The Queen

Happy Spring, blogospheroids!
I was invited to a lovely dinner party a couple weeks ago and was asked to bring dessert.  I inquired what the main course was going to be which turned out to be that oldie-but-goodie, Beouf Bourgignon.  So upon hearing "Beouf Bourgignon" (buff bore-ging-yawn) the first thing that came to mind was... The Queen!

 No no no. Not that queen, although isn't she cute?  This one:

Yes, folks, for those of you who have been living in a cave, that woman with the fish is Julia Child: The Queen of Cooking.  The woman responsible for bringing french kweezine into the homes of Americans, saving us from a world of chipped beef on toast and Jell-o ham salads.

Mmmm... Jell-o

So I thought if I was going to do it right and honor The Queen, the obvious choice of desserts would be Julia's famous "Reine de Saba" or "Queen of Sheba" cake.  It's a very dense, very moist, quite stout little cake, made of chocolate, almonds, and rum.  What's not to like there, right?

I got a slightly modified version from the interwebs that simplified the mixing process and went to work.

I do believe that almond extract has 0 calories.

I whipped up the cake pretty easily, popped it in the oven, and voila!

Agh!

I should have taken a picture of what really happened which was that, upon turning out the cake, the middle portion decided to remain stuck to the pan, while the outer edge came out rather cleanly. I was basically left with a giant chocolate donut and a few tears. I scooped out the very gooey center from the pan and attempted to shove it back into the center of the cake (shown above). Obviously, this was not going as planned.

This cake recipe is rather tricky in that it's not the usual "cook it until the toothpick comes out clean" situation. It's supposed to be slightly "underdone" which is a very hard thing to gauge as it forms that kind of shiny, brownie crust on the top so you can't really tell what's going on underneath.

This disaster was entirely my fault, though. I left my pizza stone in the oven like an idiot so of course the bottom of the cake did not get the direct heat it should have gotten. But you know what? Cooks make mistakes—I certainly have made more than a few—and I think it's only fair to share that with the world. No need going around thinking everyone else can follow recipes and turn out perfect food every time when that's simply not true.

Here's what you do. Option A: go out to Price Chopper and buy a ready made cake and tell everyone your house burned down, otherwise you would have baked a wildly amazing dessert. Option B: try, try again. Since I had enough ingredients, that is exactly what I did. I took the #$%@!&%*$ pizza stone out of the oven and lo and behold:

Parfait!

Those holes you see are from me obsessively poking it to determine whether it was just the right "not quite doneness".  I decided to flip it over for the frosting part which I don't know if that's what one is supposed to do but nonetheless.

Flip.

My frosting came out very light and fluffy.  There are many people who've made this who say the frosting comes out like a glaze or a ganache but for me that wasn't the case.  I really don't know how it's supposed to come out but it was just enough for me to frost this cake with a very modest layer.  I did use a 9" pan instead of an 8" so perhaps that was why the frosting just covered it and could also have been part of the donut disaster.  But really, who has a 8" cake pan??
Anyway, here she is, clothed.

I decided to adorn her with a few sliced almonds and some raspberries.

She was a big hit at the party.  Warning, this cake is a lot richer than you'd think for such a demure, petite little thing so you only need a very slender piece.  We cut this one into 1/8s but even those pieces were a lot to handle (of course I didn't have any problem shoving it down). 

Small but powerful.  Like Mary Lou Retton.

Looks kind of like an alligator, too.

So there you have it.  The Queen of Sheba!

Bon Appetit!

Reine de Saba Cake
adapted from Mastering the Art of French Cooking, by Julia Child, Simone Beck and Louisette Bertholle.

For cake:
4 ounces or squares semisweet chocolate melted with 2 Tb rum or coffee
1/4 lb. or 1 stick softened butter
2/3 cup granulated sugar
3 egg yolks
3 egg whites
Pinch of salt
1 Tb granulated sugar
2/3 cup pulverized almonds
1/4 tsp almond extract
1/2 cup cake flour (scooped and leveled) turned into a sifter

For the Icing:
2 ounces (2 squares) semisweet baking chocolate
2 Tb rum or coffee
5 to 6 Tb unsalted butter

Preheat oven to 350°F (175°C). Butter and flour a 8" cake pan. Set the chocolate and rum or coffee in a small pan, cover, and place (off heat) in a larger pan of almost simmering water; let melt while you proceed with the recipe. Measure out the rest of the ingredients. Cream the butter and sugar together for several minutes 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; sprinkle on the sugar and beat until stiff peaks are formed.

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

Turn the batter into the cake pan, pushing the batter up to its rim with a rubber spatula. Bake in middle level of preheated oven for about 25 minutes. Cake is done when it has puffed, and 2-1/2 to 3 inches around the circumference are set so that a needle plunged into that area comes out clean; the center should move slightly if the pan is shaken, and a needle comes out oily.

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

For the Icing:
Place the chocolate and rum or coffee in the small pan, cover, and set in the 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, and press a design of almonds over the icing.