Vanilla gâteau basque (Pablo Gicquel)

I found this recipe in the special issue n°10 of the magazine Fou de Pâtisserie, a classic vanilla gâteau basque. It’s Pablo Gicquel’s recipe, pastry chef at the Hotel le Crillon. The recipe is easy, it just requires a little patience with the different resting times for the dough, cream and cake before and after baking. If you don't like rum, you can replace it with a little vanilla extract, your cake will be well perfumed this way. I modified the quantities of the original recipe, and I made a cake of 20cm in diameter but the layer of cream was a little too thick and I had some dough left, so you can use these quantities for a cake of 22 to 24cm in diameter without any problem.

Prep time: 45 minutes + 2h rest + 30 minutes cooking
For a 22 to 24cm cake :

The dough :

80g egg yolks

150g butter

160g sugar

230g flour

1g of salt

3.5g baking powder

3g yellow lemon zest

Mix the butter, sugar, salt and lemon zest.

Then add the sifted flour and baking powder, you have to get like a crumble.

Finally incorporate the egg yolks and mix quickly to obtain a homogeneous dough. Divide the dough in half (one part slightly larger than the other), and spread each dough between two sheets of baking paper 4mm thick.

Place in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.

Vanilla & rum cream :

500g whole milk

120g sugar

80g egg yolks

55g cornstarch

1 vanilla bean

30g brown rum

Heat the milk with the vanilla seeds.

Whisk the egg yolks with the sugar and cornstarch.

Pour half of the hot milk over this mixture while whisking, then pour it back into the saucepan.

Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until thickened.

Pour the cream on a plate, put a plastic wrap on it and cool it in the refrigerator. Then, whisk quickly the cream and add the rum, stirring well.

Assembly :

Butter

Cassonade

1 whole egg or 2 egg yolks

Line your circle or cake pan with butter and cassonade. Put the largest dough in the pan. Add the cream inside, then cover with the second dough, sealing the two doughs well.

With the excess dough, you can make individual shortbreads in small circles.

Prepare the egg wash and brush the cake with it. Put the cake in the fridge for 1 hour and then put a second layer of egg wash. With the back of a knife blade, design a pattern and bake the cake at 160°C for 30 minutes. Let cool, then enjoy !