Saturday, February 28, 2009

Rudolph's Brother


What am I talking about, Willis??? Yes, that's right... Chocolate Valentino... The February Daring Baker's Challenge... It was all about the chocolate and probably one if the easiest cakes to make, in terms of ingredients... three, to be exact... So simple, in fact, that I'm going to tell you all how to make it... But first, the "legalities"...

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...

While the guidelines stated that we were to pair the cake with the vanilla ice cream, we don't have an ice cream maker... There is a technique from David Lebovitz here that explains how to make ice cream without a machine, but, since we were allowed leeway to pair the cake with something else, we opted for a Grand Marnier whipped cream instead...

This is the cake recipe... It's just chocolate and eggs and butter...

Chocolate Valentino
Preparation Time: 20 minutes
16 ounces of semisweet chocolate, roughly chopped
1 stick plus 2 tablespoons 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 only mistake I made was i missed the two extra tablespoons of butter... It didn't seem to matter to us in the end, because the cake still had a PHENOMENAL taste!!!

Chocolate Valentino 1

Chocolate Valentino 3

Chocolate Valentino 6

Chocolate Valentino 7

8 comments:

Lisa said...

That's perfect Valentino! LOL@ the Willis line. Now I keep hearing "Whatchoo talkin' about , Willis?" in my head. Thanks a lot ! :P LOL

Unknown said...

The whipped cream DOES look delicious with this cake. Great job!

Bumblebutton said...

Sometimes simpler is better--your whipped cream sounds like a delicious coffee-topper! Your cake looks just like mine! Hope you enjoyed it--super job!

Anonymous said...

great job!

Anonymous said...

Your cake looks PERFECT a great job. I just love the photos showing the cake in detail - I really like how it falls in the middle which makes for a perfect place for ice cream or some other delight. This is one excellent cake it tastes so good. Thanks for the comments on my blog yours Audax

Anonymous said...

Very pretty!

Unknown said...

Grand Marnier whipped cream would win any valentine over! Your cake looks beautiful and even.

Junie Moon said...

Like you, I was pleasantly surprised at the ease of making the cake. Having never made a flourless cake before, I wasn't sure about what the result might be, but it all turned out just fine. Your cake looks ever so yummy and I love the added detail of the Grand Marnier whipped cream as opposed to the ice cream. Great job!