Recipe: Mrs. Clarkson's Queen Mother's Cake

A cake fit for a Queen. Serve something sweet this Mother's Day with one of Helene's mother's recipes. Mrs. Clarkson has a lovely family story and a delicious recipe for her Queen Mother's Cake: "Our relative Jan Smeterlin, the concert pianist, was an excellent cook. He was given this recipe by a fan and served it to the Queen Mother Elizabeth. She was very impressed so he gave the recipe to her chef. The roundelay came full circle when he visited Buckingham Palace and was served, of course, the cake."

Cake
fine bread crumbs
6 ounces sweet chocolate* 
3/4 cup sweet butter
3/4 cup sugar
6 eggs, separated
6 ounces almonds, finely grated
pinch of salt

Preheat oven to 375°. Butter a 9" spring form pan. Line the bottom with wax paper and butter the paper. Dust sides and bottom with fine bread crumbs freshly made in Blender. Set aside. Melt chocolate in double boiler. Remove from heat and cool. Cream butter and sugar very well in Mixing Bowl with Beater. Add yolks, 1 at a time, and beat until smooth. Stir in with Manual Control cooled chocolate and almonds ground on Medium Grating Blade. Beat egg whites with salt until stiff but not dry. Adding 1/2 of the whites at a time, fold carefully into chocolate mixture. Pour into prepared pan and bake 20 minutes. Reduce temperature to 350° and bake 45 minutes longer. Remove from oven and place pan on a wet towel to cool

Icing
1 rounded teaspoon instant decaffinated coffee
1/2 cup cream
8 ounces sweet chocolate *

Heat cream in saucepan until it just begins to boil. Add decaffinated coffee and stir until dissolved. Add chocolate. After a minute or two, remove saucepan from heat and stir constantly until chocolate is completely melted. Let cool a few minutes until it is just barely tepid. Stir well.

Remove cake from pan. If top is uneven, level it with a thin sharp knife. Place cake on wax paper and pour icing over cake. Using a spatula, completely cover top and sides. Let stand until icing sets. Then transfer to cake platter.

*Mrs. Clarkson uses Maillard Eagle Sweet Chocolate