{"id":30183,"date":"2024-05-12T19:31:48","date_gmt":"2024-05-12T17:31:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bake-street.com\/?p=30183"},"modified":"2026-04-08T12:24:02","modified_gmt":"2026-04-08T10:24:02","slug":"gateau-basque","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bake-street.com\/en\/gateau-basque\/","title":{"rendered":"G\u00e2teau Basque"},"content":{"rendered":"

For a long time I have wanted to bring you the recipe for this simple and spectacular G\u00e2teau Basque<\/strong><\/em>. We often tend to complicate our recipes thinking that the more laborious the recipe, the better the result. Certainly, in some cases this may be the case, but in many cases it is not necessary. And today we can see an example.<\/p>\n

Looking at this recipe, it may remind us of a custard pie and, to be honest, I think that this definition is not far off the mark. It just looks that way on the surface.<\/p>\n

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Origin of G\u00e2teau Basque.<\/h2>\n

Once again, we delve into the mystery of the origin of a culinary delicacy: G\u00e2teau Basque<\/strong><\/em>. Some claim that the recipe originated in Cambo-les-Bains<\/strong><\/em>, at Marianne Hirigoyen’s P\u00e2tisserie<\/strong>, in the mid-19th century. Others claim that it was in Saint-P\u00e9e-sur-Nivelle<\/strong><\/em>, at the Maison P\u00e9reuil<\/strong><\/em>, where it has been made with the same recipe since 1876.<\/p>\n

Some even point to places such as Saint-Jean-de-Luz, Biarritz or Sare, where today you can find a museum dedicated to the G\u00e2teau Basque. The controversy also revolves around whether the “canonical” G\u00e2teau Basque is the cream cake, which ingredients are essential or whether adding jam is culinary heresy.<\/p>\n

The choice to organise the Fiesta de la Torta Vasc<\/a>a (Torta Vasca Festival)<\/strong> in the town of Cambo is no coincidence. Cherry Karrika Street in Cambo, around 1900, is where we find the oldest traces of “Biskotxak<\/strong><\/em>“, originally family-made and later handmade. A postcard from 1902 shows a large labour-style house in the Cherry Karrika district, where a small shop can be seen with a sign that specifies “Patisserie Marianne”, run by Marianne Hirigoyen<\/strong><\/em> since 1832, the year of her marriage to Bernard Dassance<\/strong><\/em>.<\/p>\n

It is to Marianne Hirigoyen, a native of H\u00e9lette, that we owe the family recipe for Basque pastry, which she in turn received from her mother. During the Restoration, the Camb\u00f3 spa attracted many visitors, including Bayonne, Landes and some Spaniards.<\/p>\n

In 1821, Jean Fagalde, the spa’s farmer, built an elegant establishment consisting of a half-roundabout linked to two main quadrangular buildings. Camb\u00f3’s clientele increased during the Second Empire; in 1856 there were 1,600 “summer visitors” from April to November.<\/p>\n

\"G\u00e2teau <\/picture><\/div>\n

Marianne Hirigoyen ran her patisserie for half a century.<\/h3>\n

With the help of her daughter Marie<\/em>, married in 1871 to Pierre Dibar<\/em>. Marianne, who ran the Cambo-les-Bains<\/em> patisserie from 1832, was nicknamed “the Basque of cakes” during her visits to the Bayonne market. Initially known as the ‘Cambo cake’<\/strong>, she seems to have given the G\u00e2teau Basque its present name thanks to the nickname of Madame Hirigoyen.<\/p>\n

At the beginning of the 19th century, the Marianne patisserie was run by Marianne Hirigoyen’s granddaughters, the Dibar sisters, nicknamed ‘The Biskotx Sisters<\/strong>‘. For thirty years, these two picturesque figures walked with their baskets full of cakes along the church street to sell them in a shop in Gasteluberria<\/em>. The younger, Elisabeth, died in 1939 at the age of 58, while the elder, Anne, passed away in 1955 at the age of 83 after passing on the secret of her recipe to the local pastry chef called Ingres.<\/p>\n

Its Basque name, ‘etxeko bixkotxa<\/strong><\/em>‘, literally translated as ‘house cake’, suggests a recipe rooted in the family. The most widespread version attributes its creation to Marianne Hirigoyen, pastry chef of the only pastry shop in the spa town of Cambo-les-Bains<\/em>.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

It was in the late 19th and early 20th centuries that G\u00e2teau Basque began to gain ground in the trade, first in local bakeries. Initially known and marketed locally, it was in the 1940s, thanks to the boom in coastal tourism, that Basque cake gradually began to achieve the success it has today.<\/p>\n

\"G\u00e2teau <\/picture><\/div>\n

Maison Adam’s G\u00e2teau Basque.<\/h2>\n

It is the only Basque cake decorated with the Basque cross, or “lauburu<\/strong><\/em><\/a>” cross, made of shortbread biscuit dough, created by Jean-Pierre Telleria<\/em><\/strong>. It has a patent that makes it unique and recognisable among all the Basque cakes on the market.<\/p>\n

This patisserie presents this Basque cake in several formats; its simplest form filled with pastry cream, decorated with a black cherry in its black cherry Basque cake, with a walnut in its apricot\/walnut Basque cake and finally chocolate colour in its chocolate Basque cake.<\/p>\n

\"G\u00e2teau <\/picture><\/div>\n

How to make the traditional G\u00e2teau Basque?<\/h3>\n

As I mentioned at the beginning, it is a very simple recipe, but spectacular. A shortcrust pastry that, if you have the time and desire, I recommend making it by hand to enjoy the process more intensely. It is very easy and rewarding to make. The filling can consist of one or two elements; traditionally it is always made with custard.<\/p>\n

The combination of shortcrust pastry and custard is always a success, as in this peach and custard pie<\/a><\/strong>.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

For my part I leave you with this version, at the risk of not being the traditional one, but which I guarantee is absolutely delicious and spectacular. A buttery dough, with a crunchy exterior and full of aromas and flavours that combine with a base of jam, in my case blueberries, and a custard, with lots of vanilla, and an ideal consistency so that when cut, it keeps its shape. A mouthful of Gods.<\/p>\n