A gâteau basque is the perfect canvas for all sorts of fillings and flavored doughs.
Typically made from an outer layer of dough (which makes it closer to a pie than a cake), Basque cake (or Etxe Bixkotxa) is filled with pastry cream and Itxassou cherry jam.
But Chef Andrés Lara’s recipe breaks all the ingredient rules of this baked good from the Labourd Basque-French region.
In his Basque cake version, a tropical mix of deep cacao mass dough and 70% dark chocolate pastry cream steals the show.
And instead of that tart cherry jam? The complex notes of caramelized bananas create a gorgeous balance.
As always, Chef Lara shares with you all the food science behind the importance of egg yolks in gâteau basque dough and cocoa butter in the pastry cream to perfect this historic cake/tart.
Enjoy his Chocolate and Caramelized Banana Basque Cake today!
Melissa Coppel’s Chocolate and Confectionery School is globally recognized for redefining pastry education with its online, hands-on, and live classes. Every course is designed to give pastry lovers, home bakers, and professionals the knowledge to create world-class desserts and chocolate confections — wherever they are.
