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Chocolate Gâteau Basque
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At checkout, choose delivery or select a pickup date and time that works for you, with at least 3 days advance notice.
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If you order for pickup, we’ll remind you to stop by our 16th Street Factory in the Mission District between 10 a.m. and 6 p.m. on your chosen date.
Made Daily at Our
16th Street Kitchen
Each morning, Executive Chef Lisa Vega and her team bake cakes, muffins, scones, cookies, and more, starting long before sunrise so that each baked good may be enjoyed just out of the oven.
OTHER FLAVORS TO EXPLORE
traditional French gâteau: buttery chocolate pastry crust with 70% Camino Verde pastry cream
How a 200-Year Basque Tradition Came to San Francisco
The Story
During a brainstorming session in 2020, our Pastry team set out to create a Dandelion version of a Gâteau Basque. They researched the traditional cake, and Pastry Chef Lisa stumbled across an NPR podcast in which her friend (and pastry icon!) Dorie Greenspan recounted driving along a winding road in French Basque country, and spotting a sign for a gâteau Basque museum.
Delving into the cake’s history, Lisa was intrigued by the pastry’s beauty and simplicity, and by the ritual of sharing cake with family around a table. Lisa and her team explored flavor ideas, and after weeks of recipe testing, perfected our unique all-chocolate Gâteau — baked using chocolate crafted by our 16th Street Chocolate Makers, just steps upstairs from Lisa’s factory kitchen.
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fork marks
Regionally known simply as “cake of the house,” a typical gâteau Basque is a rustic, textural cake filled with black cherry, almond cream, or plain pastry cream — and the top crust is fork-marked to identify its filling. (A cross, for example, might indicate cherry jam.) In our single-origin chocolate Gâteau, a rich, crisp-tender chocolate crust is scored with fork marks signaling the velvety chocolate pastry cream therein. We mark each cake by hand before it goes into the oven.
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SIMPLICITY AND CRAFT
Our Gâteau’s seemingly simple components — buttery chocolate sablé dough and smooth pastry cream — demand precision, and meticulous attention to detail. Every ingredient plays a vital role; and each step must be executed flawlessly, as even the smallest misstep would affect final flavor.
Pursuit of precision transforms the elemental into a work of art. Lisa notes that her team’s focus on simplicity mirrors our chocolate-making process: Pure, minimal ingredients allow craft itself to shine.
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MADE FOR SHARING
Our Gâteau Basque is made to bring people together. We hope you and yours will delight in gathering around your table to enjoy slices of cake, accompanied by coffee, hot chocolate, or flutes of Champagne.
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