May 9: Queen of Sheba (Reine de Saba)

In honor of Mothers' Day, I asked my mom to decide which cake I should try this weekend.  She thought for a while and then requested a Queen of Sheba cake.  The Queen of Sheba cake is not one that I had ever made, but it is a cake from Julia Child's original television series.

Champagne, coffee, Julia and the Queen of Sheba.

Mom and Mama Judy used to watch The French Chef with Julia Child together on Sunday nights in back room of their home on Rawlins Street in the Grant Park neighborhood of Atlanta.  When the series started in 1962, it was the first show of its kind.  The show and the Kennedy's French chef at the White House led to tremendous American interest in French cuisine during the 1960's.  Julia Child opened the door for all cooking shows and the networks devoted to them.


Mom bought herself The French Chef Cookbook the year I was born, and she gave me her copy a few years ago.  The recipes from the original series are all included in the book along with the same step-by-step directions that Julia gave on television.  I remember watching re-runs of Julia's shows with my mother in the 1980's.  We bonded over watching Julia rake clutter off the counter, seemingly onto the floor! We loved viewing the exotic ingredients (eels, for example) and hearing Julia provide straightforward tips for the kitchen (peeling skins off an eel with pliers by nailing its head onto a board for leverage).

The best parts of the show were always the moments when Julia licked a spoon, or dunked a finger into a bowlful of batter to take a taste.  She enjoyed her work, and we could certainly identify with the desire to lick the spoon or bowl.  As a child, getting to lick the bowl or beaters was my reward for helping my mom bake a cake, just as it had been for her helping Mama Judy; sifting flour into a delicate mountain on a sheet of waxed paper or cutting wax paper circles to fit into the bottom of the cake pans.

After my second hip replacement surgery in 2013, Mom came to stay with us to help keep the household running during my long recuperation, just as she had with my first hip in 2010.  During the day when the house was quiet, after physical therapy, we watched DVDs of  The French Chef episodes from the original series.  The rich, chocolate Queen of Sheba cake fascinated us but it was quite a while before I was back to baking.

Mom remembers trying to make the cake one time during the late 60's.  She remembers only that it atypical of southern cakes and that her attempt did not turn out well.  It is a very French-style of cake, being only one layer and flavored with rich ingredients like rum and almonds.

Semi-Sweet "Bits"

When she makes this for the 100th episode, Julia instructs her audience to place all of the ingredients for the cake on a tray at the outset of the process, so that you won't forget to add any of the ingredients.

Julia used semi-sweet morsels (she called them "bits") instead of chopping squares of baking chocolate.  The key to this cake is the texture; achieved by baking the cake only until the outside is completely baked, about 25 minutes.  The middle of the cake should still be liquid.  I tested several spots with a toothpick at the 25-minute mark to check for the right amount of doneness.

My cake turned out exactly like Julia's televised version.  In the original series, Julia prepared the Queen of Sheba cake to serve at a "Champagne and Coffee" party.  We celebrated Mothers' Day with Mom and the Queen of Sheba in a more casual way: with coffee and iced tea on the screened porch.

Next Saturday:  Lemon Tunnel-of-Love Tea Cake