Daring Bakers Challenge - February 2009: Chocolate Valentino

So, this being my first Daring Baker’s Challenge I anxiously awaited the recipe and was super excited when it was posted. The recipe was not for something I’d made before, but looked fairly simple.

The February 2009 challenge is hosted by Wendy of WMPE's blog and Dharm of Dad ~ Baker & Chef.We have chosen a Chocolate Valentino cake by Chef Wan; a Vanilla Ice Cream recipe from Dharm and a Vanilla Ice Cream recipe from Wendy as the challenge.

February’s challenge is a Flourless Chocolate Cake, Chocolate Valentino, inspired by Malaysia’s “most flamboyant food ambassador”, Chef Wan. Recipe comes from Sweet Treats by Chef Wan.

So, I chose to use Lindt Milk Chocolate for the chocolate. They had said that the cake would come out tasting pretty much exactly like the chocolate you used, and since I like my treats sweet I thought this would be a good choice. (Not to mention I asked for some suggestions from a chef...is that cheating?)

First step: Melt the chocolate with the butter. I’m always a bit nervous when working with chocolate. I have a tendency to have it seize up on me or just become wrong. Luckily, it worked out great this time. Maybe my friend “butter” helped me along this time.

Before

After
Second step: Add the egg yolks. Other than a minor mishap when separating the eggs, this part was fairly simple.

Third step: Whip the egg whites, fold into mixture. So this is the step that had me the most worried (once my chocolate was done!). I’m not super confident that I knew what stiff peaks really meant. We got a warning that if we over did the eggs that the cake would be dry….certainly didn’t want that! I think I did ok with this step, my cake was anything but dry…maybe even too moist, so I maybe should have gone a bit further with the eggs. Folding the egg whites in I accidentally didn’t fold, but beat in the first third…this could have also compromised the finished product a bit (ahh, the joy of learning new things!).

Ready to Mix! Folded
Fourth step: Bake! This is the easy part, letting the oven do its thing. The cake did fall a bit after it cooled. But I trudged on into the ice cream portion of the challenge.

Before

After
Now, those that know me, know that I’m not afraid of making ice cream. My vanilla and chocolate have been requested treats during the summer months. So, I wanted to actually challenge myself a bit and try a new ice cream recipe. I love the flavor combinations of peanut butter with chocolate and chocolate with mint…so I couldn’t decide what to make. I ended up making both: Thin Mint Ice Cream and Peanut Butter Ice Cream. I realize now that I’m a fan of custard based ice creams versus these milk based (Philly-style?) ice creams. Challenge was a success…I learned something!

To plate the finished products I broke out my fine china and used a cookie cutter to cut the cake. You can see in the photo that the cake was still a bit ooey-gooey. It tasted wonderful. Since I have to be careful with my sugars I didn’t eat too much, but it got raves at the office the next day…and I didn’t bring any home. Overall, I loved this recipe, had a great time with the challenge and am anxiously awaiting the March challenge!

Below are the finished products and recipes:
Chocolate Valentino with Peanut Butter Ice Cream
Chocolate Valentino with Thin Mint Ice Cream

Recipes:
Chocolate Valentino
Preparation Time: 20 minutes
16 ounces (1 pound) (454 grams) of semisweet chocolate, roughly chopped
½ cup (1 stick) plus 2 tablespoons (146 grams total) of unsalted butter
5 large eggs separated

1. Put chocolate and butter in a heatproof bowl and set over a pan of simmering water (the bottom of the bowl should not touch the water) and melt, stirring often.

2. While your chocolate butter mixture is cooling. Butter your pan and line with a parchment circle then butter the parchment.

3. Separate the egg yolks from the egg whites and put into two medium/large bowls.

4. Whip the egg whites in a medium/large grease free bowl until stiff peaks are formed (do not over-whip or the cake will be dry).

5. With the same beater beat the egg yolks together.

6. Add the egg yolks to the cooled chocolate.

7. Fold in 1/3 of the egg whites into the chocolate mixture and follow with remaining 2/3rds. Fold until no white remains without deflating the batter.

8. Pour batter into prepared pan, the batter should fill the pan 3/4 of the way full, and bake at 375F/190C

9. Bake for 25 minutes until an instant read thermometer reads 140F/60C. Note – If you do not have an instant read thermometer, the top of the cake will look similar to a brownie and a cake tester will appear wet.

10. Cool cake on a rack for 10 minutes then unmold.


Peanut Butter Ice Cream
From Ice-Cream-Recipes.com

Thin Mint Ice Cream
From Bumzwife Personal Blog
Note on the Thin Mint Ice Cream: I don't know Bumzwife, the recipe was found doing a search. I added about a capful of peppermint extract to this.

Enjoy with love,

Christina