"The famous cake popularised in the United States by Julia Child".
This recipe by food and crime writer, Orlando Murrin is kindly reproduced from his latest novel Murder Below Deck, published by Transworld Books.
Photo Credit: Angela Nilsen
Gateau Reine de Saba recipe
"The famous cake popularised in the United States by Julia Child". This recipe by food and crime writer, Orlando Murrin...
Ingredients
For the meringue
| 3 | egg whites |
| a pinch | salt |
| 1/4 tsp | cream of tartar |
| 1 tbsp | caster sugar |
| 1 tsp | white wine or cider vinegar |
For the cake
| 120g | dark chocolate, broken finely or chopped |
| 25g | ground almonds |
| 40g | plain flour |
| 20g | cornflour |
| 120g | butter, softened |
| 150g | caster sugar |
| 1 tsp | vanilla extract |
| 1/4 tsp | almond extract |
| 3 | egg yolks |
| 2 tbsp | rum, brandy or coffee |
For the glaze
| 100g | dark chocolate, broken finely or chopped |
| 25-50g | butter |
| 1 tbsp | rum, brandy or coffee |
| to decorate (optional) | flaked almonds, well toasted |
Method
- Butter a 20 cm loose-bottomed cake tin, about 4–5cm deep, and line base with a disc of baking paper.
- Melt the 120 g chocolate for the cake in a bowl over hot water, or 2–3 minutes in the microwave. Leave to cool.
- For the meringue, put the whites, salt and cream of tartar in the bowl of a stand mixer, or use an electric hand whisk. Whisk till beginning to stiffen, then add the sugar in two goes. When the mixture is stiff and meringue-like, beat in the vinegar and set aside. If you are using a stand mixer and have a spare bowl, use it now, otherwise transfer the beaten whites to a fresh bowl, and rinse the bowl ready for the chocolate mixture.
- For the cake, mix the ground almonds, flour and cornflour in a small bowl. Cream the butter, sugar, vanilla and almond extracts using stand or electric hand mixer, until light and creamy, then beat in the yolks, followed by the cooled chocolate and rum.
- Gently fold in a third of the meringue mixture using a large metal spoon, then half the flour mixture, then repeat, finishing with remaining meringue mixture. There should be no lumps of egg white or flour visible. Spoon the mixture into the tin and lightly spread it out to the edges.
- Bake in a 180°C/160°C fan oven. There is no need to preheat – in which case it will take 25–28 minutes; if you do preheat, it will take 22–25 minutes. Rotate at half time if necessary. The cake is cooked when a toothpick inserted about 5 cm from the edge comes out clean, with a few crumbs attached. The centre of the cake should feel slightly soft to the touch but not liquid.
- Run a palette knife round the edge of the cake, then allow to cool for ten minutes. Invert onto a rack, discard baking paper and leave to cool completely – about an hour. You can make a day ahead and wrap if convenient.
- Melt the chocolate for the glaze with 25g of the butter and rum (as before) till smooth. Chocolate varies, so if it’s too thick to pour, melt in an extra 25 g butter. Put the cake (still inverted) on a rack with a sheet of baking paper underneath and pour the glaze over it, smoothing top and sides. Decorate with almonds if you wish.
- When set, remove to a cake plate. If you refrigerate this, the finish will go dull, so best kept in a container at room temperature and served within a day or two.
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