Julia Child’s chocolate almond cake

using cups and ounces feels soo wrong… but, if Julia Child makes it then you knows it’s good, no arguments.

this cake recipe takes the classic creaming method, adds meringue and almond flour to create the most interesting texture. in some places, it's marshmallow and you can feel the bubbles pop in your mouth then in another bite, you get the perfume from the almond extract with the slightly gooey centre, one more bite and the almond flour lends a soft, crumbly quality with the coffee and chocolate not overpowering the whole thing, just there in the background, popping in every once in a while. overall it’s pretty nice and fudgy.

I overbaked it slightly by like 2 minutes, totally should have done a sugar crust but it’s still pretty good!

4oz semi-sweet chocolate

2tbsp coffee

113g butter, softened

2/3cups sugar

3 eggs, separated

1tbsp sugar

1/3cup almond flour

1/4tsp almond extract

1/2cup cake flour, sifted

you’ll need an 8inch cake tin (greased).

method

preheat the oven to 350F.

melt the chocolate and coffee together (either in a bain-marie or the microwave), set aside.

cream together the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy, beat in the egg yolks until combined.

whip the egg whites to soft peaks, then slowly sprinkle in 1tbsp of sugar, whip until doubled in size, stiff peaks form, and goes glossy.

mix the melted chocolate into the butter mixture, add the almond flour, and extract, mix until combined.

gently fold in one-third of the egg whites into the chocolate-butter mixture, then fold in one-third of the flour, alternate the whites and flour until everything is incorporated.

pour the cake batter into the tin, smooth off the top, bake for 25-30 minutes. it will wobbly slightly but trust that it's done:)