I Prefer to Think of This as an Ice Cream Challenge! :D

Here we are…another month down…and another challenge done. 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.

It’s interesting to note that I have made a Danish braid, a French yule log, and some cheesecake pops. I have to admit that I was feeling pretty prideful as these recipes and challenges were not easy and yet I had succeeded. Apparently it was time to be knocked down … dragged through the mud….and then tossed over the edge of the cliff in order for me to come back down to earth. Of course my failure would have to be the recipe that has only 3 ingredients. Chocolate, butter and eggs….a.k.a. flourless chocolate cake. What could be easier or better? We were also allowed to make something to accompany the cake and of course I chose ice cream. Can you guess what flavor I made? The first five don’t count. If you guessed cinnamon ice cream…then you were right. I just can’t give it up….plus it gave my dessert a whole Mexican chocolate vibe. Nice huh? I made the ice cream first and it was amazing…maybe it was because I was up at midnight making it….I don’t know, but it was spot on! (I even went crazy and used some cinnamon vanilla coffee mate in the ice cream and it totally worked.) I decided to make the cake the next day when I would not be distracted by Mr. Sandman and his sleeping powder.


So the next morning I got up and melted my chocolate…


Then I beat my whites…….


Then I combined the two with the yolks and stuck it in the oven and set the timer.


When I took it out of the oven I had a cake that was cooked on the outside and totally not cooked on the inside. I’m talking liquid goop. It was horrible. I mean HORRIBLE. It only cooked enough at one edge to get a tiny heart cut out of it. The rest went into the trash. I was at least grateful I got the little bit out so that I could enjoy it. Then I tasted it. I think I’m the only person in the forum who hated it. It was terrible. I’m not sure what I did wrong. I had my oven calibrated recently so I can’t blame the oven. DANGIT! I can only say one more thing ~From this point forward I vow to respect all recipes no matter their content or their technique so as to gain it’s respect in return.

I LOVE Daring Bakers

- Amber

Mmmmmm Chocolate Goodness!

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

I truly enjoyed this challenge. I love anything chocolate! This was a pretty simple recipe and I was glad that my attempt at it was a success. I decided to make it for our family valentines dinner and I'm glad that I did not disappoint them.


I decided to use Valhrona semi-sweet chocolate and the cake's chocolate intensity was perfect. Texture was good too, dense but not too dense that you end up eating just a small bite because of it's richness. I also made a raspberry coulis to complement the chocolate and the vanilla ice cream.

This recipe is a keeper for me!

- aleli

The Chocolate Continuum, or, Smells Like Chocolate Spirit

Like hemlines and pop stars, chocolate has its trends. Back in the swingin’ Seventies, every fondue restaurant worth its shag carpeting served chocolate mousse for dessert. The glitzy Eighties brought us giant chocolate tortes adorned with chocolate curls, enough sugar to fuel a New Wave all-nighter. Suddenly, everyone wanted to commit suicide with chocolate as the weapon of choice. Death by chocolate desserts popped up in a desire to combine dessert and nihilism. In the Nineties, we wore flannels, discovered these strange little metal disks that held music and stopped putting flour in our chocolate cakes. The Aughts saw us scuffing around in Uggs and Juicy Sweats, gluing ourselves to the Internet and preferring our chocolate cake molten, i.e. underbaked. Where will chocolate go next? Only the gods of cocoa know for certain. But chocolate, whatever permutation it takes on the dessert menu, is forever.

The De Beers cartel would have us believe a diamond is forever, but I’d rather have chocolate. I’d look more favorably on Z. if he presented me with a box of See’s rather than some valueless rock pried from the ground to gleam uselessly on my finger. Have you ever had a See’s Candy Bordeaux crème? If you did, you’d know why a diamond is just carbon in comparison.

February means romance on demand, and that means chocolate. This month’s DB challenge had us all strap on our Timberland hiking boots, turn up the Pearl Jam and go back in time. Our Valentines would be gifted with flourless chocolate cake, plus we had to make some creamy accompaniment, preferably of the ice cream variety. To be frank, flourless chocolate cake never ranked high on my dessert dance hits. It can be dense and monodimensional. I like a little textural play in my desserts, and, often, FCC is just a wedge of gritty, unrelenting chocolate without much sense of humor. We all have relatives like that, and they usually corner us at family gatherings to grill us about tax preparation.


But, being a DBer means setting aside my biases for the greater baking good. So I made the FCC and found it easy and, shockingly, pretty damned tasty. I added a hit of cinnamon for a tip of the hat to chocolate’s pre-Columbian beginnings, and reduced the size of the recipe so it yielded one cute little cake, perfect for Z. and I. My accompaniment was orange and cream ice cream, its flavor reminiscent of an orange and cream popsicle, but with a much more sophisticated flavor profile.

