Nour’s Reine de Saba
Every morsel of food my friend Nour has made for me has always been delicious. In culinary terms, we speak the same mother tongue. From the Lemongrass Thai Noodle Soup she’d make us as teens, when we were feeling under the weather, to the delicious Fig Tart she baked me at her first marital home, with Figs picked from the tree in her garden. Her father, Lebanese like mine, always made the best lunches; traditional stews packed full of flavor, like his loud personality. When her parents moved away from London, she’d go visit them in France, and come home with a suitcase filled with food. Frozen Breaded Escalope, Zaa’tar Manakeesh, and a plethora of delicacies that kept us satisfied until the next time. Her mother made dessert, often skipping dinner herself, to save space for her beloved Chocolate Cake. Nour inherited her French grandmothers impeccably handwritten cookbooks.
This my dear reader, is one of those recipes, that was passed onto her grandma, from her best friend Marie Claude, and through generations, was passed onto me, from mine.
This Cake is to be eaten from the baking tin. It’s moist, humble and delicious, and carries with it generations of love. When my kids wanted to make their dad a Chocolate Cake for his birthday, I knew this was the one.
Organic Ingredients, serves 4-6
200 grams/ 14 Tablespoons/ Just under 2 sticks of Butter,
150 grams/ 2/3 Cup Brown Sugar
200 grams Chocolate - 50% milk
6 Pastured Eggs
1 Heaped Tablespoon Flour, you can use regular Flour derived from Wheat or Almond Flour. Both work equally well. And yes, you read correctly, only 1 tablespoon. For Gluten free, use Almond Flour.
1/4 Tsp. of Sea Salt
Method
A few hours ahead of time, remove Butter from fridge and leave at room temperature until completely soft.
Break Chocolate into cubes and melt in a bain marie.
Separate Egg Whites and Egg Yolks and reserve them in two separate bowls.
Using an electric handheld mixer, beat Butter and Sugar together for a minute or so. Mix in the melted Chocolate. Add in Egg Yolks and mix. Add in Flour and Salt and mix. Give your mixer a rinse, and in a separate bowl, whisk your Egg Whites on high speed for about 3 minutes to stiff peaks, so that if you turn your Egg Whites upside down in the bowl, they stay put. (Watch this video if this is your first time.) Turn your mixer off, and using a spoon, gently fold your Egg Whites into the rest of your Batter. Do not stir more than to just incorporate the Egg Whites in, to retain the air. Watch this Video for more detailed instructions. Place Batter into a Buttered Baking Tin. Bake in a 350F/180C oven for 40 minutes. Remove from oven and place on a cooling rack for an hour. Do not attempt to turn this cake, slice from the Baking Tin like a pie.
