Recipe of the Week: Julia Child's Reine de Saba cake

“Above all, have a good time”

To celebrate Julia Child’s wall of copper pots joining the museum’s collections, we’re taking Julia’s philosophy to heart. Inspired by her admonitions to take to our kitchens, to muster the courage to try cooking something new, and to discover the pleasures of the table, we are preparing to cook some of her key recipes ourselves. Over the next few months we’ll be following Julia’s detailed instructions and reminding ourselves of her masterful teaching style and her enthusiasm for the tools and techniques of cooking. Along the way we will feature specific tools and gadgets in Julia’s home kitchen, which has been on view at the museum since 2002, and, true to her philosophy, we’ll share our experiences in this space. Finally, we invite you to join with us in this celebration of Julia Child’s life, work, and contributions to American culinary history.

About this Dish: Reine de Saba 

Find the recipe in Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Vol. 1, p. 677-78 or The Way to Cook, p. 471. 

In the hundredth episode of the television series, The French Chef, Julia made the Reine de Saba, or Queen of Sheba cake. One of the tools she used for making this special cake with the grand name was an ordinary rubber spatula. Essential for folding the smooth and shiny beaten egg whites into the batter, Julia also noted that the rubber spatula was one of America’s great culinary contributions. She kept her spatulas in a ceramic crock on a shelf above her stove.

Paula's story...

This week, curator Paula Johnson shares her experience of baking the cake in an authentically Julia way:

On a hot summer night in 2002, I lost my mind and thought I could make a cake. Not just any cake, but a Reine de Saba, Julia Child’s recipe for an “extremely good chocolate cake” also called the “Queen of Sheba.” I had made the cake many times before and had always enjoyed the process of transforming lots of butter, sugar, eggs, chocolate, and just a little flour into a beautiful cake with a creamy center. I always relished reaching the decision point—shall I melt the chocolate in rum or coffee?—and then sipping an unholy combination of the two as the cake baked.

I had no reason to believe I couldn’t do it again, but July 2002 was no ordinary time. It was exhibition installation time, that heady, exhausting phase experienced by museum staff, when the usual notions of time and space become scrambled. The Julia Child exhibition team, of which I was a member, was installing Julia’s kitchen in the museum gallery, galloping toward the goal of opening the exhibition in time for Julia’s 90th birthday in August. By mid-July we felt certain we would make that deadline, as long as the usual notions of time and space did not apply. Long hours spent standing, reaching, carrying, polishing, lifting, and fixing had become the norm.

With a shock, my colleague Nanci Edwards and I realized one of our team members, Rayna Green, was having a milestone birthday the following day. Ignoring the fact that it was already evening, I decided to go home and make a Reine de Saba to mark the occasion. “A Reine for Rayna!” I remember thinking. As I cleared space and lined up the ingredients, I looked at the clock. Hmmm. Ten p.m., shouldn’t be a problem. This is the deluded mind of someone in exhibition installation mode.

But I started in and chose coffee as the chocolate-melting medium on the theory that I could drink the rest of it (without rum) and stay wide awake. I creamed the butter and sugar together. Pale and fluffy, just like Julia says it should be. Blending the egg yolks—beautiful! As I prepared to beat the egg whites into soft peaks I had a moment of insanity: instead of using an electric mixer, why not do it the old-fashioned way, as Julia suggests by directing her students to page 159 of Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Vol. I, “How to beat egg whites by hand.” We had been living amongst Julia’s kitchen equipment and work space, and I could hear her rallying cry to “just try!” I scanned her instructions: “Start beating at a speed of 2 strokes per second with a vertical, circular motion for 20 to 30 seconds . . . Using your lower-arm and wrist muscles for beating—shoulder muscles tire quickly—gradually increase the beating speed to 4 strokes per second …”

Thus began my descent. Did I say it was July (in D.C.!)? That it was HOT? That by now it was 11 p.m.? Try as I might, I couldn’t get the peaks to form. My lower-arm and wrist muscles gave out so I tried putting what my dad used to call “elbow grease” behind the motion, with no improvement. The cacophony in the kitchen woke up the household and I soon had two cats rubbing against my ankles, creating even more heat. The preheated oven taunted me to get the job done, already. Channeling Julia again I kept at it and, finally, all at once it seemed, I had achieved “stiffly beaten egg whites.”

I stumbled through the rest of the recipe and stayed awake while the cake baked by giving myself another task: I melted more chocolate to chill for use in decorating the top of the cake. Insane.

The following day, in quiet comfort after another long day of installation, we toasted Rayna and shared the cake, which had illegible chocolate decorations on the top and a middle that wasn’t as creamy as it should have been (too much elbow grease, I think). But we followed Julia’s advice and, above all, we had a good time.

Do try this at home!

