To make this gateau Basque recipe you must:
Make the dough, and chill for 2 hours
Make the pastry cream and refrigerate until cold
Assemble the Basque cake
Bake the cake until golden
Recipe Notes
Use cold butter.
Do not overwork the dough. When bringing the dough together, no kneading necessary. What you need to do is “fraisage” a French technique used to bring together the dough to avoid overworking it and developing the gluten in the flour. Using the palm of your hand smear the dough against the countertop. Repeat the operation until the dough has come together and there are no visible pieces of butter in it. You can see on the pictures above or on this video how to do a proper “fraisage”.
You can find a detailed recipe and instructions on how to make the best vanilla pastry cream here
Smooth out the pastry cream using a whisk before assembling the Gateau Basque to remove any lumps and make it easier to work with.
To make the pastry cream cool down faster, spread it out over a baking tray lined with saran wrap. Then cover with saran wrap once again and refrigerate.
Make sure to butter the cake ring before assembling this cake. This will make lining the ring a lot easier as the dough will slide into it!
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