Gateau Basque - 3/31/07
It is basically an almond cake filling mixed with Crème Pâtissière (Pastry cream). Sometimes it is also filled with cherry preserve, I opted for not including the cherries filling in the cake.
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To make this cake, you will need to plan ahead. The dough and the filling has to be made ahead of time and need time to rest. The second step is to roll out the dough which is somewhat difficult to handle because it is soft and brittle! Then it takes about an hour to bake. This is the first time I made this cake and I found it a little sweet for my taste but other people seemed to really like it. The almond filling is very generous so if you love almond, this cake is for you! |
Here is a little history about the Basque country:
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Where is the Basque country? The Basque Country is a thorn-shaped slice of land that cuts into both Spain and France along their Atlantic seaboard. It roughly describes the land between Spain's Ebro River and France's Adour River and is widest between Bilbao and Bayonne in the west before thinning to a point at Tudela in the east. The 128 000sq km in between are made up of seven provinces: the three French chunks are Labourd, Basse Navarre and Soule; the four in Spain are Navarra, Vizcaya, Guipúzcoa and Alava. |
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So it's bits of France and Spain then?
Yes and no. While the "Pays Basque" is part of France and the "Pais Vasco" part of Spain, the Basque Country is considered a separate nation by most of the 2.4 million people who live there!
