Homage to a Cake: The Gateau Basque Museum

I have a feeling that were you to ask my husband why we traveled to the French Basque Country, he might say that I planned the whole trip around our visit to the Gateau Basque Museum.  I hadn't thought I was so obvious, but yeah, that was pretty much the reason.  I mean, wouldn't you want to go to a region that nurtures a museum dedicated to one particular kind of cake?  And wouldn't you be willing to travel about 8 hours to get there?  Of course, you would - and you wouldn't be disappointed.

I'm not sure what I expected, maybe a small regional museum with docents dressed in old-fashioned garb (think Williamsburg with cake), but whatever I imagined, this wasn't it. 

We followed the signs to the town of Sare, parked our car, as instructed, near a faded step van, then proceeded to walk down a steep curving path with signs that begged us not to pick the wild fruits and berries.  Toward the bottom of the hill, we came to a small, hand-built ticket kiosk (closed until 10 minutes before the tour would begin), a tool shed and two buildings: one clearly a home and the other evidently the museum.

Since we were early and the only people around, and since you could only see the museum as part of a tour, we wandered a bit, pressed our noses against the window of the modern bakery in the back of the museum and the found the gift shop, where we bought a mini Gateau Basque.

If this were all we'd get for our hours of travel, Michael and I decided it would be, as Michelin says, "Worth the voyage."

Time out to describe a Gateau Basque: It's a double layer of dough, more like a thick tart crust than the word "gateau" would lead you to believe, encasing a layer of either vanilla pastry cream or dark cherry jam, a local specialty.

By the time we finished making our mini gateau last as long as possible, there were 20 other cakelovers in line and our guide, Bixente Marichular, appeared.

I was surprised to see him dressed in chef's whites and even more surprised to discover that what we thought would be a tour would be a 90-minute talk and demo.  During what probably seemed like an eternity to Michael, who neither bakes nor speaks French (although he caught most of what the chef said), our guide revealed the secret to making a crust that won't crack when rolled - coarse sugar, the kind used for making jam; admonished us never to use any other preserves but the cherry jam made in nearby Itxassou; and showed us the traditional way to differentiate a cream-filled cake from one filled with jam - the jam cake should be topped with a piece of dough shaped like a Basque cross:

Not only did I learn a lot about the Gateau Basque, I learned a little something about the French, too.

At the start of the demo, Bixente grabbed a hunk of his beautiful dough, handed it to the guy in the first row and told him to taste it and pass it along.  Having given many baking demos, I couldn't help thinking how different things were in France: No one was wearing plastic gloves; no one complained that the dough was being pawed and passed from hand-to-hand; and no one said peep about the raw eggs in the dough.  And, when we were given cookies and told to dunk them in the pastry cream and the jam, no one snitched on the double-dippers.

When the demo was over and people were wandering off, I stayed to talk to the chef.  During the class, I'd asked to see the sugar and the chef, hearing my accent, asked where I was from.  When I said, "New York," he fired back quickly, "You can probably get sugar like this at Dean & DeLuca."  So, my first question to him apres class was: "When did you work in New York?"

Of course he laughed, and of course he had worked in New York.  He'd been in the City in the late '80s and early '90s and had worked with Gray Kunz at the Peninsula Hotel.

Once again, the food world had made the real world a tiny place.  Here we were, in a very small town in the middle of the French mountains and we were talking about shared friends, colleagues and memories.  I love when this happens and I love the community that makes this happen.

When I got back to Paris, I made this Gateau Basque (with the wrong pattern on top - I hadn't left enough dough to craft a cross):

It was pretty good, but it wasn't Bixente's.  I'm still working on it ...

Comments

[Dorie]

Chelsea, at the Gateau Basque Museum, the chef made it seem like both were authentic. I hope you and your students have fun with the class!

[Chelsea]

Hi Dorie. I am going to attempt to make the Gateau Basque for my French class, and I was wondering - Do you know which is more authentic - the pastry cream filling or the black cherry preserves filling? Thanks for the article!

[Dorie]

Kathy, where did you work that you made a Gateau Basque? We certainly don't see any here in New York.

Susie, you're lucky to live near Sare and yes, I can imagine how -- and, of course, why -- the locals think Americans are funny. Thanks for the giggle.

[susie]

I live not far from Sare, and I couldn't help but laugh at the comments about nobody complaining about the dough being passed around or the raw eggs in the dough. They think the Americans are too funny.

[kathy]

Wow! That's so interesting. We used to make a Basque cake at the restaurant I work at, but I never really knew much about it. Educational!

[Dorie]

Carol, thanks so much for the link -- it's fun to be able to relive that moment. I know you're loving every minute of your Paris trip and that soon we'll be enjoying it on your blog.

