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Reine de Saba avec Glaçage au Chocolat: Julia Child’s Chocolate Almond Cake For Baking Partners

Published: · Modified: ·by .This post may contain affiliate links ·

Welcome to our first baking partner’s challenge.  I am happy to be part of great enthusiastic baker friends who love to try and help each other to achieve everybody’s dream of perfect baking. Since our first challenge reveal date is coordinated with culinary giant Julia child’s 100th birthday celebration, I choose this recipe.  
I admire Julia child, as she is a good teacher with a good sense of humor. She cooks and shows you what exactly happens in the kitchen, not like goody- goody recipes on cookery shows nowadays. 
The first dish I baked is my hubby’s favorite banana bread which I learn from friend. She bakes really well. She taught me how to measure the flour, how to grease the pan, and how to check when it is done. After some trial and error, I got a hang of it and started experimenting the recipes. Still I am not a great baker, and have lots to learn.  
This is from Julia‘s Mastering the Art of French Cooking by Julia Child. She showed this recipe in her old black and white show of “French Chef” Unfortunately I was not able find that video and watch her making this Queen of Sheba cake.
Legend of queen of Sheba can be found in Bible and Quran. She was rich in wealth and wisdom but she was impressed with King Solomon of Israel. When she visited him, she gifted with spices, gold, jewels and riddles to check his wisdom. In the end neither was impressed with each other, she returned to her own country. If you want read more about the story check Wikipedia and also an interesting article about this cake in Bay area bites.
 However, this cake is ultimately chocolate lover’s destination. Delicious, chocolaty and dark with less sweet (this is my opinion). It tastes like a Brownie. Its beauty is the slightly under done center part. It is a dense cake; don’t expect them as a soft one. As it doesn’t have any leavening agent, we can’t expect too much rise also. I made my cake in a 6 inch pan rather than Julia’s original recipe of 8 inch pan.
I used plantation rum   as I have that in my pantry. Booze and chocolate goes well.  I made my own almond meal from scratch.  I reduced the amount of almond extract to ⅛ teaspoon; as I don’t like over powering of almond flavor.   Rest of the steps, I followed just like Julia’s method. I skipped almond decoration on cake,
Next time I will add a little more sugar and make this cake. Enjoy with your favorite ice cream or whip cream. I liked as such.

So welcome all to explore Julia’s chocolate cake in hands of awesome baking partners. Several members tried to convert this cake to eggless one, so stay around and look at each links; you are going to enter the world of dark chocolate cake with different looks.  

Grab your ingredients from the pantry .
Blanch almond and make almond meal.
 Prepare pan, melt the chocolate with rum.
Cream butter and sugar.  Blend yolks in, Beat egg whites to stiff peaks.
Mix in chocolate, almond meal, almond extract, fold in flour, and egg whites transfer to prepared pan and bake at 350C for 20 minutes or until done. 
Leave the cake in pan for 10 minutes remove and cool it in rack for 2 hours and then start do icing. 

once it is set, if you wish do a almond decorations, otherwise enjoy as such. 

                                                                

Print Recipe

Reine de Saba avec Glaçage au Chocolat: Chocolate Almond Cake
from “The Mastering Art of French Cooking ” by Julia Child.


Preparation time: 10 minutes
Cook time: 25 minutes
Serves:   6 inch pan

Ingredients

  • 3 ounce/3 squares   of semi-sweet chocolate melted with 11/ 2  tablespoon  of rum
  • ¾th stick softened butter
  • ⅓ + half of ⅓ ( Increase the sugar to ¼ cup more)
  • 2 Eggs  ( Yolks and White Separated)   ( 2)
  •   Pinch of salt
  • ¾ Tablespoon of  granulated sugar   ( ¾ )
  • ¼  cup (ground) almonds  
  • ⅛ tsp. almond extract
  • ⅓  cup/  (scooped and leveled, turned into a sifter)  ⅓ cup
  • Chocolate Icing
  • For Icing
  • 1 ½ ounces (2 squares)/ 56.7 g semisweet baking chocolate  
  • 1 tablespoon of rum or coffee          
  • 3 tablespoon of  unsalted butter                                                

Directions

  • Preheat oven to 350F/ 180 C.

