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)
- ⅔ cup + 1 tablespoon granulated sugar , divided (132 grams)
- 3 large eggs , separated
- Pinch of salt
- ⅓ 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
Made this today, so happy with how it turned out- thank you very much ?
This is the first time I have ever made a comment on anything! I found your recipe about a month ago and have now made this cake about 5 times. I am in love with it. Thank you so much! I am making it right now for my mom. She is recovering from a bad case of shingles!! I just know she is going to love it. Thanks again!! I really enjoy your recipes!
Wow, 5 times, that’s awesome!! So happy you enjoy this recipe that much. Best of luck to your Mom on the mend! 🙂
Made this for my sister’s birthday- she loves chocolate and almonds. I switched out amaretto instead of the rum or coffee in both the cake and the frosting, and toasted the slivered almonds that top the cake. Also make sure to buy good quality dark chocolate bars, it makes a difference. WHAT A HIT!! She is still raving about how decadent, rich, almondy and delicious it is! Definitely will be making this one again and again!!
Love this cake. Was so yummy gone within 3 days! One criticism is that I think you’ve made a typo in the first line of the second instruction – just to let you know.
Hello. I want to use ground almonds instead of almond flour. Do I need to make any adjustments to the butter?
You should be able to swap finely ground almonds for the almond flour without making any other changes.
Recipe was detailed and easy to follow. The cake was good and the kids loved it. A real winner. Thank you.
Wow!!! Your post was easy to follow. The cake was divine. Thank you.
The cake looks delicious but can I freeze it?
Can I freeze the cake without the icing?
Yes, that shouldn’t be a problem. See my post on freezing and storing cakes for tips. 🙂
I love love love this recipe.. ive made it countless times and
eveyones whos had it absolutely loved this cake.. if I were to pick
one chocolate cake recipe for the rest of my life, this would be it!
I’m thinking of using the cake recipe for my wife’s brithday cake. Two questions:
1) If I doubled the recipe and baked in two pans, would the cake be durable enough to stack?
2) Could I make this 1-2 days in advance and hold the cake in the fridge?
Thanks!
Adam
This is a pretty delicate cake, so I wouldn’t recommend stacking it. But yes, it should keep fairly well in the fridge for a few days. Hope this helps!
made this cake 3 times and will continue as it is wonderful but the icing with a 1/4 cup of rum is a liquid so i have to add 1 and 1/2 cups powder sugar in order to thicken it to a spreadable consistency or its not usable but this works well
What temp shld this be baked?
As stated in the recipe, bake at 350 degrees F.
Can I use a gluten flour instead of the normal flour?
This cake really sounds lovely and in the not-to-distant future I am going to make it. I have a question: which did you use, the rum or the coffee to flavour, or both? I think this would be a lovely celebration cake and would impress those lucky enough to indulge.
I know it’s a long time since you published this recipe but I do hope you see this question and leave me an answer. Thankyou for this inspiring cake – makes me feel giddy at the thought of making it. ?
I usually use coffee, as it’s my favorite secret ingredient to making chocolate desserts more chocolaty. I’m sure rum extract would be good too, though!