Julia Child's Reine De Saba 🎂 Queen of Sheba Cake

 Julia Child's 

Reine De Saba 🎂 Queen of Sheba

Cake

The easy, chocolate-packed cake everyone is baking after watching HBO's new Julia Child series

The first French cake Julia Child ever ate makes a cameo in the first episode of the HBO series "Julia"
By Ashlie D. Stevens   April 4, 2022

After watching the first episode of "Julia," the HBO limited series about the titular Julia Child, I added a few ingredients to my grocery list for the week: several ounces of chocolate, almonds and cream of tartar. Everything else I would need to make Child's Queen of Sheba cake — eggs, butter, cake flour, coffee and sugar — was already on hand in my kitchen pantry. 

That's the appeal of this dessert, which made a special appearance in the series' premiere wherein Child (played by Sarah Lancashire) leverages the cake to win over a group of dismissive male executives at Boston public TV station WGBH. It's so effortless to make that even a child could do it.

 In fact, as Salon's TV critic Melanie McFarland wrote in her review of the series, "The recipe's simplicity also is why I could make that cake in grade school, having copied down the ingredients from a recording of 'The French Chef,' the very show she's pitching."

She continued, "In the same way Lancashire's Julia arms herself with an extra helping of chocolaty persuasion, I made my share of Reine de Sabas for school occasions and church functions, for gifts to neighbors and friends, as general a token of, as Julia might have put it, bonhomie."

But what, exactly, is a Queen of Sheba cake? The Queen of Sheba cake, or Reine de Sabas, has long been a standby in French cooking. Moreover, it was the first French cake that Child ever ate. 

As the Washington Post reported in 1984, it's named after a Biblical figure - a queen who traveled from Sheba to visit King Solomon in order to assess his wisdom and discuss trade. There's some disagreement, though, as to where Sheba was located. Some scholars believe it would have been a region in present-day Yemen, whereas others believe the queen was from Ethiopia.

Regardless, the queen's name came to be associated through time with Black excellence and richness. Beyoncé, for instance, name drops the Queen of Sheba in her "Mood 4 Eva." Earlier, as Faye Levy wrote for The Post, "imaginative French chefs thought of her when creating new, sumptuous chocolate desserts."

The Queen of Sheba cake is distinct from other French cakes like the fraisier or mille feuille — which are airy or intricately layered — because it's fudgy and moist. The bake time is relatively short — Child recommends less than half an hour — and it doesn't require any delicate piping or stacking. That's not to say there aren't variations.

"Some opulent ones are topped with chocolate cream frosting," Levy wrote. "Others are baked in a ring mold and served with whipped cream in the center. Still others are accompanied by a smooth custard sauce. All versions are fine when served plain and are perfect for a festive menu." 

At its core, however, the Queen of Sheba cake is incredibly simple. If you revisit the episode of "The French Chef" in which Child makes the dessert, she says the key to its texture is an easy meringue. It's made by beating egg whites and sugar until "stiff, white peaks" form. They get folded into a mixture of melted chocolate, pulsed almonds and the rest of the cake ingredients for a flavorful batter. (FYI: You can also watch Child make the cake in this excerpt of her video book "First Courses and Desserts" on YouTube.)

In "First Courses and Desserts," Child decorates the cake with "chocolate on chocolate on chocolate on chocolate." When the camera pans to the cake, there are two bubbling glasses of champagne in the background — a nod to how this cake is best shared with the people you love (or the TV producers you're trying to impress).

🎂 INGREDIENTS

• 2  tablespoons dark rum or 2 tablespoons strong coffee
• ¹⁄₂  cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
• ¹⁄₂  cup granulated sugar
• 3  egg yolks
• 3  egg whites
• ¹⁄₄  teaspoon cream of tartar
• 1 pinch salt
• 2  tablespoons granulated sugar
• ¹⁄₃  cup blanched almond (pulverized in blender or food processor with 2 tablespoons granulated sugar)
• ¹⁄₄  teaspoon almond extract
• ¹⁄₂  cup cake flour

DIRECTIONS

1.    Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Set the oven rack in lower middle level.

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2.    In a saucepan over low heat, melt the chocolate in the rum or coffee. Set aside. In a mixing bowl, cut butter into. 

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3.    pieces and cream it. When soft and fluffy, add sugar and beat 1 minute. Beat in egg yolks until well blended. 

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4.    In another bowl, beat egg whites until foamy. Beat in cream of tartar and salt and continue beating until soft peaks are formed. Gradually beat in 2 tablespoons sugar and continue beating until stiff, shiny peaks are formed. Blend melted chocolate and coffee or rum into yolk mixture, then add almonds and almond extract.

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5.    Stir a quarter of the egg whites into the chocolate using a rubber spatula. Scoop the rest of the whites over chocolate and, alternating with sprinkles of flour, rapidly and delicately fold in the egg whites. Turn batter into buttered and floured 8-by-1 1/2-inch round cake pan, tilting it in all directions up to the rim all around. Set in preheated oven. Bake 25 minutes. 

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6.    Cake is done when puffed to the top and a toothpick inserted 2 to 3 inches from edge comes out clean. The center should move slightly when the pan is gently shaken. Remove pan to a rack and let cool 15 minutes. Unmold onto rack. Let cool 2 hours before storing or icing.

