Chocolate Valentino

I have been very lax about my blog and the Daring Bakers for the last few months. Being sick at the end of last year did not help, and I have got out of the blogging rhythm and an also not really certain where I have been going with it. However I have actually completed most of the challenges but have not had the energy to post them.

The February 2009 challenge is hosted by Wendy of WMPE’s blog and Dharm of Dad ~ Baker & Chef.

Wendy and Dharm chose a Chocolate Valentino cake by Chef Wan, to be served with home made ice cream.

I was very unsure about this recipe, I read it and went out without a list to buy everything and came back with the correct ingredients and several packets of ground almonds as I was convinced that a flourless chocolate needed them. Upon rereading the recipe I was somewhat surprised to see that it really did contain only butter, eggs and chocolate. Upping the Daring ante I cooked the cake and make the ice cream when away from home, staying with my boyfriend’s parents’ and with the help of his 3 year old nephew and 5 year old niece!

I was amazed at how much my two assistants could do; both regularly cook at home, and they were more than happy to weigh, measure and mix and all of the credit for folding the chocolate mix into the egg whites has to go to 5 year old H.

Chocolate Valentino

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.

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 recipe was very easy to make, I weighed the chocolate and butter into a bowl; set up as a bain marie and let 5 year H, gently stir and keep watch as I whisked the egg whites up. I have a feeling that we may have added the chocolate to the egg whites rather than the other way round. It certainly did seem to take quite a bit of folding.

Temperature probeless I baked the cake until it seemed done and got it out of the oven, once it had cooled a little I realised that it was in fact still liquid inside and really was not going to firm up so I broke all the rules of baking turned the oven back on and put it back in.

3 year old F who regularly helps me to make a smoothie with a stick blender; telling me that it is “quite tricky”, helped with the ice cream; I made Nigella’s Bitter Orange Ice Cream as I wanted an easy child friendly recipe and partially because I had been wanting to try it for some time as I could not believe that a not churn; mix and freeze recipe would work. Happily it did and was delicious.

The finished cake was enjoyed at a Sunday lunch party and greatly appreciated by all including the children present who really did not believe that it was a “silly cake” with no flour and only 3 ingredients. The bitter orange ice cream went very well with the cake and was loved by all.

I don’t think that I was sufficiently wowed by the cake to make it again; if I want a flourless chocolate cake I will probably stick to making Nigella’s Chocolate cloud cake, but I enjoyed making it and the challenge and stepping outside your comfort zone is what the Daring Bakers are about!

So many thanks to Wendy and Dharm and apologies for my tardy posting.