QUEEN OF SHEBA CAKE

SOURCE: JULIA CHILD. THE FRENCH CHEF COOKBOOK.

Parisians referenced the sinfully rich and delicious Queen of Sheba Cake to the beautiful ebonic Abbysinian queen, who, according to the Biblical Old Testament and the 14th Century narrative, Kebra Nagast, bore King Solomon with a caravan of gifts and riches and became the ancestral matriarch of the Ethiopian royal dynasty and the Beta Israeli community as an extramarital fruit of her diplomatic visit to Jerusalem. With a moist interior that eliminates any need of a filling, this low-gluten chocolate and almond cake cloaked by a simple chocolate-butter icing with jewels of toasted almond slices captures its queenly moniker, a majestic dessert of dark seduction guaranteed to sensually weaken any resistant willpower. In fact, Julia Child once deemed the Queen of Sheba Cake as “the best cake you have ever tasted” in an episode of The French Chef.

Ingredients

Cake Batter

4 ounces/120 grams semi-sweet OR bittersweet chocolate

2 tablespoons/30 mL rum, espresso coffee, OR amaretto

4 ounces/120 grams unsalted butter

2/3 cup/135 grams + 1 tablespoon/12.5 grams granulated sugar

3 large eggs, separated

pinch of salt

1/3 cup/35 grams pulverized almonds OR almond flour

1/4 teaspoon/1.25 mL almond extract (optional)

1/2 cup/60 grams cake flour, sifted

Chocolate-Butter Icing

2 ounces/60 grams semi-sweet OR bittersweet chocolate

2 tablespoons/30 mL rum, espresso coffee, OR amaretto

5-6 tablespoons/70-85 grams unsalted butter

Toasted almond slices

Specific Equipment

3 mixing bowls

Pan

Stand mixer equipped with a paddle attachment

Wire whisk

Spatula

8-inch/20-cm × 1.5-inch/3.75-cm round cake pan, greased and dusted with butter and flour, respectively

Serves 6 to 8

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350°F/180°C.

2. Set the chocolate and rum, espresso coffee, or amaretto in a medium-sized bowl. Leave the bowl in an off-heat pan of simmering water to allow the chocolate to completely melt into a smooth consistency.

3. Cream the butter and the 2/3 cup/135 grams granulated sugar together using a mixer equipped with a paddle attachment until mixture is pale yellow and fluffy. Beat in the egg yolks until well-blended.

4. In a separate bowl, whisk the egg whites and salt to soft peaks. Add 1 tablespoon/12.5 grams granulated sugar and continue whisking until stiff peaks are formed.

5. Pour the molten chocolate into the butter-sugar mixture. Stir in the pulverized almonds or almond flour. Drop in the almond extract, if not using amaretto in the chocolate. Lighten the batter immediately by stirring in a quarter of the stiffly beaten egg whites using a spatula.

6. Fold a third of the stiffly beaten egg whites gently into the lightened cake batter until partially blended. Add a third the sifted cake flour and fold again.

7. Continue folding the cake batter by alternating the stiffly beaten egg whites and the sifted cake flour until both have become completely incorporated into the batter.

8. Transfer the cake batter into the greased and dusted cake pan, ensuring that the batter touches the rim of the pan.

9. Bake in the middle level a preheated oven for 25 minutes or until the cake puffs up with the testing needle or toothpick coming out clean along the rim or oily in the center. The cake is also done when its center moves slightly from shaking the pan.

10. Remove the cake from the oven and cool for 10 minutes. The cake will lose its puff and start to sink with occasional cracked surface. Run a knife around the edges of the pan and unmold the cake into a cake rack to cool completely.

11. Prepare the Chocolate-Butter Icing by melting the chocolate and rum, espresso coffee, or amaretto in a medium-sized bowl set over a pan of simmering water. Remove the bowl from the bath of simmering water and beat in the butter, one tablespoon at a time. Transfer the bowl into an ice-water bath and continue beating until the chocolate reaches a soft and spreading consistency.

12. Spread the Chocolate-Butter Icing over the cake until the cake is completely cloaked in icing. Decorate with toasted almond slices.