Today in pastry class, we made the famed gateau basque from the Basque region of France (well, duh). The crust is made with an entire block of butter (meaning 4 sticks or 250g) which is bound to taste absolutely sinfully delicious but also makes it one of the worst doughs to work with– super buttery and soft and so delicate, even working on a cold and generously floured marble worktop was challenging.
It is then filled with a layer of pastry cream, or almond cream is also used, and a layer of black cherry jam, covered with another layer of delicate dough, scored and then baked til a little over golden brown
Not sure how I feel about the gateau because I am not a cherry fan unless they are fresh cherries. The chef did say to try it when it was chilled, which gave the crust time to come together and not completely crumble when picked up, and gave some time for the cherry jam and pastry cream to meld together. I’m pretty sure the gateau basque has its fans, but I personally don’t think I want to be splurging my precious calories on this 
I think the one slice I had contained about 2-3 tablespoons of butter!
ethelinparis 