by Chrissie Walker
One delicious Basque dessert is the ‘Gâteau Basque’ which is a traditional deep-filled double-crust cream pie. It’s called Etxeko biskotxa in Basque, which translates as ‘cake of the house’. Here is the basic version flavoured with a dash of spirits but one could add fruit jam at the bottom for more flavour. This dessert is so popular that it has its own museum in France, called the Gateau Basque Museum, where one can learn how to make the cake, and there are several varieties for sale.
Ingredients:
1 pack of ready-made sweet-crust pastry 1 pack of all-butter puff pastry
For the filling:
1/2 litre of full-fat milk
2 egg yolks
1 whole egg
110g caster sugar
50g plain flour
2 tablespoons dark rum (brandy or kirsh could be sustituted for a different flavour)
1 tsp vanilla essence
Method:
In a double-boiler, whisk the sugar, egg yolks and whole egg until pale and frothy.
Stir in the flour little by little, stirring constantly.
Bring the milk to a boil. Pour half the milk gradually into the egg mixture, while stirring to ensure that the eggs don’t scramble.
Pour this egg mixture over the remaining milk in the saucepan.
Return the pan to a medium heat and stir until the custard thickens.
Remove the custard from the heat and add the dark rum or other spirit.
Put the custard into a bowl and allow to cool with clingfilm touching the custard, and let cool to room temperature.
Preheat the oven to 180° Centigrade.
To assemble
Use the sweet-crust pastry to line the bottom and sides of a small cake tin.
From the puff pastry cut out a circle a little larger than the cake tin. Pour the cooled custard into the lined tin and spread evenly.
Put the puff pastry circle on top and crimp the edges to seal.
Brush a little egg or milk over the top and bake for 30 minutes until golden.
Remove from oven and let cool on a wire rack before removing from the tin.
Serve in wedges with whipped cream.