We invite you to join with us in this celebration of Julia Child’s life, work, and contributions to American culinary history. Please share your experiences making Julia Child’s Reine de Saba cake by posting your story, photos, or video on our Tumblr page for this recipe series. Don’t forget to check back next week for mashed potatoes.

Paula Johnson is a curator in the Division of Work and Industry at the National Museum of American History.

Comments

[Shelly]

I must admit that Julia Child is out of my league, i stick to simple cakes that can amaze you with their taste.
Most of the cakes I make can be made by kids as well, but they really good and tasty. Recipes like the banana cake recipe at http://thecookduke.com/bananacakerecipe/ are my favorite :)

[NMAH]

@Tracie, thanks for sharing your video!

[Tracie Bettenhausen]

I made the recipe, using a Flip cam to capture all (okay, most) of the steps: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mc9TyXRO9RQ

[Vanessa]

I honestly didn’t realize that Julia Child’s was 91. I remember watching her on PBS; it was always wonderful. There just isn’t anyone like her.
Cake making is a true art. Sometimes they turn out perfect, sometime not so much so. It has been a tradition in our family to make extravagant cakes for birthdays and holidays. Even when they aren’t so pretty, they are tasty. I found this mini brownie recipe recently and wanted to share.

I love chocolate and coffee. Bon-appétit!

Café Kalan’s Cappuccino Bon-Bons
1 pkg. brownie mix (13x9 in)
2 eggs
1/3 cup water
1/3 cup oil
1 ½ tbsp. powdered or instant coffee
1 tsp. cinnamon
Directions: blend all ingredients. Fill mini-muffin cups ½ full. Bake at 350 F for 12-15 minutes. Cool and enjoy.

[nidakontor]

thank you very much. I so like

[Cake]

Julia Child is an amazing person. I love watching her show with Jacques Pepin on PBS. The interaction between them is priceless :)

This cake recipe sounds great. I can't wait to try it!

[Andre Nievo]

Yeah sure, I will definitely try this at home together with my wife.

Thanks.

[Kathy]

Congratulations, Paula! I bet it was absolutely scrumptious! Yea...for Julia!

[Rosalie Ferrara]

I've cooked since the age of 12. I am now 52 years of age and have only just discovered Julia's way of cookery. My cooking now has a lot of flavour after having watched the movie and bought the book. Even cooking a steak is a whole lot more interesting.

However, trying to buy a copper bowl for whisking the cream etc. is so expensive. I actually went to France 2 years ago and noticed that copperware is far more cheaper. I'd love to know where in Australia is cheaper to buy copper bowls than going to Simon & Johnson.

[Maria Evans]

Great information, I'm going to use this one for a party next week - thank you!

[Lydia Williams]

Truly a master of the culinary art, Julia Child enlightened me years ago and once more now.

[clara]

This is the way i prepare it lil different:In a large bowl cream the butter and add the sugar, creaming until light and fluffy. Add the egg yolks, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Then add the melted chocolate and coffee/rum/or brandy. In a separate bowl whisk the egg whites with a pinch of salt until stiff peaks form, then add a spoonful of sugar and whisk to stuff peak again. Add a spoonful of the egg white to the chocolate mixture to break it up and then add the flour and ground almonds. Add the remainder of the egg white mixture to the large bowl, stirring through with either a large spatula, a la Child's method, or with a large metal spoon. Use figure of eight motions and fold in the eggwhite to the cake mixture with a gentle motion. If you're heavy-handed you'll knock all the air out. Better to have some pockets of flour or egg mixture dotted through the mixture then to be over-zealous about distributing all the ingredients

[Julia]

My mom was a huge fan of Julia Child's (so much so that she named me after her). She was such a wonderful cook, and I'm glad that a whole new generation is getting to know her again because of the new movie.

[Jason Cook]

Honestly, I can't think of anyone more influential to cooking than Julia Child.

I always beat my eggs by hand. :D

Anyone who hasn't enjoyed Julia is truly missing out on one of the great wonders of the world.

[recipe cook]

The film is bound to raise even more interest in cooking (in addition to the various cooking tv shows) - one could just imagine culinary majors at universities filling up with more students than ever before!

[Stephanie White]

Standing over the bowl of melting chocolate, I felt connected to Julia, Julie and women everywhere, including my mother who says she never made any of the recipes in MtAoFC, but was able to e-mail me the recipe for this cake from her copy, which I plan to steal. If it tastes half as good as it looks it will be a great success. Happy Birthday Julia!

[Lisa]

This is such a great idea! I'll definitely be taking part as much as I can..which may not be much, but I'll try :) LOVE Julia!

[Laura]

I made this cake!
http://pragmaticattic.wordpress.com/2009/08/12/reine-de-saba-cake-for-julias-birthday/
I stuck to almonds as a garnish.

[Linda Crispell]

How wonderful that you are paying tribute to this lovely woman who changed the way we cook!