'The Best Chocolate Cake You Ever Put In Your Mouth' According To Julia Child

While cooking competition shows dominate basic cable and kitchen hacks fill the margins of social media, YouTube is a font of classic Julia Child clips. In one charmingly grainy bit of video (via YouTube) from "The French Chef," Child readies for a "Champagne and coffee party," a theme that, with today's espresso martini prevalence, surely resonates all these years later. The whole fête, she says, is "in honor of the Queen of Sheba." A legendary royal if there ever was one, the occasion requires a confection fit for such a sovereign, hence Child's introduction of the eponymous dessert.

A queen of Sheba cake (also known as Reine De Saba cake) is chocolate- and almond-forward with a dense, creamy crumb. Butter and a glug of rum further help make it "the best chocolate cake you ever put in your mouth," according to the clip of the celebrity chef and occasional spy. Given Julia Child's sweet treat expertise, the assertion merits additional research.

This single layer cake requires an 8-inch pan, plus the aforementioned semisweet chocolate, unsalted butter, and booze, plus sifted cake flour, almond extract, eggs, cream of tartar, ground almonds, and granulated sugar to mix together and fill it up. Whole blanched almonds eventually stud the cake's exterior. Julia Child's boozy chocolate melting method is clutch here, as she melts the chips into a couple of tablespoons of the dark rum. In the clip of her show, Child attributes the cake's" lovely flavor" to this low-heat, double-boiler step in particular, as the chocolate's consistency is crucial for its ability to marry with the batter.

Once the ingredients are combined (in another very precise fashion), it's all baked at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for about 25 minutes. When finished, this is not a totally clean toothpick cake. Its center should be moist enough to produce a bit of residue. Once fully cooled, the Queen of Sheba cake is glazed with more of the chocolate rum blend beaten with a bit of butter, and crowned with the blanched almonds. Serve with Champagne or coffee, with or without the crowd.