Tag: gateau de Mamiche

Deep dive to regional France cuisine to one of my anchor place

With this idea of deep dive to regional France cuisine to one of my anchor place, I am presenting you today with a specialy from the area of Somme and Pas de Calais. This is where I grew up.  I found this photo recently on my tablet, timely!  The regional France areas live a lot on the rythm of seasonal products. For example, in Australia, we have access to zuchinis (courgettes) all year long, well it is not so true over there, the season is in summer. During the courgette season you eat ratatouille or stuffed zuchini at least once a week!  The seasons were marked by their produce and by the (compusory) requirement to help harvesting berries, asparagus, beans when it was not removing nasty weeds in the fields.

Deep dive to regional France cuisine to one of my anchor place

This photo below is from my grandfather’s garden. My grandfather, when he was not reading, was often found in his garden.  As kids we were only allowed there with an adult in case we walked over crops and damaged the well formed alleys.  Only the rabbits managed to get under the wiring on one side to enjoy the goods! The garden contained a mix of fruits, vegies plans and flowers. There were many things: strawberries, raspberries, red current, black current, asperagus, apples, pears, courgettes, artichokes, potatoes, leeks, ….  It was manicured. It was magic. We loved going there!

my grandparents
My Grandfather, myself and other family members in my grandfather’s garden

Le gateau de Mamiche

My grandmother, Mamiche,  was an amazing person. While  I would not describe her as a person who loved cooking, she exceeled in eggs in jelly, beef tongue and this chocolate cake I am presenting today now called “le Gateau de Mamiche”. Le Gateau de Mamiche is a rich, dense and textured chocolate cake.  A bit like a mud cake, although not as heavy. Recipe HERE.

dense chocolate cake

 

Le gateau battu

gateau battu Picardie

Northern France cooking is generally known for its dairy based dishes: cream, milk, butter.

This cake is a bit like a brioche but contains much less butter.  Interestingly for a raised dough, it uses the eggwhites in snow.  Fresh, on the day, it is used in some areas to go with a glass of Champagne.  Else it is delicious toasted or not with a bit of jam. This is  what we did this time. The recipe is HERE.

gateau battu Picardie gateau battu et confiture

Gateau de Mamiche

The Gateau de Mamiche is a rich, textured chocolate cake.  Mamiche is my grandmother. This cake was one of her signature dishes, one that us, granchildren, really liked.

This cake needs to be cooled completely or almost before it is unmoulded or it will break.  It is very important to have the sugar well melted with the chocolate and butter before proceeding further into the recipe.  The oven temperature must be reasonably low to allow the cake to cook slowly and reduce the butter  to accumulate too much on top of the cake.  I have tried a few methods of mixing the ingredients, it seems that the best one is the most simple one: all in one pot type of approach.

Serve this cake as a mid-afternoon snack, a party treat or an element of dessert.

Serves 8+

Ingredients:
  • 250 g of 70% dark cooking chocolate
  • 250 g of butter
  • 250g of caster sugar
  • 250 g of flour
  • 2 eggs, yolks and whites separated
Method:
  1. Butter and flour a log tin. Heat up the oven on 160°C.
  2. In a saucepan, place the butter and chocolate and allow to melt on low heat, mixing to ensure it does not burn. Add the sugar and mix until fully dissolved.
  3. Add the egg yolks. Mix
  4. It is now time to add the flour, mixing from the middle forming little circles extending.
  5. Beat the eggwhites to snow and fold in gently.
  6. Pour the batter in the tin. Place in the oven and cook for 40 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the middle comes out without chocolate.
  7. Allow to cool the gateau de Mamiche in the tin before turning on the serving dish.

dense chocolate cake dense chocolate cake