Or just almond cake and strawberry sorbet 🙂

On the day of the cookbook spree earlier mentioned by Jason, I wavered between buying Thomas Keller’s The French Laundry Cookbook or Bouchon. Even after asking the less than enthusiastic book boy (?) to open up the plastic cover on TFLC, I passed on it and went with Bouchon.

After sitting on the floor of Borders for about 30 minutes weighing the pros and cons of each, I decided that Bouchon had more guidance on the staples and basics of French brasserie cooking which is what I was after. I commend Carol at Carol Cooks Keller for her bravery at cooking all the recipes in TFLC. I enjoy eating tongue but can’t imagine cooking it whole as she had to for her most recent post. My hat tips to you Carol!
 
I’m not sure where posting recipes from cookbooks stands in the legal world and I’ve seen a lot of debates going on in the food blog world about whether it’s “right” to share or not. In light of that, I’ve decided to refrain from publicly posting the recipes from Mr. Keller’s book. I highly recommend the book though so pick it up if you’re in the market for a new cookbook!

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The accompaniment to this wonderful cake was supposed to be strawberry-rhubarb compote but I knew our guests for dinner liked sorbet so I substituted Bouchon’s strawberry sorbet instead. I made the cake and sorbet the night before we were to have it for dinner and garnished it with the almonds and powdered sugar right before serving. Both turned out beautifully, both in aesthetics and in flavor.

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The cake had a deep almond flavor and was sweet but not cloyingly so. It also managed to be dense and moist at the same time; not unlike the texture of the ubiquitous flourless chocolate cake. The fresh and tart strawberry sorbet offset the sweetness in the cake perfectly. Overall, I was extremely pleased with the flavor combination.

We will be going to Napa in August and I can’t wait to see if my version came as close to Bouchon’s in flavor as it did in looks! If anybody’s ever had this at Bouchon or made something similar to this, please let me know. I’m very interested to know what you thought! I am also not averse to privately emailing you the recipes if you’d like it.