GATEAU BRETON
As much as I love cooking, baking has never been a big passion of mine. But as I've become more of a homebody in the last year and cut back on cocktails, I've developed a new love for it. It started around Christmas time when I recreated my childhood tradition of baking gingerbread and "rich roll" sugar cookies from the Joy of Cooking and hosted a cookie-painting party with some friends. Then when I arrived home in Connecticut for the holidays, my brother and his fiancé were in the middle of making Gateau Breton.
This cake is dense and buttery, almost like a shortbread with a inner layer of a sweet and tart apricot filling. You could use preserves but I'll tell you that the filling is very easy to make. The traditional method for making this cake is to make a dense dough, divide into discs and chill for a few hours. This is the method Brian and Carolyn used with a recipe from New York Times Cooking. However, I tried a different method from Cook's Illustrated in which you make a batter rather than a dough and freeze for 10 minutes in between layers. It turned out great! You need an account to access this recipe, and I'd encourage you to subscribe to their website because it's full of great recipes and tips. So please head over to their website for the full recipe and then follow along with me as I walk you through it!
First, make the filling. Puree dried apricots and water in a blender. In a nonstick pan, combine puree with sugar and stir together over medium heat for about 12 minutes until the mixture has thickened and darkened. Transfer to a bowl and stir in lemon juice. Let cool and refrigerate for at least 15 minutes or up to a few days. (I made mine two days before I made the cake.)
Now make the batter. Disclaimer: I softened my butter in the microwave and let it go just a tad too long, so it had begun to melt. Rather than toss it I decided to hope for the best and the cake still turned out fabulous. So try NOT to do that, but I wanted to let you know exactly what I was working with.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and grease a 9 inch cake pan with butter.
Beat butter on medium-high speed until smooth. I used a hand-mixer. If you have a stand mixer, wonderful. If you have neither you'll still be fine--Brian and Carolyn mixed everything by hand. As Brian pointed out, people have been making this for hundreds of years without electric appliances. He's a smart guy, that brother of mine.
Add the sugar and continue to mix/beat.
Add 5 egg yolks, one at a time.
Add dark rum and vanilla and keep mixing. Then add flour and salt and beat on low speed just long enough for everything to come together. You don't want to mix too long or your cake will be more airy than dense, and dense is the goal here.
Now scoop half the batter and spread in an even layer across the bottom of your prepared cake pan. The recipe suggests a small offset spatula, a tool I do not possess. I found a flat-bottomed pho ladle did the trick. Let's make it work, people!
Freeze for 10 minutes. Then remove from freezer and spread a layer of apricot filling across the batter, leaving a 3/4 inch border around the edge.
I'm aware my cake is messy. Still working on the patience and delicate touch that makes a great baker. Those two qualities do not come naturally to me.
After you've spread the filling, freeze pan for another 10 minutes.
Take pan out of freezer and spread remaining batter over filling. Make an egg yolk wash with 1 yolk and 1 tsp water. Brush top off cake with wash.
Using tines of a fork, make a crosshatch pattern across the surface of the cake.
Bake until golden brown, about 45-50 minutes. Let cake cool in pan for 30 minutes, then use knife to gently remove cake from sides of pan and continue cooling for another hour on a wire rack.
Isn't it pretty?
Serve in wedges, preferably with coffee. I brought the cake into the pub the next day and shared with regulars.
You can see my cake isn't perfectly uniform, likely due to how soft my butter was. That being said, it was delicious! I'd like to try a side-by-side comparison of a Gateau Breton made with dough and one made with batter like this. Next time I'm home, I'm summoning Brian and Carolyn to a bake-off!
Bon appetit!