Basque · Iparralde (France) · dessert

Gâteau Basque à la Cerise Noire

Gâteau Basque à la Cerise Noire reads sweetness 6.0, richness 5.9 and citrus 5.7 on Palate's 0–10 flavor X-ray — a Basque · Iparralde (France) dessert, about 3 hr 40 min. Measured from the recipe itself: ingredients and technique.

The flavor X-ray — six axes, 0–10

The measured notes (of 18)

Sweetness 6.0 · Richness 5.9 · Citrus 5.7 · Sourness 5.2 · Fruity 4.6 · Salinity 3.2 · Umami 2.2 · Floral 2.1 · Bitterness 0.7 · Smoke 0.6 · Nutty 0.5

What's in it (17)

Time & effort: about 3 hr 40 min (1 hr 40 min active) · effort: involved

Nutrition (per 100 g, engine-estimated): 235.4 kcal, 10.8 g protein, 15.3 g fat, 32.1 g carbs

Dietary: Vegetarian · Contains dairy · Contains egg — engine-derived; double-check anything allergy-critical.

How it's cooked (9 steps)

  1. Beat the softened butter with the sugar and the salt for 5 minutes, until it is pale, light and noticeably increased in volume. Then beat in the whole eggs and the extra yolk one at a time, followed by the rum and the lemon zest.
  2. Fold in the flour and baking powder in two additions with a spatula, stopping the moment there is no dry flour left. What you have is not a pastry you can roll — it is a thick, sticky, almost cake-like paste, and that is correct. Anyone reaching for a rolling pin has the consistency wrong.
  3. Scrape it into a piping bag with a 1.5 cm plain nozzle and chill it 2 hours, or overnight. It is unworkable warm.
  4. If you are using pastry cream instead of the preserve, make it now: infuse the milk with the split vanilla pod for 10 minutes, whisk the 2 yolks with the 50 g of sugar and the cornflour, pour the hot milk over whisking, return it to the pan and cook over medium heat, whisking constantly, until it thickens and then boils for a full minute — that minute is what cooks out the raw starch. Cool it with a film pressed to the surface.
  5. Butter a 22 cm springform tin. Pipe a spiral of paste over the base and up the sides in a band about 1.5 cm thick, and smooth it with a wet spoon.
  6. Spread the cherry preserve — or the cold pastry cream — inside, leaving a clear 2 cm border all round. Filling taken to the edge will boil out and weld the cake to the tin.
  7. Pipe the rest of the paste over the top in a spiral, seal it to the border by pressing lightly with a wet finger, and smooth the surface. Brush with the egg glaze, chill 20 minutes, then glaze a second time and score the traditional crosshatch or Basque lauburu cross with the back of a knife, 1 mm deep only.
  8. Bake at 180°C (350°F) for 40 to 45 minutes, until it is deep even gold and firm to a light press in the centre. Cool it completely in the tin — cut warm, the filling runs and the crumb tears.
  9. It is best on the second day, when the moisture from the filling has softened the shortbread inwards. Keep it under a cloth, never in the fridge.

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Every number above is Palate's engine-measured estimate, computed from this recipe's ingredients and techniques — not human-tasted ratings or reviews.