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Saturday, February 28, 2009

Chocolate Valentino - A Flourless Chocolate Cake





And the star of the Daring Baker's Challenge this month is Chocolate! And you may ask how this cake is held together? With the help of its supporting ingredients – Take a bow butter and eggs!



Chocolate Valentino is a very simple cake to make but it is very rich – 1 pound of chocolate! This is why it is soooooo important to use good chocolate because the finished cake will taste exactly like the chocolate you use.


You will want to serve this chocolate cake in smaller pieces, as that is all you need to satisfy your chocolate cravings. If you would like a more fluffy cake with icing then try my mom’s (Sadie’s) chocolate cake. Dan still prefers that one!




I would like to say thank you to this month's hosts of The Daring Bakers challenge. 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. You can find the ice cream recipes on the above blogs but I decided to make a Lavender Honey Ice cream.




When I vacationed in France this past June, I visited the Lavender Museum and picked up some Lavender tea. I have been waiting to make some ice cream with it so I have included the recipe here. By the time I figured out the camera, it had started melting, but it was very good and quite fragrant.











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. {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 or 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.

Lavender Honey Ice Creamadapted from Ice Creams and Sorbets by Lou Seibert Pappas



2 cups half-and-half milk or milk
4 lavender tea bags
3 large egg yolks
2/3 cup honey
1 cup heavy (whipping) cream

Prepare a large bowl or pan of ice water

In the top of a double boiler, heat the half-and-half and lavender over simmering water until steaming. Remove from the heat and steep for 10 minutes. In a bowl, whisk the egg yolks until blended, then whisk in the honey. Whisk in about half of the hot half-and-half then pour the yolk mixture into the pan of half-and –half. Sir and cook over simmering water until the custard coats the back of a silicone spoon or spatula, about 10 minutes. Immediately place the custard pan in the ice bath and stir the custard occasionally until it cools to room temperature. Strain the custard into a container and discard the lavender. Stir in the cream, cover, and refrigerate until thoroughly chilled, about 3 hours.

Freeze in an ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Transfer to a container, cover, and freeze until firm, about 2 hours.

Makes about 1 Quart.

Chocolate and Lavender....wonderful memories of Provence...

Until we bake again
Penny

1 comment:

Susie said...

Your Valentino is beautiful, I was rather uninspired by this challange. This month will be better nutritionally, can't wait to get started!!!!

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