Basque cake filled with figs and cream

When Beatriz, author of To Be Gourmet, told me she felt like making the Basque Cake recipe for our blog I didn't hesitate to tell her "Go ahead!", because it's one of my favorite tarts. That delicious pastry filled with custard has always charmed me! She presents it to us with a double filling: figs and pastry cream, a luxurious combination in a tart you'll surely love to make at home, you'll see!

The “Basque Cake” is one of my favorite sweets. Its origin is in the farmhouses of the Basque Country where it was made with a butter-based dough, flour and almond and it was filled with the fruit that was in season at that time. Cherries were very typical, also berries; blackberries, blueberries, and of course figs.

Later on pastry cream was incorporated and over time people began to omit the fruit. I still like the recipe that includes both. I love making it homemade from start to finish; going to the market and making the dessert myself with the fruits.

Now in the north we have the green figs called “lady's neck”, which are pure honey. To make the cake's cut more attractive I like to add a handful of blackberries so the jam takes on a beautiful red tone.

A delight you'll find in the best pastry shops of the Basque Country and of which today we bring you the original recipe.

De Buyer copper saucepan, cutting board, Le Creuset Damascus steel knife and Emile Henry ceramic mold.

Ingredients

• 200gr very cold butter
• 300gr flour
• 150gr sugar
• 60gr ground almond
• 2 eggs
• Salt
• Another egg to brush the cake
• Oil to grease the mold

For the cream:

• 400ml whole milk
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 40gr sugar
• 50gr flour
• 2 eggs
• 50gr butter

For the fig jam:

• 300gr figs (or 250gr figs and 50gr blackberries)
• 3 tablespoons sugar
• 50/75ml water

Emile Henry ceramic mold, Le Creuset Damascus steel knife and sFrench De Buyer mineral iron skillet.

Preparation

Pastry cream

1. We put part of the milk in a glass and in it we dissolve the flour, the vanilla, the sugar and the eggs.
2. In a saucepan over the heat we put the remaining milk and the cinnamon, when it boils we add the previous mixture stirring with the help of some whisks and bring it back to a boil.
3. We maintain it for a couple of minutes and finally add the butter.
4. We reserve the pastry cream covered with plastic wrap touching the surface.

Fig jam

1. In a saucepan or skillet we put the peeled figs cut very small, and a handful of blackberries to give more color.
2. We add the sugar and half the water and let it cook over low heat while stirring occasionally.
3. At the moment it needs more liquid we add the remaining water. The cooking time is about half an hour. The fruit should be caramelized and thick.

The cake

1. We put the butter in the freezer half an hour before starting to handle it.
2. In a bowl wide and open, we will place the flour with the almond, the sugar and the salt and add the frozen butter cut into cubes.
3. With the help of a fork or a mortar we mix all the ingredients.
4. We beat the eggs separately and then add them to the previous mixture and integrate little by little.
5. Now we have the dough ready, and it is then that we wrap it in plastic wrap and put it for 1 hour or 1.30 hours in the refrigerator so that when rolled out it is cold again.
6. We take the dough out of the refrigerator and divide it into two parts. One of them will be to cover the cake, and the other to form the base. We return the first to the refrigerator to keep it cold.
7. We place a sheet of plastic wrap on the work surface and on it the dough we are going to roll out. We cover it with another sheet and this way shape it into a circle about 5mm thick.
8. We transfer the formed dough onto a ceramic mold like the Emile Henry (greased with oil) so that we cover the base and the sides.
9. We put the mold with the dough back in the fridge for about 10/15 min.
10. We fill with the cream we reserved and on top of it the jam.
11. We roll out the dough we had reserved to cover the cake, in the same way as we did with the base, and place it on top sealing the sides with our fingers.
12. To finish we brush with egg.
13. We can draw some little lines first in one direction and then in the other with the help of a knife very sharp. They are very characteristic of this cake.
14. Finally we place it in the oven preheated to 180º for about 40 min. It is left to cool and served directly from the mold either warm or cold.

Le Creuset Damascus steel knife and sFrench De Buyer mineral iron skillet.

Tips

• If at any time the dough sticks to our hands excessively the solution is to put it in the refrigerator, or even in the freezer, for a moment.
• The lines are traced more easily if the cake is put in the fridge for a few minutes. While we draw them, and depending on the room temperature, we can refrigerate it several times; a couple of minutes in the freezer is enough.
• If we clean the knife with kitchen paper every time we trace a line it will be easier not to drag the dough and the lines will be better drawn.
• To work the dough it is easier if we do it by placing it between two sheets of plastic wrap, that way it doesn't stick to the rolling pin and is transferred to the mold very easily.