A rather fabulous dilemna to have is one that I had recently when we did a butter taste test with friends. We had purchased 13 fantastic European butters and after doing our taste test we had pretty much 13 cakes of butter minus the small amount we used for tasting. We tried packing up the butters for the taste testers and whilst they took a couple, it didn’t really diminish the pile of butter in the fridge. What better to do with good quality butter is a Gateau Breton, the very buttery shortbready biscuit cake originating from Brittany in France. And what better butter to use for it than Brittany butter. The Brittany butter was voted as some of the best in the lot by our tasters so I decided on its fate instantly. Isn’t that how butter wants to end up?

For some strange reason, slicing the diamond shapes doesn’t always result in the lines staying put and I’m not sure why that is (and neither is Nigella). As I was using another kitchen, one of someone who doesn’t cook, they didn’t have a pastry brush so I had to improvise and fashion myself a brush made out of baking paper so the glaze application wasn’t quite up to par. Nevertheless this eggy buttery cake is richly gorgeous and golden hued. It’s fantastic served with coffee in the afternoon or for a delicious end to a dinner.

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