Saturday, February 28, 2009

Sweets for my Sweet - Chocolate Valentino Cake

Challenge info:
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.
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The Daring Baker challenge for this month is of course chocolate. I would think that if it hadn't, there would have been a mutiny, it being February, aka the month of looooooove.

This recipe is deceptively simple, with only 3 - 3! - ingredients. The few ingredients and short prep and baking time are totally contrary to what you end up with, which is an incredibly fudgey, dense, amazingly chocolaty dessert.

I passed on the ice cream, instead serving the cake with raspberries and whipped cream sweetened with homemade vanilla sugar.


I baked the cake to the directed internal temperature, but was a little unhappy with how soft the center of the cake was. I found it hard to cut and plate the pieces with the points being so soft. But it was hard to care too much about presentation after the first bite.

The best thing about this cake was that it was Scott's birthday cake and he loved it. The second best thing was the refrigerated leftovers were actually even better than the fresh cake. Firmed up by the cold it was almost like a chocolate pate.

Chocolate lovers will want to try this recipe for sure. Thanks Dharm and Wendy!

Chocolate Valentino
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.

14 comments:

Dharm said...

So glad you liked the challenge! Well done!

Anonymous said...

I agree about the refrigerated leftovers! Great job!

Meeta K. Wolff said...

great going on the challenge and the refrigerated cake was great - I agree!

NKP said...

I agree, we liked the cake better after a day or two.
Raspberries are the perfect accompaniment! Well done!

Anonymous said...

I forgot all about the taking the temp possibility and mine seemed to come out like feta, a bit too crumbly. Oh well, the taste was terrific. I like the simplicity of the whipped cream and fruit. Great job!

MyKitchenInHalfCups said...

I think we called it the same Sara - just great chocolate! Wish I had another slice for today. I can enjoy chocolate any day or month.

Engineer Baker said...

This really was absolute fabulous after a day or so. Much more like fudge, less like unbaked cake :) Beautiful job!

Unknown said...

I turned mine into a b-day cake, too! Looks wonderful. I didn't even think about refrigerating it and wish that I had!

natalia said...

Ciao ! I think it would have been perfect for the 'less than five ingredients' !Happy birthday to Scott !

Jenny said...

I'm with you, even to the internal temp, it was still soft. I made minis though, so it wasn't a problem.
Belated HBDay to Scott, btw.
And I love the plating with the fruit.

Lis said...

Well happy belated birthday to the luckiest guy in the world! :)

I'm glad you liked the cake - it looks gorgeous with all that whipped cream and berries on it. *slurp*

LOVE YOU!
XOXOXOXOXOXXOXO

breadchick said...

Scott sure is a lucky guy! Oh hell, I'm lucky too because you are such a good friend.

Excellent job on the challenge, Sis!

Annie said...

I have been thinking about making a cake similar to that. It looks so incredible! I'll be dreaming of that tonight.

Anonymous said...

Tough to beat raspberries and chocolate. Such a romantic and classic combination :)