Strange as it sounds there is a Basque Cake Festival (Fête du Gateau Basque) held every year in Cambo-les-Bains (64 Pyrénées-Atlantiques, Nouvelle Aquitaine) 5 – 6 October 2024:
Gâteau Basque is a traditional dessert from the Basque region of France. made from layers of an almond flour based cake with a filling of pastry, cream or preserved cherries. The pastry cream Gâteau Basque is more common in the Spanish Basque Country.
see www.lafetedugateaubasque.com/
In the town of Cambo-les-Bains you could stay in a great little hotel Hotel-Café du Trinquet in a very traditional Basque-style building in the centre of the town.
Cambo les Bains
The town of Cambo-les-Bains divides into two areas, separated by the Rue Xerri-Karrika, a street with many painted half-timbered houses: the newer, upper town of Cambo-les-Bains which is full of hotels, bars and restaurants and looks down over the River Nive and the old town below. The old town is in typical Basque style with white buildings and red or green shutters. One of the most interesting buildings to visit in the town is the Thermes at Cambo, an attractive Art Deco building where you can wander around the luxuriously planted gardens.
Gâteau Basque
Basque Cake (Gâteau Basque) is a traditional dessert from the Basque region of France. Typically Gâteau Basque is constructed from layers of a wheat flour based cake (a butter-sugar pastry dough, in this case “pâte sablée”, not “brisée”) with a filling of either almond or vanilla pastry cream, or preserved cherries. The pastry cream Gâteau Basque is more typical in the Spanish Basque Country. This started during the 19th century.
The name is French and means simply “Basque Cake”. In the Basque language the cake is called “Etxeko biskotxa” or “cake of the house”.
The type of dough used may vary a little. If butter is warmed before mixing with flour the dough will be called “pâte sucrée”. If it is cold the mixing process will require more work and the dough is called “pâte sablée” (it is crumblier). The resulting textures are a little different but mostly for the initiated taster. The flour used is a soft wheat flour with little mineral content (that is, a refined flour, common pastry/cake flour) The proportion of sugar used also varies. But the principle of this cake is having a soft shortbread-type dough 3 to 6 cm thick filled with an almond pastry cream -also called frangipane, and with a shiny egg-coating. wikipedia
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