The Devil for Breakfast
Yesterday a great experiment. I have always wanted to cook the infamous chocolate cake Le Diabolo by the late Simone Beck from her cookbook Simca’s Cuisine. Simca and Julia Child collaborated to create the great tome Mastering the Art of French Cooking, so you may know her name. I have read accounts of this cake and the merits of it from the travel writer Frances Mayes. Indeed a wonderful piece aptly named,“Devil in a Blue Apron” that Mayes wrote for a book about the pleasure and discoveries of food, A Fork in the Road. I have remained curious.
With the plan to create a special dessert for a dinner event one night I considered a summer favourite I regularly rely on known to the family as Berry Tiramisu. This is what you would call an expensive dessert, if not surely in season. Four types of summer berries, a cup of orange juice and orange liquor like Cointreau, salvadori biscuits, heavy cream and mascarpone is needed, but it does taste heavenly.
Having sourced a quantity of berries was easy enough. I walked into the local supermarket that day hunting for the Savoidori biscuits. Although that morning I realised I was foolish to think that I could source them locally at our small supermarket. When the thought drifted past, I wonder if they even have them in stock, I knew immediately I was in trouble.
The classic book, an original that came along some time after Mastering the Art of French Cooking that Beck co-authored with Julia Child and Luoisette Berrtholle……Once my doubts were confirmed I started thinking about other possibilities. The idea for a lemon tart or possibly a chocolate torte came to mind while pacing the grocery isle. Since I had a large bowl of lemons on the bench I began googling lemon recipes sighting Jamie Oliver's Amalfi Tart with Olive oil and Greco di Tufo with white wine.
No, too hard and pastry can be temperamental, shrinking and giving you heart palpitations along the way, that one must be tested first. And then I remembered Simca’s dessert, the one I read about all those years ago........Not even bothering to check google for ingredients I tossed unsalted butter, caster sugar and best quality chocolate with high percentage of cocoa into the basket. I knew I had almond meal, duck eggs, flour and vanilla in the pantry. I felt liberated and happy, I had a plan.
The cake was the bomb. A dessert to tempt, rich and delicious. The berries came in handy, as did some vanilla bean ice-cream. A dollop on the side to balance the flavours. Mayes describes the cake as “unassuming” and it is, until you taste it. Then every thing around you stops. I couldn't stop thinking about the dessert the next morning and how good it was. Every one loved it and ate it slowly only sighing, not even talking any more.
Fortunately, I brought the plate home with a small slab of Le Diabolo on top. I suggested the last pieces were for the three girls the next day, our friends got it. Yet oddly for me, I was wondering how soon till I could just eat a slice, a thin slice, the girls wouldn't know.
Retrieving the cake and the berries from the fridge, I looked carefully at what was left. I sliced a piece, small and delicate. I tasted it again. Oh my, I thought, this as good as remember, maybe even better. Once more I looked at the cake, contemplating just how much I could get away with leaving for each child.
I walked into the eldest still laying in bed knowing she was making the most of her Sunday sleep in. “Maddy, I have three pieces out there, you better get one”. She knew exactly what I was talking about and pronto slipped out of those sheets and entered the kitchen taking the small plate and sauntering back to her room silently pleased.
Since in Italy it is normal to have cake for breakfast I figured, why not give it to the kids for breakfast. With those beautiful large duck eggs it’s like a protein hit anyway.
Thank you Simca and Frances.
xo
