This might not make it as the next deliciousmagazine cover star but it sure “tastes fantastic” and, to a large extent, nostalgic. I chose the well loved Gato Carré Rouge/ square red cake as my contribution for the delicious. baking competition, which is part of the delicious. partnership with Breast Cancer Care. I’m not eligible to participate being a non UK resident.
I’ve had quite a few requests for this one, the omnipresent cake in all Mauritian pâtisseries and street vendors, the Gato Carré Rouge – for lack of a better name – seems to be a derivative of the pink Australian lamington. Originally, a square of sponge cake dipped in chocolate and coated with a thin layer of dessicated coconut, the Mauritian version uses butter cake with red icing and coconut.
I think they have turned somewhat ‘commercial’ now since the cake feels drier to taste and the glorious peanut & jam topping is no longer there. These cute red cubes were just like the real thing but in miniature version and I hope that my readers are happy to see the recipe online, finally.
GATO CARRE ROUGE
Ingredients:
250g unsalted butter
1 cup granulated sugar
4 eggs, room temperature
1 1/2 cup plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup icing sugar
2 tbs hot water
Red food colouring
1 cup dessicated coconut
2 tbs strawberry jam
2 tbs peanuts, crushed
50g buttercream
Method:
- Preheat oven to 350oF. Grease and line a 9×9 inch square baking pan with parchment paper.
- Cream butter and sugar together in a large mixing bowl until light and fluffy. Add vanilla.
- Add eggs one by one and beat until the whisk leaves a thick ribbon when lifted from the bowl.
- Sift flour and baking powder together. Carefully fold into butter mixture until no flour streaks remain.
- Spoon the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top. Bake for 50-60 minutes until golden.
- Cool in pan for 10 minutes before turning on a wire rack to cool completely. Cut into squares.
- For the icing, sift icing sugar in a large bowl and add hot water gradually to get a runnu consistency.
- Tint with red food colouring to get the desired shade. Place dessicated coconut in a shallow dish.
- Dip one square into the red icing until all sides are evenly coated then roll in coconut and leave to dry.
- Repeat with the other squares. Decorate with strawberry jam, peanut and buttercream. Makes 16 squares.
Good Old Mauritian Pâtisserie
19 comments
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April 28, 2013 at 11:29 am
Yashley Sookun
Excellent! I just remembered my childhood days!
April 28, 2013 at 5:46 pm
prerrnamirchi
Thanks! Was it ur favorite childhood treat?
April 28, 2013 at 5:26 pm
Tahreemah
Hi, thanks for this nice recipe. Can you plz confirm me in gm the quantity for 11/2 cup flour, 1 cup sugar and 1 cup icing sugar. Also can I use self raising flour instead of adding baking powder to the flour?
April 28, 2013 at 5:49 pm
prerrnamirchi
Hi Tahreemah, the measurement in grams is as follows: 225g flour [you can use 150g all purpose + 75g self raising as substitute], 220g sugar and 160g icing sugar. Do give it a try, it’s quite easy to make 🙂
May 1, 2013 at 11:47 am
Tahreemah
Thanks. Will definitely try.
October 7, 2013 at 12:53 pm
Sweet pie
Thanks for this receipe..i’l try it then i’l let u knw… 🙂
November 14, 2013 at 4:49 pm
shameem
hi,prerna thanks you for the receipe i will try to bake it.
November 23, 2015 at 6:26 am
Tania
hi there, i tried this recipe yesterday n i was fabulous… thnx 😉
November 29, 2015 at 3:26 pm
prerrnamirchi
thank u Tania!
April 20, 2016 at 3:04 pm
Deepti
Hello dr can u tel me ze measurmnt of 1 cup in grams? Thanks
April 22, 2016 at 7:21 pm
prerrnamirchi
Hi Deepti please look for conversion tables on recognized food blogs or food magazines. 1 cup plain flour is usually about 225g.
June 5, 2016 at 2:08 am
Asha
Hi Prerrna
Hope you are having a nice weekend.
i made the cake today and it was yummy. However, it was too dry. Could you please advice me where i went wrong. The cake was cooked in 45 mins otherwise i followed the recipe.
Have a nice day!
Asha
June 12, 2016 at 5:03 pm
prerrnamirchi
Hi Asha I have no idea what went wrong as this is a basic recipe for butter cake, maybe you overmixed the ingredients which can result in a dry cake.
October 7, 2016 at 8:39 am
Zoey Brown
Thank you so much for writing this recipe. i was looking for this recipe everywhere. i will definitely try this recipe cause its my favorite cake.
October 7, 2016 at 2:45 pm
prerrnamirchi
thanks dr, happy baking!
October 7, 2016 at 8:52 am
Zoey Brown
My Favorite childhood cake
August 24, 2017 at 12:45 pm
zeba
hi…it looks really yummy. want to try it…cn u plz gv me the ingredients in grams. does the cake become soft?
thnx
September 2, 2017 at 1:46 am
prerrnamirchi
Hello Zeba I tried to get u the conversion in grams, hope it’s accurate enough
250g unsalted butter
220g granulated sugar
4 eggs, room temperature
150g all purpose flour
75g self raising flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp vanilla extract
160g icing sugar
2 tbs hot water
Red food colouring
1 cup dessicated coconut
2 tbs strawberry jam
2 tbs peanuts, crushed
50g buttercream
March 13, 2018 at 12:49 pm
Oushita
Hi. Tried the recipe and it turned out to be amazing!
Thank you 😊