Queen of Sheba
This is called Queen of Sheba. Pretty fancy name huh? Well it deserves it! I’ve made this chocolate torte quite a few times now, and every time I’m reminded of how good it is. If you’re looking for a super-chocolaty cake with a very unique texture, this is it.
I made it for a party I went to recently and everyone loved it. Since the party was a wine tasting one, I decided to substitute an Orange Muscat (which I normally use for making Zabaione) for the brandy, but I only used a tablespoon and a teaspoon for it because I wasn’t sure how strong it would be. Now that I’ve tasted it, I think I could have substituted the full 3 tablespoons. The Orange Muscat gave me the idea of topping it with candied orange zest, which went great with the chocolate.
The recipe is adapted from Alice Medrich’s book Bittersweet, a highly acclaimed book that every lover of chocolate ought to have. The recipe calls for 2 tablespoons of flour, but I like a bit more cakiness so increased that to 3. I also added an extra egg white to the 4 that were called for because the eggs I used seemed to be a bit small for “Large” eggs. I think I’ll have to make this a couple more times to be sure what the best recipe is. I’m not sure if it always needs that extra egg white for example. When I figure it out I’ll definitely post it here.
At some point I’ll have to try Julia Child’s version too. It’s in the Mastering the Art of French Cooking, under “Reine De Saba”.