A birthday cake fit for a queen

Saturday was my birthday! Not only my birthday, but my partner Jeremy's birthday as well. Yes, we share a birthday--November 21. I absolutely love the fact that we share the day together. To commemorate that fact, I decided that we deserved a cake. Not just any cake: Julia Child's Queen of Sheba cake (the first recipe I've made from MTAFC). It's made with semi-sweet chocolate melted with rum and also contains pulverized almonds. It's very rich and dense, and because you slightly underbake it, it maintains a soft moist quality that is a sheer delight. The whole thing is frosted with a delicious chocolate-rum-butter concoction. You can then press a pattern of blanched almonds into it, which I did with some of the blanched slivered almonds we used to get the pulverized quantity that goes into the cake. Here's what mine looked like:

We finally had some yesterday (Saturday night was devoted to going out to dinner and a bar with friends), and oh my goodness. This cake... this cake is amazing. AMAZING. It is so decadent, not overly sweet, chocolately scrumptious and just positively a delight in every way. The combination of ingredients that goes into it is perfect. I don't tend to like many French desserts because they are custardy or gelatinous, but this! This was perfection. This made me take back every evil thought I've ever happened to have in my head about the French. This, my friends, was probably the best cake I've had. And I'm not just saying that because I made it myself. I really do mean it.

I do believe I will be making this cake for Christmas Eve dinner, as it seems like the perfect seasonal dessert. And I do believe my family might pass out with joy when they eat it. And I will be happy.