 | |
| Type | Pastry |
|---|---|
| Course | Dessert |
| Place of origin | Northern Basque Country |
| Main ingredients | Almond flour,pastry cream orpreserved cherries |
Gâteau Basque (Basque:etxeko bixkotxa; "cake of the house") is a traditionaldessert from theNorth of Pays Basque, a region of France, typically filled withblack cherry jam or pastry cream. Gâteau Basque with cream is more typical in theSouth of Pays Basque, a region of Spain.
Typically Gâteau Basque is constructed from layers of a butter-sugar wheat flour pastry dough (in this casepâte sablée, notbrisée) with a filling of eitherblack cherry jam or almond or vanillapastry cream. It has been argued that only black Xapata cherries native to the Basque Country should be used.[1]
The dough is rolled out like a double crust pie and filled with jam or pastry cream. Similar to theBoston cream pie, which is a cake and not a pie, the Gâteau Basque dough produces a crumb-textured pastry that is chewy and tender.[2][3]
It is traditional to mark aBasque cross 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.[4]
The origins of Gâteau Basque are tied strongly with the town ofCambo-les-Bains,Labourd. It may have originally been made with bread and calledbistochak in the 18th century.[1] 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.[5]
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.[1] There is a museum dedicated to the cake,Le musée du Gâteau Basque, inSare, Labourd.[5]
Despite the name, this recipe is actually for a custard-filled pastry.
