Professional reference formula

Yield: one cake serving approximately 6.

  • Pastry: 300 g flour, 200 g sugar, 200 g butter, 1 whole egg, 2 yolks, fine salt, zest of 1 lemon and 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • Egg yolk for glazing
  • Cream: 250 g milk, 50 g flour, 50 g sugar, 2 whole eggs, 2 yolks and 1/2 vanilla pod

Method

  • Mix the pastry ingredients only until smooth; wrap and refrigerate for at least two hours.
  • Heat the milk with vanilla. Mix sugar, eggs, yolks and flour, temper with the hot milk and cook gently until thickened. Cool before assembly.
  • Use roughly two-thirds of the dough to line a buttered, floured deep tin. Add the cooled cream without contaminating the sealing edge.
  • Roll the remaining dough as a lid, seal the edges, egg-wash and score decoratively.
  • Bake at 180°C / 356°F for 30–35 minutes. Cool before cutting.

Identity and variation

Gâteau Basque is a sealed round butter pastry from the French Basque Country, not Basque cheesecake. Pastry cream and black-cherry preserve are both legitimate established fillings.

The regional formula uses baking powder. Christophe Felder's almond-enriched dough and other versions without chemical leavening demonstrate real source-specific choices; their ratios should not be averaged.

Critical controls

  • Rest the high-butter dough before rolling.
  • Cool the filling fully so steam and fat do not weaken the seam.
  • Seal the lid continuously: a leak changes both appearance and filling texture.
  • Bake until the shell is structurally set and evenly coloured, not merely until the egg wash browns.

Evidence status

external_evidence; no Tanya-specific production claim.