Renee - hope you're enjoying your time in the kitchen. I'm sure your friends and family are enjoying the rewards of that time!

[parisbreakfasts]

REGARDE!
while searching for something else I found this and pense a toi, Dorie!
http://legateaubasque.skyrock.com/2.html
Just in case the Basque gateaux research is ongoing...
Keep having fun in Paris!
I know I am :)
Carolg

[Renee]

I can't wait to try this gateau!! Cherries or cream, cream or cherries... either way it sounds great!! I've got some turbinado sugar hanging around - I think I'll try that too. I love all your stories (especially about France), plus I just received your Baking cookbook for my birthday!!!
...If anyone needs me I'll be in the kitchen...

[ParisBreakfasts]

I just realized I was HERE! Friends in Biarritz took me 2 years ago. We had the yummiest cherry filled tarts EVER!
A really sweet quaint place..
merci for the memory..

[Dorie]

Jeannette, I studied French in high school and college and, while I got good grades for grammar and reading, I couldn't say anything except what I had memorized. On my first trip to Paris, I barely said "bonjour". So, technically, you could say that I learned French before I learned to bake and came to love it, but now, years later, they feel intertwined. As everyone who knows me knows, I feel incredibly lucky to be able to do what I do -- I think the "food world" is a wonderful world -- but I think that speaking French and being able to be part of the French food community has enriched my life immeasurably. I could certainly do my work without speaking the language, but I think that speaking expands the possibilities and gives me the chance to make a connection with people that would only be formal otherwise.

Whew, that was a long answer. Here's the short comment: Jeannette, keep speaking. At the beginning, you'll be lost when people respond, but one day you'll answer automatically and be so surprised that you did! Just keep at it. You'll have fun doing it and most French people will be so appreciative that you've made the effort to speak to them in their language.

Alice Q and Maria -- thanks! It was so worth the trip and such a wonderful surprise!

Casey - I didn't think Gateau Basque was one of my favorites either, but when I tasted Bixente's, I was hooked. It's a plain cake, but when it's well-made, it's very, very satisfying. And it was such fun to have it in its region.

Rosa and Elsie -- my Gateau Basque recipe isn't ready for publication. I thought mine was good, but a little dry, so I'm still working on it. There's a recipe for Gateau Basque on the Musee du Gateau Basque site and it has an English translation with the measurements in grams. When someone asked Bixente during the demo if that was the same recipe as the one that produced what we had tasted, he said, "It's not THE recipe, but it's A recipe." I think it could be a good place to start.

Terri -- it's so great that you'll be talking about Gateau Basque at your Draeger's class! I've never had a Gateau Basque with both cream and cherries -- yum -- but Bixente mentioned making the cake with both cherry jam and fresh cherries and I thought that sounded pretty swell, too.

As for the sugar - The sugar Bixente used was a white sugar with granules only slightly coarser than commercial sugar like Domino. It was kind of like what some generic supermarket sugars look like. BUT, a Pierre Herme recipe that I have for Gateau Basque calls for "cassonade," which is a brown sugar, making me think that turbinado might be just right and making me wonder if the cake wouldn't be good (although not traditional) with Sugar-in-the-Raw.

Brilynn - I have a feeling that if you went to France, we'd lose you for a long while. But what fabulous posts we'd be able to read!

[brilynn]

I simply adore your stories! I've never had gateau basque, clearly, a trip to France should be in order...

[Terri]

I LOVE Gateau Basque! I LOOOOOOOOOOOOOVE Gateau Basque! Especially the kind with BOTH cherries and pastry cream (though hard to find - I normally have to make it myself). What kind of "coarse sugar" was he talking about? Turbinado? I'm puzzled.
Of course, I'll be talking about Gateau Basque quite soon, myself -- it's on my menu for my upcoming class at Draeger's cooking school.
Take care - and thanks for your incredible blogs!

[elsie potts]

Wonderful story. Gateau Basque is one of my favorites but recipes for it are hard to fine. Do you have one?

[Rosa]

What a great story, Dorie, with such a happy ending! Any chance you'll publish the recipe?

[Casey]

What a delightful tale. Gateau basque isn't one of my favorite French pastries (was that diplomatic enough?) but I'd have loved to been at that demo.

[Maria]

It looks like it was well worth the trip and your cake looks great!

[Alice Q. Foodie]

What a neat story Dorie - thanks for sharing!

[Jeannette]

Which came first, Dorie, if you don't mind me asking, your love of baking or your learning of the French language? You must find it very useful to be able to converse in their language when you are in France, I studied it in school but I'm afraid I get very confused when I'm in France, I can say what I need to but when they answer I'm lost!!!