 🎂  NUTRITION INFO

• Serving Size: 1 (80) g
• Servings Per Recipe: 8

🎂  AMT. PER SERVING % DAILY VALUE

• Calories:  334.7
• Calories from Fat 214 g 64 %
• Total Fat 23.8 g 36 %
• Saturated Fat 12.8 g 63 %
• Cholesterol 92.8 mg 30 %
• Sodium 49.3 mg 2 %
• Total Carbohydrate 28.1 g 9 %
• Dietary Fiber 3.1 g 12 %
• Sugars 16.2 g 64 %
• Protein 6.2 g 12 %

 “This is from Julia Child's first book, The French Chef. 

DrGaellon :  Absolutely delicious. I used a coffee-flavored rum, so I got both flavors in there. I found the original French Chef episode online and watched it; she glazed the cake with a loose butter-based ganache. I used 3 oz semisweet chocolate, another 2 tbsp of the same rum, and 4-5 tbsp butter. I melted the chocolate and rum over a double boiler, then whisked in the butter a pat at a time. I poured it over the top of the cake and coaxed it over the sides with an offset spatula. I then coated the sides with more ground almonds. Once the glaze set up a bit, I transferred the cake from my rack to a serving plate. I found another variation from one of her other cookbooks which suggested making individual cakes by using a supersized muffin tin, which I will try another time. One last tip; if not glazing or frosting the cake, use cocoa powder instead of flour to coat the inside of the pan, that way you don't get white streaks on the surface of the cake.

 

https://www.food.com/recipe/julia-childs-reine-de-saba-queen-of-sheba-cake-240126

 

🎂 Reine De Saba Cake 🎂

(Chocolate Almond Cake)

Jamie & Julia
👇    📺    👇
https://youtu.be/NLVLY7dxgMs

Recipe:
3 ounces semisweet chocolate,
plus1 ounce unsweetened chocolate
2 tablespoons dark rum or 2 tablespoons strong coffee
1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup granulated sugar
3 egg yolks
3 egg whites
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
1 pinch salt
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1/3 cup blanched almond (pulverized in blender or food processor with 2 tablespoons granulated sugar)
1/4 teaspoon almond extract
1/2 cup cake flour

(Chocolate Almond Cake) | Jamie & Julia
Recipe:
3 ounces semisweet chocolate,
plus1 ounce unsweetened chocolate
2 tablespoons dark rum or 2 tablespoons strong coffee
1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup granulated sugar
3 egg yolks
3 egg whites
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
1 pinch salt
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1/3 cup blanched almond (pulverized in blender or food processor with 2 tablespoons granulated sugar)
1/4 teaspoon almond extract
1/2 cup cake flour

• that one almond that fell at 6:45 like ✌🏽✌🏽
• OK. The I need a Bowl Thing. 1:09 Cracks Me UP.
• you sounded like Julia when you skinned the almond! (4:01) Nice job! 

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCR8gyS7wt4CmDwJ_JC6KP_g

 

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Queen of Sheba Cake

Prep Time:  20m

Bake/Cook Time:   30m

Yield:   1, 9-inch cake

Looking for an easy to prepare cake with exceptional taste and luxurious texture? Look no further - it's right here. Queen of Sheba Cake is a French classic full of chocolate and almond flavor and topped with a chocolate glaze. Simple, yet sophisticated.

Ingredients

Cake

• 4-ounce bar quality chocolate or 2/3 cup chocolate chips (about 55-60% cocoa)
• 1 stick (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, very soft
• 1/2 cup Dixie Crystals Extra Fine Granulated Sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 3 tablespoons Almond liquor, Rum, or orange juice
• 3 large egg yolks, room temperature
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 3/4 cup almond flour*
• 1/2 cup minus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour*
• 4 large egg whites
• 2 tablespoons Dixie Crystals Extra Fine Granulated Sugar

Chocolate Glaze

• 2 tablespoons water
• 1/2 cup chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup slivered almonds

• *Spoon & Sweep method: Use a spoon to fill measuring cup with flour until required amount is obtained. Scooping measuring cup directly into flour bag will firmly pack flour resulting in too much flour required for recipe.
  

 Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter and flour a spring form pan or line bottom and sides with parchment paper and set aside.1
2. If using chocolate in a bar form cut it to chocolate chip size pieces. Place in a microwave oven proof bowl and heat in 10 second increments until melted. Set aside.2
3. In a bowl large enough to hold all ingredients mix butter until creamy. Add sugar and salt and mix until light and fluffy. Add liquor and once mixed in add melted chocolate.3
4. Add one egg yolk at a time followed by vanilla extract.4
5. Fold in almond flour followed by all-purpose flour.5
6. In a separate bowl whip egg whites and remaining sugar to medium peaks. Gently fold one fourth of egg whites into batter. Add another fourth and once combined add remaining whipped egg whites.6
7. Transfer to prepared pan and place in oven.7
8. Bake for approximately 25-30 minutes or until center bounces back when lightly pressed with a finger.8
9. For chocolate glaze, bring water to a boil. Remove from heat and whisk in chocolate.9
10. Spread chocolate glaze on cake and quickly place almond slivers around the edge of the cake before the glaze sets.
    

 https://www.dixiecrystals.com/recipes/queen-of-sheba-cake

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