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28 February 2009

Daring Baker

This month's Daring Baker challenge was a flourless chocolate cake. I served it with some peppermint ice cream made in the ice cream maker. Sorry no photos of the ice cream, but it was gone before I could snap a picture. As much the ice cream was enjoyed, the cake was not as well received. We actually ended up throwing some out which is quite unusual.

I used a mixture of dark and milk chocolate. The cake is very dense and chocolaty. Overall it was not a favorite - a bit to dense for the kids. However if you are in need of a dessert in a short amount of time - this would work. (Sorry this is so very short but family is visiting!) See the recipe below and thanks for this months challenge.






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.

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.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wooooooww; Chocolate Valentino - my mouth is watering - I envy your visiting family :-)

Wishing you a wonderful weekend!

Anonymous said...

I like the decoration with the powdered sugar! looks great :)

Sara said...

Looks tasty--I love the powdered sugar. :) Peppermint ice cream sounds really tasty!

Bumblebutton said...

Short, but sweet. Too bad the cake had an unexpected end. But glad the ice cream was a hit. Nicely done!

Anonymous said...

One of my cakes was made using a combo of dark and milk chocolate also, and it wasn't as well received as the white and dark chocolate cake I made. Regardless, your cake looks beautiful, and I love the stencil!

Unknown said...

now that does look incredible!~ and what a great job at decorating!