I'm not sure if I've conveyed how much I've enjoyed this little ol' blog of mine. It's been a pleasure to share with whomever is reading my joy of baking, cooking and food in general. Today is my first challenge with The Daring Bakers, a group of bakers worldwide who get together once a month, bake something specific from the same recipe and blog about it on the same day. Its sorta like getting together with a few hundred of your favourite friends and baking up a storm. I'm sincerely honoured to join these super enthusiastic bakers and look forward to many more challenges to come.
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.
The flourless chocolate cake is remarkable in its inclusion to the gluten free crowd, which so many desserts cannot claim. I love its ability to call itself a cake while really holding more similarities with fudge, truffles and brownies. Egg whites provide the structure that flour would normally, but once baked, set and refrigerated 24 hours the flavours mellow and meld together, while the texture changes from light to dense and fudgey. The refrigeration step is completely optional and if left at room temperature it will be soft and sorta spongy- a very different texture. But I think it help the chocolate develop and the texture is inviting. Its composition is a testament to quality ingredients and how to appreciate them fully as there is 3 simple ingredients in this dessert- butter, eggs and chocolate. Using a chocolate with flavours you adore is a must. And since the sweetness comes from the chocolate itself and no added sugar, you must use a good eating chocolate. The kind of chocolate you can see yourself munching on throughout the day. Using your deepest, darkest bittersweet 75% chocolate is likely not going to translate well here. However I do recommend mixing as well. I used half 70% bittersweet chocolate and half 55% semisweet, which still turned out a decidedly chocolate flavour with just the right balance of sweetness, while not being too sweet at all. This gives the ice cream room to shine with its creamy sweetness. The icing on the cake, pardon the pun, is that this is perhaps one of the easiest desserts there is AND few desserts will have the kind of crowd appeal that this one does. There's always something about chocolate...
I enjoyed this dessert with DG and my sister, plated with homemade vanilla bean ice cream and a puddle of strawberry sauce, both of which complemented the deep dark chocolate flavours.
This dessert is dedicated to my friend, neighbor and fellow chocolate lover, Vicki, who is was lucky enough to enjoy this dessert at the end of a hard day before anyone else, and I doubt there is anyone around more appreciative of a chocolate dessert such as her.
Chocolate Valentino
Recipe comes from Sweet Treats by Chef Wan
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. {link of folding demonstration}
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 un mold.