  •   Butter and flour the  6 inch cake pan. In a steel bowl mix chocolate and rum/ coffee and place it over another bowl with  boiling water, chocolate will melt after 5 minutes ; let melt while you proceed with the recipe. Measure out the rest of the ingredients.

  • Cream the butter and sugar together until they form a pale yellow, fluffy mixture. Beat in the egg yolks until well blended.

  •    Beat the egg whites and salt in a separate bowl until soft peaks are formed (gradually increase the speed of your  mixer and for about 5 minutes); sprinkle on the sugar and beat until stiff peaks are formed (make sure  it should have peaks not deflate ones).

  •   With a rubber spatula, blend the melted chocolate into the butter - sugar mixture, then stir in the ground almonds, and almond extract. Immediately stir in one-fourth ( ¼) of the beaten egg whites to lighten the batter. Delicately fold in a third  (⅓rd) of the remaining whites and when partially blended, sift on one-third  ( ⅓rd) of the flour and continue folding. Alternate rapidly with more egg whites and more flour until all egg whites and flour are incorporated.

  • Pour  the batter into the  prepared cake pan, uniformly spreading it with a rubber spatula. Bake in middle level of preheated oven for 20 minutes.Bake cake until it puffed and gently set in center and toothpick inserted into center comes out with a few moist crumbs attached, about 20 minutes. Cool cake in pan 10 minutes.

  • Allow cake to cool in the pan for 10 minutes. Run a knife around the edge of the pan, and reverse cake on the rack. Allow it to cool for an hour or two (about 2 hours); it must be thoroughly cold if it is to be iced.

  • · To serve, use the chocolate-butter icing recipe below, and then press a design of almonds over the icing.


Chocolate butter icing

  •    A bowl filled with a tray of ice cubes and water to cover them and set aside.
  •   Place the chocolate and rum or coffee in a small pan, cover, and set in a larger pan of almost simmering water.  Remove pans from heat and let chocolate melt for 5 minutes or so, until perfectly smooth. Lift chocolate pan out of the hot water, and beat in the butter a tablespoon at a time. Then beat over the ice and water until chocolate mixture has cooled to spreading consistency. At once spread it over your cake with spatula or knife.

Variations

  1. You can make alcohol  free using coffee.

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Reader Interactions

Comments

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  1. Amanda says

    oh yummy! i'm drooling already!

    Reply

  2. Sandy Shaw says

    Nice Article! Thanks for sharing with us.
    Indian Spiritual Gurus

    Reply

  3. mjskit says

    You got me with "gooey in the middle"! 🙂 I'm not a big cake eater, but this cake looks delicious. It definitely does look like it would be like eating a brownie, but better.

    Reply

  5. Jayasri Ravi says

    Swathi, had a wonderful time baking this cake, yours look gorgeous, I love the step-wise explanation, I am posting mine today sorry for the delay, thank you totally enjoyed with you all..

    Reply

  6. Rebecca Subbiah says

    wow this looks heavenly your such a fab baker Swathi

    Reply

  7. Usha says

    Serving it with ice cream is nice idea. Thanks for picking this cake for the first edition Baling Partners! I totally loved baking it.

    Reply

  9. herbivoresheaven says

    That looks gorgeous, and so fudgy! Yum yum.

    Reply

  10. Cathleen says

    I barely make cake, so I have not mastered making one look good. But this looks over the top fantastic!

    Reply

  11. tamilsasikitchen says

    chocolateAlmond cake looks perfect....Delicious..

    Reply

  12. tamilsasikitchen says

    Chocolate cake looks delicious.. Nice clicks...

    Reply

  13. Navaneetham Krishnan says

    Wow Swathi, so good, so perfect, so impressive and so so looking delicious.

    Reply

  14. Lizzy Do says

    Swathi, what a picture perfect, decadent and delicious cake!!! Beautifully done by all of you!

