Julia Child's chocolate and almond cake with chocolate-butter icing

The cake that took a Sunday late afternoon into evening.

I've been meaning to make this cake for a couple weeks now. It is one of the items shown in the movie, Julie & Julia. It looks so yummy and fancy.

I needed a lot of equipment before I could attempt this one. Believe it or not, a good 8-inch round cake pan is hard to find! Especially when it's supposed to be only 1 1/2 inches high. I ended up buying one at the grocery store. It'll rust soon enough.

I also needed a flour sifter, a stainless steel bowl, a cake rack, and a frosting spatula.

The recipe also requires cake flour and rum. Julia suggests Jamaican rum, which I can understand now, I think. I could only find Carribbean rum and Puerto Rican rum in the gas station's liquor store. You can use coffee instead of rum, which I might recommend. Next time I try this cake, I'll try to find Jamaican rum first.

I was a little nervous about beating the egg whites. There is no baking powder or soda used; the egg whites give the cake lift. Turns out I had reason to be nervous, but I'll get better. My cake seemed a lot flatter than the one in the movie.

Here's a slightly altered recipe I found online:
FOR THE CAKE
3 ounces sweet baking chocolate, chopped
1 ounce unsweetened chocolate, chopped
2 tablespoons strong coffee
8 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into pieces and softened
1/2 cup sugar
3 large egg yolks
3 egg whites
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
Pinch of salt
2 tablespoons sugar
1/3 cup blanched almonds pulverized with 2 tablespoons sugar
1/4 teaspoon almond extract
1/2 cup plain bleached cake flour, in a sifter set on wax paper

1. Set the oven at 325 degrees. Set the rack in the lower middle level. Butter and flour an 8- by 1 1/2-inch round cake pan.
2. In a double boiler or bowl set over a pan of 2 or 3 inches of water, combine the sweet andunsweetened chocolates with thecoffee. Bring water to a simmer,cover, and let chocolate melt,stirring until smooth. Turn offthe heat.
3. In a 3-quart mixing bowl, use a hand-held electric mixer to cream the butter until soft and fluffy, then add the 1/2 cup sugar. Beat 1 minute, then beat in the yolks.
4. In another mixing bowl, beat the whites until foaming, beat in the cream of tartar and salt, and continue beating until soft peaks form. Gradually beat in the 2 tablespoons of sugar and continue beating until stiff, shining peaks form.
5. Blend the warm melted chocolate into the yolk mixture, then blend in the almonds and almond extract. Stir a quarter of the egg whites into the chocolate to lighten it. Scoop the rest of the whites over the chocolate and, alternating with sprinkles of the flour, rapidly and delicately fold in the whites.
6. Immediately turn the batter into the prepared pan, tilting it in all directions to run it up to the rim, and set it in the oven.
7. Bake for 25 minutes, or until the cake has puffed to the top of the pan and a toothpick plunged into it 2 and 3 inches from the edges comes out clean. (The center should move slightly when the pan is gently shaken.
8. Remove the pan to a rack and let it cool for 15 minutes, then unmold onto the rack. Let it cool completely, at least 2 hours, before storing or icing.

FOR THE SOFT CHOCOLATE ICING
2 ounces sweet chocolate, chopped
1 ounce unsweetened chocolate, chopped
1 1/2 tablespoons rum or strong coffee
Pinch of salt
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
Cocoa powder (in a fine-meshed sieve)

1. In a double boiler or bowl set over a pan of 2 or 3 inches of water, combine both chocolates with the rum or coffee, bring water to a simmer, cover, and let chocolate melt, stirring until smooth. Turn off the heat.
2. Using an electric hand mixer, beat the salt into the melted chocolate, then beat in the butter 1 tablespoon at a time. Continue beating over cold water until icing is firm enough to spread. Turn the icing onto the top of the cake and spread it evenly over the top and sides.
3. When the icing is still soft, break the solid chocolate into large, irregular leaves, arrange shiny (bottom) side up on the cake, and dust the top with cocoa powder.

