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Everyone knows that when Julia Child says a dish is good, you listen, and that goes double if the food is French. As one of the prominent food minds of the 20th century, Child had a special gift for introducing relatively unknown food into the American culinary frame of reference — and making that food seem approachable. So when she called the Queen of Sheba cake “the best chocolate cake you ever put in your mouth,” it’s safe to say you should probably pay attention (per YouTube).
This dessert, also known as Gâteau Reine de Saba, was the first cake Child ate upon arriving in France, and she loved it so much that she included it in her seminal work “Mastering the Art of French Cooking,” alongside other formative dishes for her, including her favorite dessert, poetically named the floating island. The Queen of Sheba features chocolate and almonds and has the added parlor trick effect of looking (and being!) incredibly simple while packing an absolute whollop of a flavor punch to the taste buds.
Why exactly the cake is named after the famed queen — whom Ethiopian tradition holds visited the biblical King Solomon and begot him a son who may have become Ethiopia’s first emperor, Menelik I — is unclear beyond the fact that the cake is dark in complexion, rich, and full of warm spices — just as the Queen’s cargo when traveling to Jerusalem was full of spices and riches. Whatever the reason, the name stuck in this enduringly delicious delicacy.
What makes a Queen of Sheba cake unique
The best part about the Queen of Sheba cake is its relative simplicity. The keys to the dish are semisweet chocolate, almonds, and either rum or coffee — or, best of all worlds, coffee-infused rum. The almonds will be used in two ways: first, ground into almond meal as part of the batter, then blanched or sliced and used for decorating the exterior of the cake.
What really sets this cake apart, though, is the interior. A properly cooked Queen of Sheba cake features a slightly undercooked middle that adds a beautiful soft creaminess and makes it feel even more luxurious. A toothpick test will help here: While you want the toothpick to come out of the edges of the cake cleanly, as with most baked goods, it should emerge from the center with remnants of the cake still attached. It’s also important to note that while we call this a cake, it’s actually a gâteau. What’s the difference between a cake and a gâteau, you ask? Gâteaus, as a type of sponge cake, traditionally forgo leaveners like baking powder or soda, relying instead on beaten egg whites to provide the structural rise.
While it will be delicious no matter what, if you want to make this cake all things Julia Child, consider using her favorite chocolate brand: Scharffen Berger Chocolates. Its semisweet chocolate chunks are perfect for melting into a smooth, buttery sauce that will take your Queen of Sheba cake to the stratosphere.
