46*52 Chocolate Almond Cake

Coming back from holidays and getting back into the rhythm can be tough sometimes.

Especially when you are coming home to cold november weather.

But - to make the best of this situation - why don't we bake a Julia Child cake?

Because that's what I did. And it helped.

P.S. I really can't believe that this is the first Julia Child recipe I am making.

Shame on me.

Chocolate Almond Cake

From Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking via completely delicious

Cake:

113 g (4 oz) dark chocolate, chopped

2 tablespoons coffee (or rum)

113 g (1 stick) butter, room temperature

130 g (2/3 cup) sugar

3 eggs, separated

1 tablespoon sugar

pinch of salt

35 g (1/3 cup) almond meal

1/4 teaspoon almond extract

70 g (1/2 cup) flour, sifted

Icing:

60 g (2 oz) dark chocolate, chopped

2 tablespoons coffee (or rum)

85 g (3/4 stick) butter, room temperature

slivered almonds, for garnish

• Preheat oven to 180°C (350°F). Grease and flour a 20 cm (8 in) round cake pan.
• Melt chocolate with the coffee (or rum) over a bain-marie. Let cool.
• Beat butter and sugar until creamy. Add the egg yolks and beat until thick. Add the melted chocolate. Stir in almond extract and almond meal until just combined.
• Beat the egg whites and salt in a separate bowl, adding the tablespoon of sugar slowly, until stiff.
• Fold 1/4 of the egg whites into the batter. Add the remaining egg whites, alternating with the flour. Don't overmix but fold in gently.
• Pour batter into pan and bake about 25 minutes. The center should still be jiggly.
• Let cool for 10 minutes, take out of the pan and let cool completely.
• For the icing, combine chocolate and coffee (or rum) and melt over a bain-marie. 
• Add the butter a tablespoon at a time and beat it into the chocolate with a whisk.
• Let the icing cool a bit, spoon on top of the cake and spread evenly. Garnish with slivered almonds.

My modifications:

None.

Only the icing: I didn't read the recipe properly (oops) and melted the butter with the chocolate and coffee so my icing turned out much more liquid, of course. It's still okay but next time I would definitely make it as described in the recipe...

The taste:

Very good! A soft, almost liquid center and a nice almond and chocolate taste.

Only the taste of the almond extract was a bit too strong so I will definitely use less next time. But other than that - very good!

Have you ever tried a Julia Child recipe? Which one(s) and how did it turn out?