What kind of cake is this?

[djyee100]

I found this cake in the pastry case of an Italian specialty food store. The counter guy said it was a new product, he didn't know the name of it, and he wasn't sure what ingredients were in it. But since it was the end of the day, he gave me a piece to take home and try. Yum!

The cake has a cookie-like crust, with a buttery cake filling layered with cherries. The cake filling has the loose texture of a simple loaf cake. I detect lemon and vanilla in it too. Since it's cherry season, I'd like to try making this cake myself.

Does anybody know the name of this cake? Where I might find a good recipe for it?

[Beebs]

Looks like frangipane tart. Did it taste like almonds?

[Jaymes]

My suggestion would be to call the store and speak with a manager, or whomever does the ordering. The "counter guy" might not know the proper name, but somebody there does.

[hansjoakim]

Hmm... this reminds me of the gâteau basque. The gâteau is made with a dough that often has some almond flour and lemon/orange zest in it. On top of the dough, it's common to have either pastry cream (which could give you some hints of vanilla) or a combination of pastry cream and cherries. The filling in your photo looks more like frangipane, however, as Beebs pointed out.

There are many recipes for gâteau basque on the net; here's one from zencancook.com (which doesn't have cherries in it) and here's one from Cannelle et Vanille (with black cherry preserves). I once tried the recipe in Bo Friberg's "Professional Pastry Chef", and was delighted with the result.

[hansjoakim]

If it's not a basque cake, I'd think that an ordinary frangipane tart, with cherries between a sweet tart crust and the frangipane filling, would be a good contender.