Basque Cake

This is definitely not a cake for beginners to attempt, but it was well worth all the effort. The simple vanilla bean flavor, enhanced by the buttery richness, left you wanting another slice.  The crust is simply amazing (for those who are crust lovers). The thick cake batter is piped into the springform pan, followed with pastry cream and them a top layer of cake batter.  I baked this cake for 90 minutes, which helps to form the thick rich crust. Perfect with a hot cup of coffee or tea!
As always, Enjoy!

Amanda Rockman’s Basque Cake

Yield: 1 8-inch cake, serves 8-10

• 16 ounces unsalted butter, room temperature (60-65°F)
• 16 ounces granulated sugar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla paste
• 3 large eggs, room temperature
• 13 ounces cake flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 tablespoon kosher salt (yes, tablespoon)
• Pastry Cream (see recipe below)

Preheat the oven to 325°F. Butter an 8-inch springform pan (it should be at least 2.5-3 inches tall), line the bottom with parchment and then butter the parchment. Flour the pan and set aside.

In a medium bowl, sift together the cake flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.

In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, scraping the bowl thoroughly every minute or so. Add the vanilla paste and mix to incorporate. Add the eggs, one at a time, scraping the bowl and beating well after each addition. Add the sifted dry ingredients to the mixer and beat on low speed until just until combined.

Building the Cake:

Using a pastry/piping bag (or a ziplock bag with the corner snipped off) pipe an inch-thick disc of batter at the bottom of your cake pan. Then, pipe a ring of batter on top of that layer, along the inside perimeter of the pan. You are creating a small trough to hold the pastry cream. Pipe pastry cream into the space you’ve created (use as much pastry cream as you need to fill hole, it seemed like 1-1.5 cups), keeping it level with the ring of batter (see photo for illustration of this step). Pipe another disk of batter on top the whole thing, sealing the pastry cream into the cake (you might not use all of the batter, just use what you need for your pan). Use damp hands to gently smooth down the top of the batter.

Bake the cake until it is a deep golden brown and thoroughly set. This will probably take around an hour, though mine stayed in for 75 minutes or so. If the top is getting too dark, you can cover it loosely with a piece of aluminum foil. There is so much fat in this recipe, that you do not need to worry about it drying out, err on the side of a longer cooking time.

Remove from oven and allow to cool to room temperature.

Pastry Cream

• 4 cups whole milk
• 1/2 cup (100g) granulated sugar, divided
• kosher salt
• 1/4 cup (60g) cornstarch
• 9 large egg yolks
• 2 oz (56g) butter- cubed
• 3 tablespoons vanilla paste

Set up a medium bowl in an ice bath, set aside. In a medium saucepan, heat the milk, 1/4 cup (50 g) of granulated sugar, and a pinch of kosher salt. In a medium bowl, whisk together the cornstarch and remaining 1/4 cup of granulated sugar. Once the milk has come to a boil, reduce heat to low. Add the egg yolks to the sugar/cornstarch mixture and whisk thoroughly to combine. Slowly whisk some of the hot milk mixture into the egg yolks to temper them. Whisking constantly, pour the the tempered egg yolks into the hot milk mixture and cook over low heat until thickened. Remove from heat and whisk in the butter and vanilla paste. Transfer the pastry cream to ice bath and immediately press a piece of plastic wrap touching the top of the pastry cream to prevent a skin from forming. Allow to cool for a bit in the ice bath before transferring pastry cream to the refrigerator. You can make this in advance. This recipe makes more pastry cream than you need for the cake, you can cut the recipe in half or use the rest as you like.