Valentino cake - DB February 2009

I finally made it. I almost missed this month's challenge, but last night I finally squeeze it in. I was really excited about this challenge when I first read it on the daring baker's kitchen, but ended up pressed for time to actually get it done before the due date. These two days I have been going back and forth on participating or actually sit this one out. Last night, while watching CSI and waiting my bread to prove, I decided to make the cake.

I made champagne sorbet, but it is still currently sitting in my freezer. I wanted to take some photos with it this morning, but it was really dark & gloomy this morning. I couldn't get enough lighting in my kitchen to take a decent photo. I always avoid using flash, since I don't like the effect it's doing when it comes to food photography. And secondary lighting is just out of the question since I don't have a desk lamp that is bright enough to do the job. My house is very windom limited you see. The only windows are in the bedrooms, and my bed is positioned beside the window, it's very hard to set up a proper table with it on the way. There's finally enough light at around 8am, so I only have around 40-45 mins to spare till I have to rush to work. So, here it is with my leftover vanilla ice cream, I will post more pictures tomorrow morning. hopefully the weather is better.

The cake itself is very nice and very simple to make, not the best one I had I must say. But this month's challenge is very exciting as it opens to endless possibilities. I especially love it as it gives me a chance to experiment with different flavours of ice cream. I like the champagne sorbet better paired with the choc cake. The sourness and freshness of the sorbet balanced the cake perfectly. Whereas the vanilla ice cream tends to add more richness to an already rich dessert. But in winter nights, I wouldn't mind having this cake warm with a big scoop of melting vanilla ice cream. Yumm..

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.

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 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.

For the Vanilla ice cream recipe, you can find it in David Lebovitz's blog here

For making the ice cream without an ice cream maker the David Lebovitz way, you can find detailed step by step instruction here

Please stay tune for the one with champagne sorbet.. Thanks again for the tasty challenge. Looking forward for next month's and hopefully my timing is much much better.