Chocolate basque cake (François Perret)

François Perret, the Ritz pastry chef, gave his chocolate Basque cake recipe a few days ago on Instagram, so here it is too. My first Basque cake, but I think it's not going to be the last one you'll see around here because I loved it! I followed the recipe to the letter and I used « Caraïbes » chocolate by Valrhona. As it is for a custard, there is no difficulty but a little patience is necessary since the cake has to cools down before tking it out of the mold and of course eating it ;-)

Prep time : 35 minutes + 1 hour rest + 45 minutes cookng time + cooling time
For a 22 to 24cm cake :

The dough :

250g T55 flour

5g baking powder

200g butter

200g brown sugar

1 egg

2 egg yolks

50g dark rum

Cream the butter with the sugar. Add the flour and the baking powder, then stir in the egg and egg yolks. Finish with the rum.

Divide the dough into two parts (one a little bigger than the other), spread each part roughly between two sheets of parchment paper and place them in the fridge for at least 1 hour (the dough being very soft, the cooler it is the easier i twill be to be easy to work and to place in the mold).

Chocolate filling cream :

400g whole milk

230g dark chocolate

40g of egg yolks (2 to 3 yolks depending on size)

30g brown sugar

25g flour or cornstarch

Heat the milk.

Whisk the egg yolks with the sugar and flour or cornstrach. When the milk is boiling, pour it over the eggs, whisking. Put the all mixture in the pan and cook it over medium heat, stirring constantly. When the cream has thickened, add the chopped chocolate inside and stir until you have a smooth cream. Put the cream in a dish, cover it and place it in the fridge until ready to assemble. It was not specified in the recipe, but the assembly will be much easier with the cream very cold (to avoid reheating the dough).

Cooking :

1 egg for the egg wash

Put the largest dough in a 22 to 24cm mold or baking ring. Pour the chocolate cream into it and smooth the surface. Cover with the second dough and weld the two doughs together to prevent the cream from leaking. Whisk an egg, and spread the egg wash on the dough with a brush. Preheat the oven to 200°C. When the oven is hot, sprad again some egg wash on the cake, and use a knife to make a drawing on the top (be careful, the knife should not spike the dough). Bake the cake about 45 minutes in the oven heated at 180°C. Let it cool completely before removing the mold. Enjoy !