Chocolate Love with the Daring Bakers

It’s that time again! The February 2009 challenge is hosted by Wendy of WMPE’s blog and Dharm of Dad ~ Baker & Chef. They 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.

“Chocolate has many associations – godliness, health-giving, mood altering, and addicting. Bless the ancient Mayans and Aztecs for developing the cocoa bean into the delicious luxurious chocolate drink that the Spanish explorers brought back to Spain. How the Spanish kept chocolate a secret for 100 years is a mystery that perhaps can only be explained by the lack of the internet!
It is no wonder that February, the month for honoring love on St. Valentine’s Day, is best represented first by the heart and then by chocolate or better yet a chocolate heart. The potency and power of chocolate can only be rivaled by vanilla, and then they make a wonderful combination!”

As a devoted fan of chocolate, I was very happy to see a flourless chocolate cake as the challenge this month. The challenge recipe by Chef Wan consists of just three ingredients which makes it a snap to pull together. I thought about using a flavored chocolate bar like chipotle or lavender, but instead I settled on my classic favorite. Pure and simple bittersweet chocolate. I combined the ingredients and divided the batter between two small 6-inch round cakes.

Although, I don’t own an ice cream maker (impossible in my teeny, tiny thumbelina kitchen), the ice cream portion of the challenge was fun. I used Wendy’s Philadelphia Style recipe just because I had all the ingredients on hand. I added a teaspoon of ground cardamom and 2 tablespoons of honey to her recipe and followed David Lebovitz’s instructions for making ice cream sans an ice cream maker. The taste was beyond amazing but the texture was a little on the soft side even after being in the freezer overnight. Maybe my au natural mixing just didn’t cut it! But, hey, ice cream melts anyway right? And did I tell you how creamy, velvety and amazing this ice cream is?

I topped one cake with the honey-cardamom pistachio ice cream and more chopped pistachios. The other cake was served with sliced strawberries, chopped toasted hazlenuts and a little drizzle of dark chocolate ganache. I know, I know, over the top but oh so good! The cake recipe is definitely meant for a chocolate lover as the flavor and texture are pretty intense. Just perfect for me!

Thanks again to Wendy and Dharm for hosting such a luscious Daring Bakers!

Chocolate Valentino- Recipe 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 unmold.

Cardamom-Honey and Pistachio Ice Cream

Recipe Adapted from:

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

1 teaspoon of ground cardamom

2-3 tablespoons honey

3/4 cup of chopped pistachios

Mix all ingredients together, except the pistachios. (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.

**I added in the pistachios about 2 hours into freezing time when the ice cream was quite firm but still mixable.

Tagged as: cardamom-honey ice cream, Chocolate valentino, Daring Bakers Challenge February 2009, flourless chocolate cake