COVID-19 Shutdown, Day 145

Test Kitchen Sundays: 

I was talking to a friend of mine about Sundays being the test kitchen day in both of our houses when I realized I didn't try something new and today is Sunday. I know because Mom and I have a new tradition where we call each other on Sundays. If we talk any longer though, I may have to start talking to her on Saturday! (And this is a good thing <3)

What to make? I thought about maybe doing the things on the recent list of "have you ever made these from scratch" that I hadn't made, but quickly realized there was a REASON I didn't make them. There is no point in cooking or baking something if the eaters turn up their noses and leave the room at the mere mention of it, myself included. 

The idea of running around looking at all my cookbooks was overwhelming. 

So I thought back to the last thing I saw that really looked interesting and yummy, and I remembered the chocolate almond cake from the movie Julie and Julia. I checked but the movie doesn't come on again until thursday afternoon. With that set to record, I put on Amelia (you know, the movie about Amelia Earhart?) 

Julia's cake might be a contender. It is called Reine de Saba or Chocolate Almond Cake. 

Is it sacrilege to make the cake with chocolate chips for the semi sweet chocolate? Checking my ingredients, I found that I had the ingredients. Or a reasonable substitute. 

My rum is strawberry flavored, and my chocolate is mostly milk instead of semisweet. 

But it should make for a good cake, if not a correct one. 

If anyone ever tells you that cooking and especially baking are for the bored rich housewives who can't do hard work, then you've never been in a test kitchen up to your arms in dishes soaking wet down to your feet and hair hanging in your face. 

Your tiny kitchen will become a cacophony of dishes dishes dishes piled up to the ceiling and overflowing on tables and chairs!

You have to love it a lot to want to wade through all that while your back hurts from beating eggs and butter and willing them to hold up an entire cake with no leavening. Often you are doing this with burnt fingers and cut hands, screaming from the harsh bleaches and chemicals used for sanitizing. This was my marker. If I loved it after all that, and I do, then I do belong in the kitchen. 

I cross my fingers as the cake bakes, dreading the kitchen full of dishes and chocolate chips with rum in the double boiler to make frosting. I have to go back. But not quite yet. I just want to sit in triumph that the egg whites did come to stiff peaks and I was able to get it folded in to the batter with gritty almond meal cutting into the millions of fluffy bubbles. I type with mango popsicle in my teeth. 

Here is how it went....

Melting chocolate chips in rum for the chocolate sauce. 

Beating sugar and butter together. Then adding yolks one at a time

Ground almonds for the almond meal. At this point I had already made the egg white foam and my son was getting impatient for me to be quiet. He was playing video games with his friend. (Guilty smile). 

Here the chocolate sauce is added to the butter mixture and the salt was added. 

Folding in the egg whites... carefully

Rather than butter I used olive oil spray, then flour to coat the pan, now that I had an idea how big of a pan I needed. 

This one is 8 inches.

With the cake in the oven, I melted more chocolate and rum, then started adding butter once the heat was off. It takes 6 tbsp - nearly a stick of butter.

Once all that yummy butter is added, its time to cool the chocolate frosting. 

Le Cake. 

It's one big bunch of bubbles and chocolate. Can't wait to dig in. 

An hour later it's still too hot and melts the frosting in the middle. 

I did get the sides frosted. 

The center fell, and it looks a little sad, but I'm hoping once its cooled we can cover it with almonds and no one will care. 

Here is the final product. And oh yes it was definitely worth all the dishes!

Stay safe, sane, and healthy

And do something you love!

--Vicky