Gâteau Nantais

Gâteau Nantais is a traditional Nantes cake consisting of butter, sugar, flour, eggs, ground almonds, and rum. When baked, the sponge is doused in a rum-infused syrup, and it is then topped with a white sugar glaze that is often also spiked with rum. Occasionally, the center is sometimes coated in a layer of apricot jam. It is believed that the cake was created in 1820 by a French baker Rouleau. At the time, Nantes was an important port, and many ingredients such as rum, sugar, or vanilla were imported to the city and used in the creation of local desserts. Because it has a long shelf life, gâteau Nantais is also known as gâteau du voyageur (traveler’s cake).