If you are a regular visitor of my blog, you would have noticed that I have not posted any recipes last week. I missed my group challenges and reveal dates. The reason is my daughter was down with fever and I was totally depressed without knowing the reason for this high fever. Though we visited a child specialist, even he didn't take any tests to identify the fever. At last, today he gave some tests to be done and she is diagnosed with typhoid. Even though she is still ill, we are relieved to know something about the fever and doctor has promised to cure it within a week. I prepared this cake last week when she had slight fever but couldn't post it when she became very sick. Today I got some time and thought of posting this wonderful recipe.
I am part of a group Baking Partners in which a group of home bakers try out a recipe and post it together on the same day. For the first month, Swathi selected this Chocolate Almond Cake by the famous chef Julia Child. Any one who has seen the movie Julie and Julia Project will not ask about Julia Child. She is the cook book author who brought French Cooking to American Homes. August 15th is Julia Child's 100th birthday and Swathi wanted to post the recipes on that day to honour Julia Child. But as I couldn't post it on that day, I am posting it today. It is better late than never.
This cake has three eggs and it was quite a challenge to substitute them in the recipe. This is my second attempt baking this cake. The first cake became flat once cooled and it was very mushy. The reason for the failure is very simple but I learnt it through the mistake. The eggs in the recipe makes the cake fluffy and also gives volume. So the amount of flour used is very less. When I substituted eggs, I also added 1/4cup more flour but it was not enough. Only that would result in sinking of the cake. So for my second attempt, I added more flour and it came out perfect. The cake was soft and firm and was wonderful with the chocolate icing. I decorated the cake with almonds and grated chocolate. I prepared the cake during night and frosted it the next day. It also tastes great when served chilled. But I prefer the unchilled version.
Ingredients:
For The Chocolate
Almond Cake:
Bitter Sweet Chocolate-120gm
Instant Coffee Powder-1tsp
Water-2tbs
Butter-1/2cup
Powdered Sugar-2/3cup
Curd-1/2cup
Baking Soda-1/4tsp
Maida/ All Purpose Flour-1 1/4cup
Baking Powder-1/2tsp
Corn Flour-1tbs
Almond Essence-1/2tsp
For The Chocolate
Icing:
Bitter Sweet Chocolate-60gm
Instant Coffee Powder-1tsp
Water-2tbs
Unsalted Butter-5-6tbs
Procedure:
The Cake:
- Preheat
oven to 180C.
- In a
double boiler, melt chocolate.
- Mix
water and instant coffee powder.
- Add
this coffee mixture to the melted chocolate.
- In a
bowl, add sugar and butter and beat until creamy.
- In a
small bowl, mix curd and baking soda and leave it until frothy.
- Add
this mixture to the butter sugar mixture along with almond essence and
beat well.
- Add
the chocolate coffee mixture to the ixture and beat until incorporated.
- In
another bowl, add flour, corn flour and baking powder and mix well.
- Add
this flour mix and almond meal to the butter chocolate mixture and fold it
using a wooden spatula until incorporated.
- Grease
and dust a 8”
round cake tin.
- Pour
the batter into it and level the top using the spatula.
- Place
it in the middle rack and bake for 20-25minutes or until a tooth pick
inserted comes out clean.
- Let
the cake rest for 5minutes.
- Flip
it on a wire rack and allow it to cool completely.
The Icing:
- In a
double boiler, melt chocolate.
- Mix
water and coffee powder.
- Remove
it from the boiler and add the coffee to it.
- Mix
well until creamy and dark brown.
- Place
the bowl in a larger bowl containing water and ice cubes.
- Add a
tbs of butter at a time and mix well until creamy.
- When
the icing reaches a semi solid state and looks very creamy, remove from
the bowl of water.
Assembling The Cake:
- Place
the cake on a plate.
- Pour
the icing on the cake.
- With
an offset spatula, spread it all over the cake and cover the sides also.
- Decorate
the cake with almond flakes and grated chocolate.
- Chill
the cake for 30minutes.
- Slice
it up and serve.
Cream butter, sugar and curd mixture. Add the melted chocolate mixture to it.
Mix well.
Add the flour mixture and almond meal.
Pour the prepared batter into a greased and dusted cake tin.
Cool the cake on a wire rack.
Prepare icing to slightly thicker than pouring consistency.
Pour it on the cake.
Spread the icing with a spatula.
Decorate with sliced almonds and grated chocolate.
Slice it up and serve.
Linking this to Kid's Delight- Chocolate hosted by Vaishali and started by Srivalli and Bake Fest hosted at Foodomania and started by Vardhini.
Labels: ALMONDS, BAKES, BAKING PARTNERS, CAKE, CHOCOLATES, COFFEE, EGGLESS