    Reply

  15. Now Serving says

    A beautiful cake Swati to celebrate Julia with 🙂

    Reply

  16. Elisabeth says

    Wow Swathi! What a fabulous way to kick off your cake event. A wonderful tribute to Julia, and it was for her birthday, as well!
    I'm totally drooling over your gorgeous cake, love, all that chocolate, and it looks divine!
    Your step-by-step instruction surely will encourage others to bake this amazing cake!
    Great link up from talented bakers. Will check them out:)

    Reply

  17. Kaveri Venkatesh says

    The cake looks awesome Swathi...Wish I could've joined you guys.

    Reply

  18. Kaveri Venkatesh says

    The cake looks awesome Swathi...wish I could've been a part of the baking partners...will try to join you guys as soon as possible

    Reply

  20. Sowmya Karthy says

    Lovely roundup.. so many same recipes.. Interesting.. Am so happy and excited to be part of this Baking Partners Group...

    Sowmya
    http://nivedhanams.blogspot.in/

    Reply

  21. Guru Uru says

    What a beautiful baking choice, it looks stunning and fudgy 😀

    Cheers
    Choc Chip Uru

    Reply

  22. Julia says

    Wonderful.......

    Reply

  23. PT says

    very delicious cake..

    Reply

  24. tadkapasta says

    Lovely, you've made it so well..that slice has cut so beautifully.

    Reply

  25. simple baking says

    Lovely presentation and clicks! Great write up too :D.

    Reply

  26. Vimitha Anand says

    Cake looks so fudgy n gorgeous...

    Reply

  27. Non stick, Nutty and Sous chef says

    The cake looks great! Bookmarked!

    Reply

  29. Balvinder Ubi says

    Its nice to see that you have used blanched almond flour to bake this cake. The cake really looks gorgeous!

    Reply

  30. Saraswathi Tharagaram says

    Lovely pictorial..looks so soft and moist. Neat presentation too..

    Reply

  31. Spice up the Curry says

    cake looks just fantastic.. beautiful.

    Reply

  32. Jill | Dulce Dough says

    What a gorgeous cake!

    Reply

  33. Rosita Vargas says

    Un pastel hermoso y el trozo está de maravilla una exquisitez ,buena explicación lo haré,abrazos hugs,hugs.

    Reply

  34. DivyaGCP says

    Thanks for selecting an awesome recipe, Swathi. Absolutely loved baking this cake. Love your cake.. Beautiful and neat..

    Reply

  35. Reeni says

    Your cake is beautiful Swathi! Yours rised up much higher than mine. I love seeing all the steps in the process. I can't even imagine how time-consuming that is for you to do. Thank-you for everything!

    Reply

  37. Srimathi says

    Looks very good. Good job.

    Reply

  38. Suja Manoj says

    Wow awesome cake Swathi,love the texture and beautiful clicks
    Glad you choose this recipe dear.

    Reply

  39. Priya says

    We loved the texture of this cake, really enjoyed each and every spoon of this cake Swathi,thanks for this lovely choice.

    Reply

  40. kitchen queen says

    yum yum and delicious cake.

    Reply

  42. Ivy says

    A wonderful cake indeed. What a linky and where do I find it?

    Reply

  43. Reshmi Mahesh says

    Wow...your cake looks perfect and cute...Loved the first click...Beautiful..

    Reply

  45. PrathibhaSreejith says

    beautiful cake Swathi, well baked n decorated 🙂

    Reply

  46. Tina (PinayInTexas) says

    Yummy cake! Glad you chose this recipe, Swathi!

    Reply

  47. Sanoli Ghosh says

    Excellent Chocolate Almond cake, Swathi. A real tribute to Julia Child. Happy Baking!

    Cheers!

    Reply

  48. Achu says

    Awesome Best clicks!!! Superb explanation and notes abt julia!!! Lovely 🙂

    Reply

  50. Swasthi says

    Wonderful presentation Swathi! Thanks a lot for creating Baking Partners! Had a good time with the partners.

    Reply

  51. Az says

    Done to perfection.. Love it!

    Reply

  52. Priya R says

    Perfect slice and your cake is spot on Swathi... a lovely write up too..

    Reply

  53. Sayantani says

    awesome. love the fudgy texture...so yummy it looks.

    Reply

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