Saint-Lô cake


Saint-Lô cake
The cake from Saint-Lô, a town in the French department of La Manche, is a beaten cake, i.e. very moist, with a light, delicious pastry that looks a little like brioche.
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Last modified on: October 29th 2025
For 1 cake, you will need:

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Times for this recipe
Preparation: 30 min.
Resting: 2 hours
Cooking: 35 min.
All in all: 3 hours 1 min.
When should you start or finish this recipe?
If you start now, at , you will finish around : ?.Change start time
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Step by step recipe


Stage 1 - ⌛ 5 min.
Saint-Lô cake : Stage 1
In a small saucepan over low heat, melt 100 g butter, then remove from heat and add 50 g cream and 2 tablespoons Calvados (apple liqueur), stir and set aside.

Stage 2 - ⌛ 5 min.
Saint-Lô cake : Stage 2
In the bowl of a mixer, sift 125 g flour, add 125 g caster sugar, 2 g salt, 4 eggs and 15 g yeast.

Stage 3 - ⌛ 3 min.
Saint-Lô cake : Stage 3
Start the mixer on low speed to blend well.

Stage 4 - ⌛ 3 min.
Saint-Lô cake : Stage 4
Drizzle in the butter, cream and calvados mixture without stopping the mixer.

Stage 5 - ⌛ 3 min.
Saint-Lô cake : Stage 5
Mix well.

Stage 6 - ⌛ 10 min.
Saint-Lô cake : Stage 6
Increase the mixer speed, and let the dough beat for 10 minutes.

Note: This is an essential step if you then want a light, airy cake.

Stage 7 - ⌛ 2 min.
Saint-Lô cake : Stage 7
Pour the dough into a buttered high-sided tin, cover with cling film or plastic sheeting, and leave to stand in a warm place for around 2 hours.

Stage 8 - ⌛ 2 hours
Saint-Lô cake : Stage 8
At the end of this time, you'll see that the dough has pushed through.

Stage 9 - ⌛ 30 min.
Saint-Lô cake : Stage 9
Preheat your oven to 180°C (360°F) and bake for 25-30 minutes.

Stage 10
Saint-Lô cake : Stage 10
Unmould as soon as you remove from the oven, otherwise the cake will stick to the tin, and leave to cool on a wire rack.
Remarks
If using semi-salted butter, do not add salt at rstp=2.

The Saint-Lô cake recipe is said to have been invented by a local restaurateur called "Le père Féret", chef of the Marignan restaurant.

The 10 minutes when the dough is beaten in step 6 are very important. If you don't do this (as in many recipes on the web), you'll end up with a dense cake that won't taste as good.
Keeping: 3 or 4 days in the fridge, protected by cling film.
Source: Home made.
Nutritional information
Proteins (gr)Carbohydrates (gr)Fats (gr)Energy value (in k-calories)Energy value (in k-joules)
Whole recipe40 RDI=20 %230 RDI=20 %120 RDI=20 %2,250 RDI=110 %9,430 RDI: 110 %
Per 100 g7 RDI=3 %40 RDI=3 %20 RDI=3 %360 RDI=20 %1,530 RDI: 20 %
The % figures are calculated in relation to the Recommended Dietary Intake , or RDI of 2,000 k-calories (or 8,400 k-joules) per day for a woman
Possible allergens in this recipe: milk, Gluten, egg
How much will it cost?
  • For 1 cake : 2.20 €

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Note: Be careful, these prices are only an estimate, you can consult the table of prices by ingredients used for this estimate.
This recipe uses (among others)
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