A boozy rum laced cake that was invented in 1820, the Gateau Nantais from Nantes in the Loire valley is sure to get you in the spirit! (excuse the pun) It’s great to serve as a dessert for a special dinner or celebration.
I was introduced to this ‘cake’ recently by a lady called, Jacqueline Brunetière, the wife of one of my neighbour’s brothers. It’s very well known and originates from Nantes. At first glance it seems like such a simple cake. A plain looking cake with a simple glacé icing. And then you taste it and wow! It nearly knocks you sideways.
It is in fact a simple recipe that combines, eggs, ground almonds, a little flour and butter and then has a whopping 25cl of rum, some of which is gently poured over the still hot cake and the rest is mixed with icing sugar to form the icing. I’m giving you 2 versions here using either rum or Cointreau (being a famous local orange liqueur from Angers). They are both fantastic and quite different. I served my Cointreau based cake with creme fraiche mixed with a little fresh grated orange rind and an orange syrup. Equally good would be a few slices of fresh orange alongside.
Created in 1820 by a Monsieur Rouleau, it used new and exotic ingredients that had come to Nantes as a result of it’s important position in the trade triangle. Cane sugar, and rum from the Antilles made their way across the water giving birth to this new ‘gateau des voyageurs’ (a cake that travellers often took with them on their travels as it had the capacity to last). In the past it was served by the wives of influential merchants to their guests when entertaining.
You have to like a boozy cake to enjoy a slice of Gateau Nantais as it just oozes with alcohol. It’s one of those cakes for which every Loire valley family has it’s own recipe and they all differ slightly.
Anyway, to make a traditional Gateau Nantais you will need the following (if you want to make my version just substitute Cointreau for the rum).
120g sugar (the original recipe passed down to her has 150g but Jacqueline uses 120g)
125g salted butter at room temperature
125g ground almonds
40g plain flour
3 eggs
25cl rum (plus 2 tablespoons for the icing) or if making my version use Cointreau instead!
10cl sugar syrup
70g icing sugar
- Beat the butter with the sugar until pale and creamy.
- Add the ground almonds and then the eggs one by one beating after each addition until the sugar has dissolved.
- Add the flour and 10cl of the rum/Cointreau and mix well. When you pour in the alcohol you it will seem like an awful lot! The resulting mixture is quite loose almost more like a batter than a traditional cake mix.
- Pour into a lined cake tin and cook in the oven at 170/180°C for 30 to 40 minutes. The cake should be golden brown.
- Take the cake out of the oven, remove it from the tin and ‘feed’ it with 25cl of rum/Cointreau mixed with 10cl of sugar syrup (I use the cane sugar syrup that we use for cocktails but if you don’t have that in the cupboard make up a little using sugar and water, stirring until dissolved). It seems like a lot of liquid and it literally floods the cake. At this point you will think that the cake can never absorb it but it does, and quickly too.
- When the cake is cold mix 2 tablespoons of rum with the icing sugar (add a little at a time) and pour over the cake evenly
Et voila! A cake for a celebration that is traditional, local and very boozy.
