dot the cherry jam over it.
5. Roll out the second dough disc to 24 cm, place on top as a lid, press the edges firmly together, brush with beaten egg yolk and score the classic diamond pattern with a fork.
6. Bake the cake for 45-50 min, until deep golden brown, let cool in the pan for at least 2 hr and only then cut into pieces - warm, the filling would run.