Sunday, March 1, 2009

Chocolate Valentino Cake


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 month's Daring Baker challenge was to make Chocolate Valentino cake and ice cream. The cake is flourless chocolate cake and we had the choice to make ice cream as an added challenge.
I made individual cakes on top of a caramel sauce topped with toasted coconut. I added a bit of cinnamon to the ice cream. This was a really fun and tasty challenge! Thanks Dharm and Wendy! Check out all the other daring baker's here.
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 unmold.

Since this was cake was called Valentino, I couldn't resist making one in a heart shape.
Wendy's Ice Cream Recipe
Vanilla Philadelphia Style Recipe
Preparation Time: 5 minutes
2 cups (473 ml) of half and half (1 cup of heavy cream and 1 cup of whole, full fat milk)
1 cup (237 ml) heavy cream
2/3 (128 grams) cup sugar
Dash of salt
1 (12 grams) tablespoon of vanilla
I added 1/2 tsp of cinnamon to mine
Mix all ingredients together (we do this in a plastic pitcher and mix with an emulsifier hand blender-whisking works too).
Refrigerate for 30 minutes or longer
Mix in your ice cream maker as directed.

14 comments:

La Cuisine d'Helene said...

My family would love this. Looks so yummy. Anything chocolate, we have a sweet tooth.

apparentlyjessy said...

Ive seen quite of few of these cakes now, but yours is the cutest! I adore it in the heart shape, and it looks so precious with the icing sugar dusted on top! Well done, it looks delicious!

junko said...

i love the way you decorated your cake! Hearts are the best :)

Elyse said...

I love the addition of cinnamon to your ice cream. Cinnamon, ice cream, caramel, and chocolate...sounds like the perfect combination to me. And your presentation was just gorgeous!

Aparna Balasubramanian said...

Your cakes and the pictures are lovely. The toasted coconut is a very nice touch.
I have made cinnamon ice-cream before and loved it. This must have beena winning combination.

grace said...

chocolate, vanilla, coconut, and cinnamon--i'd be there with bells on. :)

Rosa's Yummy Yums said...

Very well done! Your cakes look beautiful and so delicious! Nice presentation

Cheers,

Rosa

♥Rosie♥ said...

Oh doesn't this look gorgeous!! I just love the heart shape cake!

Rosie x

MyKitchenInHalfCups said...

Paula I am so blown away with the caramel, coconut only made blissful with the cinnamon in the ice cream!
Beautiful photo!

breadchick said...

WOW!!! What a combo.

Jo said...

Great job on your challenge and love your pictures.

Anonymous said...

Great photos, divine-looking cake. I really love flourless pastries; they're a nice change from the usual tastes and textures! The heart shape was a nice touch, too! :)

Lulu the Baker said...

Your photo is beautiful, and the combination of chocolate, toasted coconut, and caramel sounds delicious. Great job!

Anonymous said...

Absolutely delish!! And cinnamon to the ice cream .. that would go beautifully with the chocolate :-)