'Say, you're like that cake I had the other day!'

On a normal day, that would not sound flattering to me at all! Of course, that's not the case for the Gâteau Reine de Saba! (Queen of Sheeba cake) Apparently the legend of the Queen of Sheeba is found both in the Old Testament and the Holy Qur'an. She was said to be so beautiful that King Solomon of Israel was in awe of her; as was she, of his wisdom. Not that he named the cake after her! But never the less, today the cake refers to her beauty and is named after her-- dark, rich, sophisticated and sensual.

Right. So once I discovered the explanation behind the name, I bravely attempted this gâteau today- straight off Julia Child's original recipe from her book- "Mastering the art of French Cuisine". The reason I use 'bravely' is because according to Julia Child, this is supposed to be the 'best chocolate cake you ever put in your mouth'. I don't think my armature skills have brought me anywhere close to being able to make such heavy promises! So I am not going to. But I can tell you that the perfect combination of almond and chocolate in this recipe makes it way better than any regular chocolate cake.

This french cake (Gâteau, if you may!) has a slightly undercooked batter towards its center- giving it a brownie like texture. And it's definitely one of those cakes that you can only indulge and enjoy one slice at a time because of its creamy and rich texture. For the icing I used a cocoa butter icing rather than the dark chocolate and coffee one because I ran out of chocolate. But the icing still seemed to complement the cake because of the bitterness in the cocoa.

So all in all, I thought it was a good day for baking! It certainly de-stressed me, and of course- there's nothing more fulfilling to a crab than feeding the people around her and watching them enjoy her creation that was made with 100% TLC :)