Julia Child's chocolate and almond cake

There is nothing better than a really, really good chocolate cake. And readers, have I got a really, really good chocolate cake for you! A few weeks ago, I tried my hand at a new recipe, courtesy of the woman, the myth, the legend, Julia Child. While Julia Child's approach to cooking is very inviting, her recipes can be intimidating. After watching the first episode of Julia on HBO (which as a heads up is apparently very fictionalized... a puzzling choice that we can dive into another time), I was inspired to give it a go. In this installment, Julia bakes a chocolate and almond cake that looks absolutely divine. In a break from our normal newsletter routine, I'm going to walk you through how to make this dessert because it is just that good. Put on the Julie & Julia score, if you're feeling extra committed to the theme, and get ready to bake!

A few warnings ahead of time. The first is specifically for my dad to tell him to stop reading this newsletter - he's better off with minimal details about the behind-the scenes of baking. There's nothing weird in this cake!! It's just for his own good. The second warning is for everyone. This cake is going to require you to use a lot of bowls. If you're bad at planning ahead while you're baking (I am, there's no shame), you'll likely use even more bowls than necessary. I'll give you some shortcuts that I took to help ease the amount of dish cleaning you'll inevitably need to do. I followed this version of the recipe for the cake and this version for the frosting.

First off, I have to make some confessions. This recipe tells you to temper the chocolate (for both the cake and the frosting), and I opted to carefully microwave it instead, which worked just fine! I slowly checked the status, microwaving in short increments, and periodically stirring the chocolate together to make sure nothing burned. The recipe also has you add a little bit of rum or coffee to the chocolate while it's melting; I used coffee. Once the chocolate/coffee mixture is melted, you're going to separate out your eggs and yolks (you'll eventually use both) to help prepare for the next few steps. I used one of those handy egg separator contraptions from the store and it worked wonders to speed up this process. Once your eggs are ready, you'll cream together the butter and sugar. The recipe recommends doing this for several minutes; I did it for three to four in the KitchenAid Mixer. Then you'll add egg yolks to the batter and keep beating. Once that's mixed, you're going to move on to what is likely your third or fourth bowl and beat together (I used a hand mixer here) salt and egg whites. Once you're seeing soft peaks form (it'll take a few minutes), you'll add in sugar and beat some more until you can lift up the beater without any of the mixture dripping off (aka hard peaks). Then you'll go back to your sugar/butter/yolk bowl and add in almond extract and "pulverized almonds," which are almonds (I bought them pre-sliced to save on time/trouble) shredded into a powder via the food processor. Here's where things get a little trickier. Now you're going to add some of the beaten egg whites, then some more egg whites, into the sugar/butter/yolk/almond mixture, and alternate between adding sifted flour and more egg whites until you've used them both. The instructions sound scary, but at the end of the day, you're just switching back and forth and "folding" them in...a phrase I detest. And that's it! Now you've got your batter, which you're going to spread out in a cake pan, as it's pretty thick, and bake for about 25 minutes. If your cake turns out like mine, the top is going to look a little crumbly on first glance but you'll be covering it with frosting, so who cares? Trust me it doesn't taste crumbly! Once your cake has completely cooled, you can frost it. I cheated when doing this part too, and instead of messing with tempering or ice baths, I just beat the melted chocolate/coffee combo (which I let sit for a little bit to cool) with the butter (which was still slightly chilled from the fridge) and it all worked out and got to a nice consistency with the hand mixer. If you're feeling fancy, make an ice bath! It'll all taste good. It's chocolate frosting - you can't screw it up. Finally, you'll frost your cake and place some of your extra slided almonds all along the side (you can add to the top too) and it will look sophisticated. This cake is delicious! It's just this wonderful burst of chocolatey-almond flavor that is so mesmerizing you'll be dreaming about it days after you've finished the last slice. Bon appétit!