Daring Bakers: Flourless Chocolate Cake

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.

I had never made a flourless chocolate cake before so this was new to me. It was very easy to do as well. Since I am such a loser wife, and did not get dear hubby a real gift, this was his Valentine's day treat. And being a double loser, he did not even get it until the day after Valentines. Poor shmuck.

It is extremely dense and rich, soft on the inside,and basically tastes like ganache. I served mine on a pool of raspberry coulis. OK, we all know I did not make coulis from scratch. I used sleeved raspberry pastry filling and blended it with water and some granulated sugar in my food processor. Worked and tasted great!



Hubby, who is a very picky dessert eater, liked this one very much.

I was way too busy to make ice cream, so I chose the option (it was legal in the Daring Baker's rules) to use whipped cream (aka Cool Whip). Hey, I am a very busy lady!

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.

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.

It was easy and delish and I recommend you give it a try!

Until next time,

Sharon, the not so Daring Baker!

http://www.sugaredproductions.com/