I’m not a FCC convert, just as I don’t miss my sartorial and dating choices from the Nineties. But I can still look back on all of that with some nostalgia while eating the dessert of yesteryear with my now and forever sweetheart. I’m looking forward to see what the future brings.

I remain,
Your servant, &c.
Ami

The Valentino is a Winner!

This was like eating a truffle with a fork! The recipe for the Valentino was simple and easy to prepare. Loved the consistency and deep, deep chocolate flavor. The homemade ice cream was hard as a rock, so in the future, I'll let it thaw out a bit before serving.


Served Valentino and ice cream on white plates with powered cocoa sprinkled on the plates as an embelleshment.

This dessert was restaurant quality and worthy of my favorite house guests!

- Jan

Fun with My Niece and the Chocolate Valentino!

The recipe was quite easy to make. Of course my niece was impatient as any 15 year would be. She wanted to eat it right out of the oven. I baked the cake for 18 minutes in a 9" springform pan. I had frozen strawberries in the freezer. I asked her if she wanted a sauce to top the cake, but she said no. Since I didn't plan on eating the cake, I didn't make a sauce.

This was a great bonding experience. I taught my niece how to melt chocolate over a water bath and how to bring egg whites to a stiff peak. I made her separate the eggs...This was fun but it really grossed her out. We separated them cold so her hands were covered in super cold slime. I am hoping to have her help me every month.


The cake felt jiggly coming out of the oven. I could find my instant read thermometer, so I used my candy thermometer. The temperature registered somewhere between 135-145F. The candy thermometer doesn't give a good gauge on lower temperatures. The cake eventually settled.

I wish the cake was a little firmer in the center. It did fall a little. The outer crust looked quite nice. I almost forgot to mention that I used Guittard 61% semi sweet chocolate.

The plan was to not eat any cake. Then I decided to use the "Three bite rule". Well the three bites turned into six+ bites. So here are my thoughts based on the bites that I did have. I think that I should have mixed the semi-sweet with some darker chocolate... For me, the taste was quite weak. After the fact, DH and my niece both told me that the cake definitely needed a fruit sauce (raspberry or strawberry), ie. something tart. I agree. We all agree that ice cream would have been overkill.


I served DH's and my niece's pieces (plus my sliver) right out of the springform so you can see the fallen cake. I eventually flipped the cake over so that I could add powdered sugar and cinnamon to the top. I think that I overdid it with the powdered sugar (see photo).

I took the rest of the cake to my grandmother's house since she will have guests tomorrow. I made it very clear to my diabetic grandparents not eat the cake because of the amount of sugar in it.


I don't think that I would make this cake again. I have made other flourless cakes that I have liked better. I think that my taste buds are really changing so I don't know if I am giving this cake a fair shake. Until today, I have not had any "bad" carbs (fruit, more than 100 calories a day of "good" natural sweetners, bread, etc) in over a month. I thought that the cake had a weird aftertaste. This is common for South Beach Diet. The last time that I was on it, orange juice really grossed me out. I asked DH and my niece about the aftertaste and they thought that I was crazy. Oh well, I know that I used good quality products so the issue must be me.

In the future, I hope that I have the will power to not eat as much as I did this month. I am working with my primary care physician and endocronologist to bring down my insulin.


As always, thank you for the opportunity to participate in another wonderful challenge.

Cheers,

- Angelique

February 2009 Daring Baker Challenge – Flourless Chocolate Cake and Ice Cream

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.

I made the cake with 70% bittersweet chocolate, following the recipe but adding just a little Grand Marnier for additional flavor. I used a heart-shaped cake pan.

The cake turned out fine, although I’m not sure this is a recipe I would use again. It seemed to be a bit crumbly and was difficult to cut. Perhaps I baked it a little too long? It was in the oven fewer than 25 minutes but the instant thermometer read somewhat over 140 degrees.


The ice cream was a basic vanilla custard with lots of vanilla bean flavor. It was not too sweet (only ½ cup sugar for 2 ½ cups of milk and cream and four egg yolks), which is fine with me, and was a good complement to the chocolate cake, cutting some of the richness of the bittersweet chocolate.

I decorated the cake with several scoops of ice cream and some mandarin orange sections which I poached in butter and caramel and Grand Marnier. Tactical error – the oranges were warm when I placed them on the scoops of ice cream, so there was some melting going on while we were taking the pictures!

We served the cake and ice cream to guests and the plates were scraped clean, so I think the combination was a success.

- Bunnee

Chocolate Valentino and Homemade Vanilla Ice Cream

One word – YUM!

The chocolate valentino and homemade ice cream was just the ticket for this months challenge. It has been a busy and demanding month for me as I have returned to school full-time and so this challenge was very satisfying in that it was delicious AND simple.


I made the chocolate valentino with Trader Joe’s unsalted butter and a mixture of their fair-trade swiss (3/4) and bittersweet chocolate (1/4). I tried to tone down the bittersweet chocolate as I have sometimes been accused of making my chocolate treats too “chocolaty” (I don’t understand what that is?). It was very good and turned out perfectly – however, I still could have been very happy with a higher ratio of bittersweet chocolate!


