Gâteau Basque (; "cake of the house") is a traditional

dessert Dessert is a course (food), course that concludes a meal; the course consists of sweet foods, such as cake, biscuit, ice cream, and possibly a beverage, such as dessert wine or liqueur. Some cultures sweeten foods that are more commonly umami, ...

from the North of Pays Basque, a region of France, typically filled with

black cherry ''Prunus serotina'', commonly called black cherry,World Economic Plants: A Standard Reference, Second Edition'. CRC Press; 19 April 2016. . p. 833–. wild black cherry, rum cherry, or mountain black cherry, is a deciduous tree or shrub in the r ...

jam or pastry cream. Gâteau Basque with cream is more typical in the South of Pays Basque, a region of Spain.

Description

Typically Gâteau Basque is constructed from layers of a butter-sugar wheat flour pastry dough (in this case ''pâte sablée'', not ''brisée'') with a filling of either

jam or almond or vanilla

pastry cream Custard is a variety of culinary preparations based on sweetened milk, cheese, or cream cooked with egg or egg yolk to thicken it, and sometimes also flour, corn starch, or gelatin. Depending on the recipe, custard may vary in consistency from ...

. It has been argued that only black Xapata cherries native to the Basque Country should be used. The type of dough used may vary a little. If butter is warmed before mixing with flour the dough will be called ''pâte sucrée''. If it is cold the mixing process will require more work and the dough is called ''pâte sablée'' (it is crumblier). The resulting textures are a little different but mostly for the initiated taster. The flour used is a soft wheat flour with little mineral content (that is, a refined flour, common pastry/cake flour) The proportion of sugar used also varies. But the principle of this cake is having a soft shortbread-type dough 3 to 6 mm thick filled with an almond pastry cream, also called

frangipane Frangipane ( ) is a sweet almond-flavoured custard, typical in French pastry, used in a variety of ways, including cakes and such pastries as the Bakewell tart, conversation tart, Jésuite and pithivier. A French spelling from a 1674 coo ...

, and with a shiny egg-coating. The dough is rolled out like a double crust pie and filled with jam or pastry cream. Similar to the

Boston cream pie A Boston cream pie is a cake with a cream filling. The dessert acquired its name when cakes and pies were baked in the same pans, and the words were used interchangeably. In the late 19th century, this type of cake was variously called a "cre ...

, which is a cake and not a pie, the Gâteau Basque dough produces a crumb-textured pastry that is chewy and tender. It is traditional to mark a

Basque cross The lauburu (from Basque ''lau'', "four" + ''buru'', "head") is an ancient swastika with four comma-shaped heads and the most widely known traditional symbol of the Basque Country and the Basque people. In the past, it has also been associated ...

on the top if the cake is filled with black cherry jam, or to use a crosshatch pattern on top if filled with pastry cream.

History

The origins of Gâteau Basque are tied strongly with the town of

Cambo-les-Bains Cambo-les-Bains (; ) is a town in the traditional Northern Basque Country, Basque province of Labourd, now in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques Departments of France, department in south-western France. It lies on the south-western bank of the river Nive ...

Labourd Labourd (; ; ; ) is a former French province and part of the present-day Pyrénées Atlantiques '' département'' of Nouvelle-Aquitaine region. It is one of the traditional Basque provinces, and identified as one of the territorial component pa ...

. It may have originally been made with bread and called ''bistochak'' in the 18th century. The fishermen took it out to sea. The first known commercialisation of the cake was by Marianne Hirigoyen in Cambo in the first half of the 19th century. Later editions were flavoured with rum, brought back to France by Basques from the West Indies. The Gâteau Basque Festival (''Fête du Gâteau Basque'') is organized each year in Cambo-les-Bains. ''Eguzkia'' ("sun" in Basque), an association to promote quality Basque cake, was founded in France in 1994. There is a museum dedicated to the cake, ''Le musée du Gâteau Basque'', in Sare, Labourd.

References

External links

Gâteau Basque Festival
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gateau Basque French pastries Basque cuisine Cherry dishes Almond desserts Custard desserts Foods with jam

Description

History

See also

References

External links