Torteau de Chevre: Goat Cheese Cake
Preheat oven to 380’C or 530’F. Yes. HOT! Very HOT!
For the pastry I used a simple butter short crust.
- 100 gr butter- unsalted
- 200 gr flour- all purpose unbleached
- Salt- pinch
- 1 egg
- Water- as needed
Cut butter into flour and salt with fingertips. Add egg and water. Gather pastry crust into ball. Divide into three. Roll out each third, place into deep rounded molds. Trim. Prick.
Batter:
- 250 gr fresh goats cheese (after draining)
- 175 gr white sugar (125gr for yolks- 50gr for whites)
- 50 ml milk (about a tablespoon)
- 6 eggs, separated
- 60 gr flour
- Splash of vanilla/rum/Armagnac
- Pass goat cheese through a food mill or ricer.
- Beat in 125 gr sugar, milk and flour. (I used a whisk.)
- Whisk egg whites with 50 gr sugar until stiff peaks. (we use a copper bowl and hand whisk in the Gascon Kitchen.)
- Fold in a large spoonful of whites into the cheese/yolk mixture. Stir well.
- Fold remaining whites into cheese/yolk batter.
- Pour into unbaked pastry shells.
- Place into HOT oven (280’C/530’F) for 10 minutes. The tops will puff up round and start to brown and blacken immediately. Don’t panic!
- Then turn oven down to 220?C or 425?F for 40 minutes. remove from oven and let cool.
I used 3 small cassoulet bowls holding about 300ml/12oz each. this is what they look like baking. The forward one we slid in 4 minutes after the first two, and it was indeed underdone. but delicious.
The tops popped up while baking but resettled once they were removed from the oven. The pastry adheres to the batter and shrinks away from the sides making it easy to remove from the glazed bowls. The finished cake has a light and rich texture, akin to a rich golden angel food cake, barely sweet and scented of fresh cheese. Although commercially made with fresh cow’s cheese, the goat’s cheese tang makes a delicious difference. When in France make sure to try one from a fromager or make your own version at home. I am making mini ones this weekend for a large Easter gathering. Another golden eggy wonder from the Gascon Kitchen’s healthy hens. Merci to Sabina, TP, Phillipe and sabine and her goats
Hi Kate,
Do you actually eat that carbon black top? ^_^
YES! it is thin and crispy and leaves little black bits in your teeth. part of the toasted charm of this eggy sweet cake. Be brave!
Looks interesting and delicious. I can definitely find fresh goat cheese here in Los Angeles at the farmer’s markets, but if one was wanting to try it with a cows milk cheese or use a combination of the two, what type of cheese here in the States would be closest to the fresh cows milk cheese used in France? Also, the super black top makes me think it would taste a bit like the black char on a fire toasted marshmallow. Yum!
Hi, Kate,
I have been looking for this recipe for years, after my brother brought a tourteau home from France long, long ago. I’ve made you recipe twice now, and it always brings back amazing memories. It’s exactly the cake we had so long ago. Thanks for recreating it here.
Heather Atwood
Yours is soooo much prettier than the one that I made. I still remember that first slice, with you on the Julia Hoyt, washed down with armagnac….mmmm!