The kids and I pulled out our 1970’s era electric ice cream maker and found out that it still works – very well thank you. We made the simpler of the two ice cream recipes and have all deemed it worthy of being made again. All of the chocolate valentino was gone within 24 hours – delicious!

- Rachel V

Happy With My First Chocolate Valentino!

This is my first challenge as a DB. Although the pictures are not very good, I'm really happy with the outcome of my challenge.
For the Valentino cake, I used 60% bitter chocolate and 40% milk chocolate for fear that it was too bitter. The result was surprising, and went well with the Philadelphia style ice cream that I made my way, and whipped cream with a pinch of sugar.


I look forward to the next challenge, and do not discard doing the past ones.
Thanks to Wendy and Dharma for the excellent recipes.

XOXO
- Rosa

A Fun and Filling First Challenge!

This challenge was a lot of fun (Yay my first one!!!) for the cake I used Lindt half dark and half milk chocolate and loved the idea of making your own ice cream by hand it came out creamy and wonderful with a bit of babysitting of course ;)


I used David Lebovitz method and his Vanilla ice cream recipe. When my ice cream was almost frozen I put it into a cookie cutter and when it was time I took it out and ran my finger on the edge to warm it out and it popped out beautifully.


I just pureed strawberries for on top but oddly it photographed sort of like Ketchup hmmm. I think this cake has filled my chocometer and that is not easy!


- Andrea

Awww Sweet Revenge, December Yule Log! :D

This was a really fun one- boy, have I always wanted to make my own ice cream- and the flourless chocolate cake was lovely. What a perfect dessert for Valentine's day- everyone loved it.

It redeemed the experience SUFFERED in December with the Yulelog...


- Katie L

A Heart For Her Sweetheart :)

A Valentine for the boyfriend who is currently working 800km away. So the ice cream part would be a bit tricky.

I decided to make 1/3 more of the batter, send a heart shaped cake to the boyfriend and bake some small rose shaped muffins for us to go with the ice cream. For the batter I used 33% milk chocolate and 85% dark cocolate. As for the ice cream, I made some banana ice cream. The recipe came with the ice cream maker.


The rose shaped muffins did bake quite a bit shorter. And we ate them with the banana ice cream as soon as they cooled down. They tasted great, just like fluffy chocolate and went well with the creamy ice cream.

They were so great that I forgot to take some pictures till it was too late and all little choclate roses and banana ice cream were gone. So there are only pictures from the heart shaped cake I sent to my boyfriend.

- bana

Chocolate Valentino and Dulce de Leche Ice Cream Sandwich

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.


This flourless chocolate cake went together like a breeze. I selected a newly available chocolate, El Rey Apamate, from my favorite local wine and cheese shop. It’s an unrefined bar made on the coast of central Venezuela (an area prized for its cacao quality) that boasts a 73.5% cacao content. YUM! Extra bitter, rich and intense—the flavor really came through in the cake.


My flavor choice for ice cream, dulce de leche, was inspired by a certain loved one with an intense passion for caramel. I like to make heart-shaped ice cream sandwiches for dessert around this time of year. It was a natural progression to pair the two challenge components into a decadent and festive frozen treat.


Here’s the ice cream recipe…it’s too good not to share.

Enjoy!

Dulce de Leche Ice Cream

ADAPTED FROM MARIANA CRESPO TIENDA DEL ENCUENTRO, BUENOS AIRES

• 2 cups whole milk
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1 lb dulce de leche (about 1 2/3 cups; preferably La Salamandra brand)
• 1/8 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 3/4 cup chopped pecans (2 1/2 to 3 oz), toasted

Bring milk and cream just to a boil in a 3-quart heavy saucepan over moderate heat, then remove from heat and whisk in dulce de leche until dissolved. Whisk in vanilla and transfer to a metal bowl. Quick-chill by putting bowl in a larger bowl of ice and cold water and stirring occasionally until cold, 15 to 20 minutes.

Freeze mixture in ice cream maker until almost firm, then fold in pecans.

Transfer ice cream to an airtight container and put in freezer to harden, at least 1 hour.

Makes about 1 1/2 quarts

- Olivia

Chocolate and Flax.. A Winning Combination!

I decided to take the vegan recipe for flourless cake and alter it slightly. I used flax seed as an egg replacer which gave the cake a more nutty texture but really helped hold it together in the absence of any other binders. I also had to make the recipe sweeter to counteract the strong taste from the flax. This took a few attempts!!


For the ice cream, again, I used flax and it really gave it that smooth texture. Rather than being all icy. I made a black cherry jam flavour. It complimented the chocolate VERY well. This challenege has also caused the explosion of a few experiments with other flourless things with flax and other binders. Really enjoyed this one.


Woo!

- Rachel C