Reine de Saba avec Glaçage au Chocolat (Almond Chocolate Cake) ~ A piece of Julia !!!

This post is tribute to the culinary legend Julia Child, who is known for her skills in French cooking. Being a French speaking Indian I found the cake to be complicated than talking in French ;-) but thank God for the amazing grace, I pulled it off.
Well I also did a little research of Julia and this post has a piece of her too…. Now don’t get scrolling :P
What I like about the cake?

-          Its caffeine high – rich in chocolate & coffee
-          I love the fact that it has almond meal
-          Its just one layer cake so no need to double quantity
-          Icing is very simple and makes you literally slurp! slurp! slurp!
-          It’s a best cake recipe for any special occasion – Christmas – Perfect!!!
I planned to bake the cake a few days ahead of her centenary birthday and it just vanished before I could post it here. I tried to in-corporate Julia’s method in baking the cake and icing. Followed my own creativity in decorating it with almond praline which added an extra crunch factor to the cake.

Recipe Source ~ Julia Child

Ingredients

For Cake (8” pan)

4 ounce/ 113.4 grams   of semi-sweet chocolate melted with 2  tablespoon  of rum/ coffee
¼  lb/ 1 stick/ 113g softened butter
2/3 / 134g cup granulated sugar
3 Eggs  ( Yolks and White Separated)
Pinch of salt
1 Tbs of granulated sugar
1/3 cup/ 65g pulverized (ground) almonds
½ tsp almond extract
½ cup/ 57g cake flour (scooped and leveled, turned into a sifter)

Chocolate Icing

2 ounces (2 squares)/ 56.7 g semisweet baking chocolate
2 Tb rum or coffee
5 to 6 Tb unsalted butter

Method
  • Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter and flour the 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 the almonds, and almond extract. Immediately stir in 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 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 centre 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 a 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
  • To serve, use the chocolate-butter icing recipe below
Glacage au Chocolat (Chocolate-butter Icing)
- 2 ounces (2 squares) semi-sweet baking chocolate
- 2 Tb rum or coffee
- 5 to 6 Tb unsalted butter
- A bowl filled with a tray of ice cubes and water to cover them
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. Then press a design of almonds over the icing.
For the Almond Praline

Recipe (adapted)~ Ria

- 2 to 3 spoons of almonds, chopped coarsely 
- 1 tsp butter
- 3-4 tsp sugar

Melt sugar in a non stick pan in medium flame, once it turns golden brown add the butter and nuts. Give it a good mix and then spread it over a parchment paper. Let it cool down completely. Now put it into a zip lock and hit it hard with a rolling pin (dough roller). You could also give a 1 second whisk to half of it in a food processor/ mixie but do not let it get to powdery. Garnish over cake and enjoy the crunch!

Linking this recipe to Priya Suresh aks Valentine's Day Recipe Event

27 comments:

  1. Wow great..so beautiful :)

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  2. Priya, you did a wonderful job. Delicious and beautiful cake, I like you almond Praline. Beautiful extra add on.

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  3. Beautiful pictures priya....moist and very chocolicious..my daughter will love this :)

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  4. wow... cake looks chocolatey and delicious... adding the almond praline would have given a wonderful taste to the cake... yummy!!

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  5. Good write up and lovely cake priya!

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  6. Nicely done, Priya! Love the almond praline!

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  7. Wonderful cake and presentation...Loved the almond praline...

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  8. Woow mouthwatering cake

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  9. Such a beautiful and elegant cake, am in love with ur decoration,simply love here the addition og those almond praline..well done Priya.

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  10. It was my first time to make this cake. I love the flavor and I love the texture. Love your photos!

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    1. Thank you so much for stopping by and leaving your comments :-)

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  11. beautiful cake Priya, very well decorated :)

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  12. Wow....Priya, wonderful cake. I like specially your almond praline and so nice clicks dear. Lovely!!!

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  13. wonderful cake and such gorgeous clicks.

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  14. Elegant and decadent cake,baked to perfection,decor with almond praline is adorable,wonderful tribute dear.

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  15. I love the way you decorated it - looks gorgeous!!!

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  16. what a delicious and beautiful looking cake. love the ingredients. I am going to try to make it....hope it looks even little as good as yours!!!
    i am your newest follower..pls follow back if you can.

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    1. Thank you so much for visiting my space and i did visit your blog and following you too... About the cake you must try it out, I am sure you will love it just as much as I did :-)and do let me know how it turned out, mine was not perfect but icing covered all the sins ;-)

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  17. Simply superb pic...I loved this cake..

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  18. excellent decoration priya..

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  19. That looks heavenly. Great work, Priya! I am drooling now!!!

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  20. That looks awesome Priya... the praline on top is a wonderful addition! :)

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  21. Thank you all for your lovely comments, I can keep reading them all day :-) so sweet of you guys to drop by and write such lovely things...

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  22. Nice decoration Priya!

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  23. Great job priya, looks so delicious and soft, you went ahead and made a praline too.., kudos to you.., Julia would have definitely appreciated. fantastic to be with you all in BP:))., Beautiful clicks too.., Happy to be following you..

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    1. Hi Jayasri, thank you so much for visiting my space and thank you for the lovely comments... happy that you have joined our group of bakers and looking forward to bake with you :-)

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Thank you for visiting, I hope you enjoyed my recipes :-) In case you have tried any of the recipes featured here, do let me know in the comment section. For any other queries email me - cooklikepriya(at)gmail.com

Love,
Priya Ranjit