Julia Child’s Chocolate Almond Cake

Julia Child is not just famous for her first and main courses. In fact, if you check out her recipes for desserts and sweets, you will be amazed on the number of mouth watering cakes, breads, and pastries, that are not just pleasing to the eyes, but to the palette as well.

Julia Child’s Chocolate Almond cake is one of her well-known desserts and here, we are going to talk about the ingredients you need to have, and the procedures to guide you to make the cake.

 Ingredients:

•  4 oz semi-sweet chocolates
• 2 T Rum (can be substituted with instant dark coffee)
• ¼ lb butter
• 2/3 cups sugar (granulated)
• 3 medium size eggs (you need to separate the yolk and the white)
• A pinch of salt
• 1 T sugar (granulated)
• 2/3 cups powdered almonds
• ¼ t almond extract
• ½ cup flour

 Icing ingredients:

•  2 oz semi-sweet chocolates
• 2 T Coffee (you can still use Rum as an alternative)
• 6 T unsalted butter

 Cooking Procedure:

The first thing that you have to do is to preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.

The second step is to prepare your pan. In a medium sized pan, brush on butter, and then sprinkle a little flour. Remove excess flour.

To Do The Rum/Coffee Mixture:

In a separate pan, simmer water, and then put in your chocolates and coffee (or rum), then leave it aside.

To Do The Butter Mixture:

In a separate bowl, combine butter and sugar. Mix well, until the butter is fully softened, and the sugar is fully dissolved.

To Do The Egg Mixture:

Get your egg whites, and gradually mix in the sugar. Whip it very well, in order to make it fluffy, but not stiff.

The next thing that you have to do is to combine all mixtures carefully. Do not over do it. However, make sure that every mixture is very well blended.

Add the almond powder, almond extract, and the rest of the ingredients. Remember to do it carefully, and using small portions at a time, to prevent air to come into your mixture.

Once you are done folding the mixtures together, and using all of the ingredients stated above, the next thing that you have to do now, is bake it!

Get your greased pan that you have prepared earlier. Pour in your mixture to the pan, and bake it for 25 minutes.

You are almost done! All you have to do next is the icing. Here is what you need to do:

In a double boiler, melt your chocolate and add in the rum. Once the chocolates are melted, you can now add your butter. However, you have to remove your upper pan from the boiling water, and place it in icy water during this procedure. Keep in mixing in your butter, but make sure to do it at least a tablespoon at a time. Slowly, you will see that the icing is already cooling up, and thickening a bit, which is now perfect for spreading.