Category:

People & Blogs

Tags:

• Julia
• Child
• chocolate
• almond
• cake
• rum
• icing
• butter
• extract
• bake
• baking
• recipe
• time
• cool

[MrAce20010]

were you supposed to stir in the egg whites or fold them in cause you just stirred them in.

[TheTracieLee]

@MrAce20010 Yeah, I was trying to fold them in.

[cookwithadam]

this cake is so beautiful ~adam

[TheTracieLee]

@cookwithadam Thank you!

[Rooprani12]

I would have appreciated it if u told us what u were exactly doing !!

[TheTracieLee]

@Rooprani12 The recipe is in the info. There's no way I can narrate while filming and bake at the same time. :)

[xFizzleSticks]

:DDDDDDDD I LOVE ALMONDS

[eliasbb]

Very refreshing to watch. I actually love your no talk approach. I'm the type that watches food videos for the interest factor, not to actually make the recipes, so this really worked for me.

[PinkMangoes5]

@TheTracieLee your deflating the egg whites you must gently fold them in

[Gardeninggirl1107]

I give you alot of credit for trying out this recipe. Your cake looks amazing. Truly homemade and worth the time given.

[bear46no]

Childs receieps are demanding. thats why i dont use them so often. Too much ingridients and other stuff that goes into it

[DaBunnyMasta]

I have no interest in cooking whatsoever but i couldn't help myself but to look at this vid cuz the cake looked so good! And i also LOVE magic bullet. Those infomercials make it seems so amazing! O:

[TheTracieLee]

@rebirthovan It's Chocolate and Almond Cake under the Five French Cakes section.

[rebirthovan]

whats the name of the cake in the cookbook!? i caan't find it :(

[TheTracieLee]

@GerardWayRocksMySoks Thanks for the tips! I only made this cake this one time. I need to try again soon. I appreciate your feedback!

[GerardWayRocksMySoks]

the reason why it did not rise as much as you would of liked is because the egg whites were not whisked as much as you should of. they should of been stiff before you added the sugar. also, when you added the egg whites you were beating it too hard and you beat all the air out. just fold them in slowly! hope this helped and maybe it will work next time!!

[TheTracieLee]

@Moonlightrealgirl Yup! I love it! I go in spurts with it. I'll make a bunch of smoothies, or chop ice for drinks, or whip up pudding. Good stuff. They have great deals on it all the time!

[Moonlightrealgirl]

Ooh! You have that magic bullet pulverising thingy! :3 when I was 8 that was all I wanted, but I still haven't got one. T.T i'm fifteen now...

[TheTracieLee]

@NattielChild That's too bad! I've only made this cake this one time. It did not rise as much as I would've liked it to. I'll have to try it again sometime... Seven times is admirable! :)

[NattielChild]

I've made this cake seven times and each time the cake has failed to rise):

[DulcEmiGUElito1]

dat is so sweetly gewd lol .... wisk ur egg whites wit ur power trust me it'll b more flurrier ;) lol looked good lol

[TheTracieLee]

@hisushi Nope, you do have to bake it. It was very rich and delectable, so it's totally worth it! :) There is cake flour in this recipe, but not much - 1/2 cup.

[hisushi]

interesting, it looks like the cake base is left to set rather than baked, like a chocolate cream pie?

This makes me want to try this recipe even more, I adore chocolate cake/pie/torte recipes that involve no cooking and aren't cut with any flour!

nice job lovely xxx

[AngelorPhantom1359]

Julia would be proud!

[TheTracieLee]

@julstar14 The day I start explaining my steps, people will ask why I don't do so in a Julia Child-esque accent. :) They already ask. I like the simplicity of this. Plus, I'm filming these videos myself on occassion. It'd be impossible to talk while I have the camera tucked under my chin.