Reine de Saba

Ingredients

• Butter for greasing
• 125g dark couverture chocolate, chopped roughly
• 1 tbsp strong espresso coffee
• 1 tbsp brandy
• 100g softened unsalted butter
• 1/2 cup caster sugar
• ¾ cup of ground almonds
• 3 eggs, separated
• Icing sugar, for dusting

Method

Preheat oven to 160C. Butter an 18cm tin and line it with paper. (Use a springform tin if you are sure it doesn't leak, as this cake is fragile and often cracks when turned out.)

Combine chocolate, coffee and brandy in a bowl over water or in a double-boiler. Stir when melted and add butter and sugar and mix well. Add almonds and stir in well. Remove bowl from the heat.

Lightly beat the yolks and stir into the bowl. Beat egg whites to soft peaks. Lighten chocolate mixture with a spoonful of whites, then fold in the remainder.

Bake for 40-45 minutes. The cake will test a bit gooey in the centre. Cool completely in the tin before slipping onto a serving plate. Dust with icing sugar.

To watch Julia Child make this cake go HERE 

Custard Pie - Dairy and Gluten Free

Maggie beer’s gluten free pastry

1 cup water

2 tspn salt

90g Coconut butter

150g gluten free flour Plus 1/2 cup extra for kneading

2g xanthan gum

2 free range eggs

Preheat oven to 200C

In a heavy based saucepan combine the water, salt and butter.

Bring to a simmer and add the flour and Xanthan gum. Stir vigorously with a wooden spoon. Lower temperature and continue to cook until pastry comes away from the sides and is well combined. Remove from heat and let cool to room temperature.

Whisk the eggs to combine and add half the egg mixture slowly, incorporating fully before adding the final half. If the mixture is a dough texture when you add in the first half, you may not need to rest of the eggs mixture.

Turn out onto a surface on which you have placed a further ½ cup gluten free flour and knead until shiny. Try to incorporate as little flour as possible so the pastry does not go crumbly.

Chill pastry then using a rolling pin roll the pastry between two pieces of baking paper greased on both sides.  Roll to half a centimeter thick, cut out rounds and place in pie tins.

Filling

250g golden caster sugar

2 lemon slices

2 cinnamon sticks

250ml coconut cream

30g cornflour

1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste

3 egg yolks, plus 1 whole egg

 icing sugar and ground cinnamon, for dusting

tip the sugar, lemon and cinnamon into a pan with 125ml water and bring to a boil. Mix the cornflour and vanilla with a small amount of milk until you have a smooth paste. Bring the rest of the milk to a boil, then pour it onto the flour mixture, whisking continuously. Pour back into a clean pan and bring to a simmer, whisking until the mixture thickens. Remove the cinnamon and lemon then stir both mixtures together and add the eggs, bring back to a simmer and whisk until smooth. Pour into a jug, cover the surface with clingfilm and allow to cool.

Heat the oven to 220C/fan 200C/gas 7 and put a baking sheet in the oven for bottom heat.

 Divide the custard between the pastry cases.

Bake the tarts for 18-20 minutes on the preheated baking sheet, or until the custard has puffed up and is pale golden-brown, and the pastry is crisp and golden-brown. Allow to cool in the tin. Before serving dust with some cinnamon and icing sugar.