Classic Breton Butter Cake Recipes

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cream butter and sugar in bowl of electric mixer fitted with paddle attachment until light and fluffy. Beat in vanilla and yolks one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add flour and salt; beat just until combined. Do not overmix.
• Transfer batter to 9-inch tart pan with removable bottom; with small offset spatula, spread batter and smooth top. (If necessary, chill batter 10 minutes before smoothing.) Place pan in refrigerator 15 minutes.
• Remove from refrigerator. Brush top with beaten egg, and mark a criss-cross pattern with a fork. Brush again with egg. Bake until cake is deep golden brown and edges pull away from sides of pan, about 50 minutes.
• Transfer to a wire rack to cool slightly. Remove cake from pan, and slice while still warm. Serve with strawberry compote.

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 9-inch tart pan with removable bottom.
• Sift both flours, baking powder, and salt into a large bowl; set aside.
• In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the egg yolks and sugar on medium-high speed until doubled in volume and pale yellow, 2 to 3 minutes, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. Add the butter in four parts, beating until completely combined after each, 1 to 2 minutes total. With the mixer on low speed, add flour mixture, beating until combined.
• Transfer batter to prepared pan; with a small offset spatula, spread batter and smooth top. (If necessary, chill batter for 10 minutes before smoothing.) Refrigerate for 30 minutes.
• Remove pan from refrigerator. Brush top with beaten egg, and mark a crosshatch pattern with a knife. Brush again with egg. Bake until cake is deep golden brown and edges pull away from sides of pan, 40 to 45 minutes. Cover with foil if browning too quickly.
• Transfer to a wire rack to cool slightly. Remove cake from pan, and slice while still warm.

Steps:

• Place the flour on the counter and make a well. Cut up the butter and place the sifted sugars, butter, yolks, rum, and vanilla powder in the well. Work the well together.
• Work in the flour then "fraisage" the dough, pushing it away from you on the counter with the heel of your hand. This helps schmear the butter into thin layers to make the cake flakey in the end. Chill the dough 30 minutes.
• Preheat the oven to 360 degrees F.
• Butter an 8-inch cake pan and line the bottom with parchment and butter the paper. Roll the dough out on a lightly floured surface to an 8-inch disk about 1/2-inch thick. Flip it over onto your hand and brush off the excess flour then place it in the pan. Brush the top with egg wash; then egg wash it again to get a thicker coating. Using a knife, decorate it with the traditional cross-hatching, or for restaurant presentation you carve a map of Brittany on the surface and do some angled lines all around the edge. Bake until golden brown, about 30 to 40 minutes. Let cool in the pan and serve in wedges.
• I kept this recipe in the original metric measurements I was taught it in to show the relationship between the ingredients. Quatre-Quarts (meaning "four quarters") is a French cake shaped like a rectangle and all the ingredients (butter, sugar, flour, and eggs-oooo that would make a good book title, don't you think?) are of equal weights. My teacher, Chef Claude at La Varenne said you weigh the eggs and then match that measurement with the other ingredients.
• If you look this up in the dictionary, Quarte-quarts translates to pound cake, the American version of a pound of 4 equal ingredients, but with air whipped in for leavening. This cake is dense and buttery with a big crumb, more like a shortbread than a cake.
• You can do the mixing in a food processor but this recipe is the traditional way.

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Grease a 9-inch springform pan.
• Mix 1 teaspoon egg yolk and water in a small bowl. Set aside for glazing the cake.
• Combine remaining egg yolks, flour, butter, sugar, and cornstarch in a large bowl. Mix with an electric mixer until dough is stiff and sticky, similar to cookie dough. Knead dough a little bit to bring it together.
• Press dough into the prepared pan with your hands. Brush glaze on top.
• Bake in the preheated oven for 15 minutes. Reduce temperature to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Continue baking until golden brown, about 25 minutes more. Cool for 10 minutes. Slice cake crosswise.

Steps:

• In a small pot over medium-high heat, combine prunes, rum and 2 tablespoons water. (Use 1 cup/240 milliliters water if using dried apricots.) Cook until most of the liquid has been absorbed (about 5 minutes for prunes, 10 to 15 for apricots). Use a fork to mash into a thick purée. Cover and chill.
• In a food processor, pulse to combine flour, sugar and salt. Add butter and pulse until mixture resembles bread crumbs. Add 5 egg yolks and pulse until mixture comes together as a dough. Divide in half, form into disks, and wrap in plastic wrap. Chill at least 2 hours or until firm.
• Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and line an 8-inch round cake pan with parchment paper. Between two sheets of parchment paper or plastic wrap, roll one of the dough halves into an 8-inch circle. Transfer dough to prepared cake pan, pressing into edges. Spread prune or apricot purée across dough, leaving 3/4 inch border around outside edge. Roll second piece of dough into an 8-inch circle, transfer to cake pan, press around outside edge to stick the pieces together and seal in fruit purée.
• In a small bowl, combine remaining egg yolk with 1 teaspoon water and beat lightly. Brush over top of cake, then use a fork to score a crisscross pattern into the dough. Bake until golden brown, about 50 minutes (cover with foil if cake is browning too quickly). Cool in pan 15 minutes. Flip onto a plate, then invert onto a wire rack and let cool completely.

Steps:

• 1. Preheat the oven to 300°F/150°C/gas 3/4. Butter and lightly flour a 9-inch/23-cm cake pan.
• 2. Place the walnuts and 2 tablespoons of the sugar in the bowl of a food processor and grind so that most of the walnuts are finely ground but not anywhere near a paste.
• 3. In a large bowl, whisk together 6 of the egg yolks and the remaining 1 cup 2 tablespoons sugar until the mixture is blended, just a few minutes; there is no need to use an electric mixer here. It will be thick and yellow but shouldn't form a ribbon. Slowly whisk in the walnuts and sugar, then the butter. Sift the flour over the mixture and whisk it in just until the mixture is homogeneous. Don't overmix the batter or the cake will be tough.
• 4. Whisk together the remaining egg yolk and 2 teaspoons water, to make an egg glaze.
• 5. Turn the batter, which will be quite stiff, into the prepared pan and smooth it out. Lightly but thoroughly paint it with the egg glaze. Using the back of the tines of a fork, deeply mark a crisscross pattern in the top of the cake, going three times across it in one direction, then three in another. (The marks in the cake will fade, leaving just their trace on the top of the cake.)
• 6. Bake in the center of the oven until the cake is deep golden on the top and springs back slowly but surely when it is touched, about 1 hour and 15 minutes. Using a knife or cake tester isn't recommended as it always comes out looking slightly damp because of the amount of butter in the recipe.
• 7. Remove from the oven and transfer the cake to a wire rack, and let it cool for about 10 minutes before turning out of the cake pan. Let it cool thoroughly before serving.