Gateau Breton: How to be a Domestic Goddess, Nigella Lawson

How to be a Domestic Goddess was one of the first cookbooks I owned. In fact it may have actually belonged to my mom and I took it with me when I moved into my first apartment after college. Pretty sure that's what happened now that I think about it.

When I worked at my first law firm job, there were only seven or eight of us total in the office, and I used to bake everyone their own birthday cake (or baked good or some type) and one year I took requests from everyone for Christmas. One of the attorneys didn't like sweets so I baked him Nigella's garlic and parsley hearthbreads, which were absolutely out of this world good. I also disastrously attempted to make homemade pasta for him one time, but my mind goes hazy when I try to recall the gory details. I made Nigella's fresh gingerbread with lemon icing for my boss and his wife that same Christmas, I love gingerbread and think it should be a year round food.

Those are the only recipes I ever tried, though, so at the beginning of my cookbook challenge, I wanted to relive my past and go back to Nigella. The gateau breton is one of the first recipes and I love baked goods that are simply, just butter eggs sugar and flour.

Unfortunately I overbaked this while I was in the middle of a tense phone conversation with my boyfriend. I am pretty sure from looking at other results that it was supposed to be a tiny bit more cakey, and less shortbready. That said, it was pretty good and I just ate about two-thirds of it for dinner. Tomorrow I am having Jennifer over for beef stew, creamed leeks, and the rest of the gateau breton. My next cookbook challenge recipe will probably be this weekend.

[dropped my fork in the egg yolks after whisking. gorgeous vital farms eggs]

[I eyeball half cups of flour and laugh in the face of danger]

[this usually happens]

[the overbaked result. still ate it!]

Gateau Breton: Nigella Lawson - How To Be A Domestic Goddess
Ingredients for glaze:
- 1 teaspoon egg yolk, from your 6 (see below)
- 1 tablespoon water

Ingredients for cake:
- 1 ½ cups cake flour
- ¾ cup plus 1 tablespoon sugar
- 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into cubes
- 6 large egg yolks

Instructions:
- Preheat the oven to 375ºF. Mix the glaze, and put aside while you get on with your cake.
- Put the flour into a bowl, stir in sugar, and add the butter and egg yolks. With the dough-hook attachment of a mixer, slowly whirr till you’ve got a smooth, golden dough. (If you’re making this by hand, make a mound of the flour on a worktop, then make a well init and add the sugar, butter, and eggs and knead to mix.) Scoop this dough into the pan, and smooth the top with a floured hand: expect it to be very sticky, it should be,
- Brush the cake with the glaze, and mark a lattice design on top with the prongs of a fork. For a reason I am not technically proficient enough to explain, sometimes the tine marks leave a firm, striated imprint; at others, they barely show once the cake’s cooked. Bake for 15 minutes, then turn the oven down to 350ºF, and give it another 25 minutes or so until it’s golden on top and firm to the touch.
- Let it cool completely in the pan before unmolding it. It’ll keep well if you’ve got a reliably airtight tin. When you come to eat it, either cut it in traditional-though slightly narrower-cakelike wedges or, as I prefer if I’m eating it at the end of dinner, crisscross, making irregularly sized diamonds.