Chocolate Almond Cake
Julia Child’s Chocolate Almond Cake may just be my new favorite cake. It’s incredibly rich and decadent. The center is purposefully undercooked, leaving a fudgy center you’ll crave long after the cake is gone.
After spending two weeks away on vacation, I very much enjoyed coming home and slipping into our old routine— grocery shopping on monday, laundry on thursday, pizza night on friday. I also relished returning to my kitchen. It felt so good to be cooking and baking again.
And after weeks of talking about things like sugar and canning on the blog, I wanted to share a purely beautiful and completely delicious indulgence. Like this chocolate cake.
And not just any chocolate cake, Julia Child’s chocolate almond cake from Mastering the Art of French Cooking. If you were only to bake one chocolate cake for the rest of your life, this may be it. It’s not super fancy, with multiple layers, a complicated filling, and intricate decorating, and it doesn’t need any of that. It’s perfect as it is.
I left the recipe as she wrote it, with one exception. I could barely frost half of the cake with the chocolate butter frosting recipe provided, so I made another batch. I’ve given the recipe below with the doubled icing, but feel free to cut it in half if you’d like to try it with less.
baking tip:How to fold ingredients together
“Folding” is a method of gently combining ingredients without knocking the air out of the mixture, such as with whipped egg whites or whipped cream. Here’s how it’s done:
- Begin by adding one third of the lighter mixture (such as whipped egg whites) to the thicker batter to loosen it
- Using the spatula, cut straight down through the mixture to the bottom of the bowl and scoop up the mixture and fold it over on top of itself.
- Rotate the bowl a quarter turn and repeat until the lighter ingredients are incorporated into the batter.
- Fold in the remaining lighter mixture in small batches.
Here’s a quick video if you need a visual!
Chocolate Almond Cake
Ingredients
For the cake:
- 4 ounces semisweet or bittersweet chocolate , chopped (113 grams)
- 2 tablespoons rum or coffee
- ½ cup unsalted butter , at room temperature (113 grams)
- â…” cup + 1 tablespoon granulated sugar , divided (132 grams)
- 3 large eggs , separated
- Pinch of salt
- â…“ cup almond flour/meal (35 grams)
- ¼ teaspoon almond extract
- ½ cup cake flour , sifted (57 grams)
For the icing:
- 4 ounces semisweet or bittersweet chocolate , chopped (113 grams)
- ¼ cup rum or coffee (60 ml)
- ¾ cup unsalted butter , at room temperature (170 grams)
- Slivered almonds for garnish
Instructions
To make the cake:
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter and flour an 8-inch round cake pan and line with parchment paper.
- Combine the chopped chocolate and coffee or rum in a small bowl placed over a saucepan of simmering water. Stir as the chocolate melts and remove from heat as soon as it's smooth. Set aside to cool.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter and 2/3 cup sugar until pale and creamy. Add the 3 egg yolks and beat until thick. Add the cooled melted chocolate. Stir in the almond extract and almond meal/flour and mix until just combined.
- In a separate bowl and with a whisk attachment, whip the 3 egg whites and salt on high speed until foamy. Slowly add the tablespoon of sugar and whip to stiff peaks.
- Add ¼ of the whipped egg whites to the batter and fold gently until combined. Add and fold in the remaining whites in 3 additions, alternating with the sifted cake flour. Fold only until the streaks of egg whites disappear, do not overmix.
- Pour the batter into the prepared cake pan. Bake until the edges are set but the center still jiggles when the pan is bumped, about 25 minutes.
- Let cool 10 minutes, then run a knife around the edges to remove cake from pan and place on a wire rack to cool completely.
To make the icing:
- Combine the chopped chocolate and coffee or run in a small bowl placed over a saucepan of simmering water. Stir as the chocolate melts and remove from heat as soon as it's smooth.
- Add the butter a tablespoon at a time and use a whisk to beat it into the chocolate. Whisk until smooth.
- Let the icing cool to a spreadable consistency, stirring it every 5 minutes or so. It should take about 15-20 minutes, depending on the temperature of your kitchen.
- Spoon the icing on top of the cooled cake and spread it to cover. Garnish with slivered almonds.
Notes
This was excellent. Everyone loved it for after dinner and the next day.Â
Just a note about the icing; 170 g butter did seem like a lot but trust the process. It turned out perfectÂ
Thank you for the review! I’m so glad you liked this recipe.
Hi. I just made this cake this evening and after 2 cakes they still did not come out well. The second cake itself was pretty good and fudge like in the middle. I baked it for 20 min instead of 25z The first one was a bit dry at 25 min. The frosting was terribly bitter. I made the first one using rum, semisweet chocolate and butter as directed. The second batch I used 60% sweetened dark chocolate cut up, rum and butter as directed. Again very bitter. I ended up throwing both out.Â
Hi MJ! I’m sorry you had trouble with this recipe. This is Julia Child’s recipe exactly as written, and I admit I haven’t made it in 10 years. However, I’m not sure why the frosting would turn out bitter since it’s just 3 ingredients: chocolate, rum or coffee and butter. And if you used rum especially, nothing about any of those ingredients is bitter. It’s likely the chocolate you’re using. 60% dark chocolate is pretty dark, next time I’d recommend a semisweet chocolate that’s more 30-50% dark. Also, the higher quality of chocolate you use, the higher quality the frosting will be.
Absolutely delicious, made it so many times and each time was liked by allÂ
Wow, wow this cake is moist rich n deliciousssss. It is now my chocolate cake favorite!!! Thank you ?