Reine de Saba

Name: Reine de Saba
Cook time: 1 h 30 min
Cuisine: French
Ingredients: Butter for greasing; 125g dark couverture chocolate, chopped roughly; 1 tbsp strong espresso coffee; 1 tbsp brandy; 100g softened unsalted butter; 1/2 cup caster sugar; ¾ cup of ground almonds; 3 eggs, separated; Icing sugar, for dusting

Stephanie Alexander

October 19, 2011

Time:1-2 hours

Also know as Queen of Sheba or chocolate and almond cake, this is the ultimate flourless chocolate cake. Many of us discovered this in Elizabeth David's French Provincial Cooking, first published in 1960. She gives the chocolate quantity as "one-quarter of a pound". Many cooks have increased that quantity, although I see no need to.

Ingredients

Butter for greasing
125g dark couverture chocolate, chopped roughly
1 tbsp strong espresso coffee
1 tbsp brandy
100g softened unsalted butter
1/2 cup caster sugar
¾ cup of ground almonds
3 eggs, separated
Icing sugar, for dusting

Method

Preheat oven to 160C. Butter an 18cm tin and line it with paper. (Use a springform tin if you are sure it doesn't leak, as this cake is fragile and often cracks when turned out.)
Combine chocolate, coffee and brandy in a bowl over water or in a double-boiler. Stir when melted and add butter and sugar and mix well. Add almonds and stir in well. Remove bowl from the heat.
Lightly beat the yolks and stir into the bowl. Beat egg whites to soft peaks. Lighten chocolate mixture with a spoonful of whites, then fold in the remainder.
Bake for 40-45 minutes. The cake will test a bit gooey in the centre. Cool completely in the tin before slipping onto a serving plate. Dust with icing sugar.

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