Gâteau Basque

     This is a recipe for a traditional Basque cake, courtesy of my friend Debbie. Her grandmother, who was from Biarritz used to make these cakes when she was little. They are a traditional French-Basque dessert and are fairly simple to make. It is a layered cake, usually made with almond flour but I just used normal flour, crème patissière (pastry cream), and if you'd like a fruity layer, usually done with a preservative, traditionally cherry in this particular cake. In this cake I chose to leave out the jam layer because I think pastry cream is delicious on it's own. This recipe also calls for a spring-form pan, which I do not have so I just made it in a 9 in. cake pan and had to work a little harder to get it out.

So start by preheating your oven to 400F degrees.

Crème Patissière

2 eggs

3 tbs. sugar

1/2 cup almond flour (can use regular flour)

2 cups milk

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1 tsp. almond extract

In a medium saucepan mix together the eggs, sugar, and flour. Place over medium heat.

Slowly add milk and stir constantly until thickened (boiling).

Remove from heat and add the vanilla and almond extracts.

Pour into a bowel and cool it in the refrigerator.

Crust

4 eggs (3 yolks and 1 whole egg)

2 cups flour

2 tsp. baking powder

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup and 1 tbs. butter

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1 tsp. almond extract

Sift flour and baking powder in a large mixing bowel.

Add the sugar, 1 whole egg, three egg yolks, softened (but not melted) butter, and extracts.

Mix until the dough no longer sticks to the sides of the bowel.

Place 3/4 of the dough into your spring-form pan. Pat the dough onto the bottom and up the sides of the pan.

If you did want to add a jam layer spread it evenly over the crust.

Now pour your crème patissière into the pan and spread it evenly.

Use the rest of your dough to cover the crème patissière and you can decorate the top if you wish with cuts or grooves. 

Bake at 400F degrees for 20 minutes. Then reduce heat to 350F degrees and bake for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown.(I was also cooking tater tots)

Allow to cool before serving and make sure to refrigerate.

Enjoy :D