Holy Chocolate Batman!

Requisite wording.....
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.

This month's DB challenge was a Flourless Chocolate Cake. Every month I do a challenge, I generally do the challenge on the night before it's due to be posted. This month, I did the challenge super early....like the first- weekend-in-February-early. And yet, here I am, posting on the day it's due. And what's more, I did it so early, I don't quite remember my thoughts or opinions on it. Yeesh!

I can say that it was extremely easy to put together. And I made the Salted Butter Caramel ice cream from David Leibovitz' site, recipe found here. That was a bit more involved. It tasted wonderful, but the end result was softer than I would've liked. But that's a result of the recipe, and David says it's because of all the caramel in it. So, I knew it going in, but in my delusional-gotta-have-caramel state, I hoped I could make it more firm. I couldn't.

The cake was very good too. I do remember that it was completely eaten....eventually. It was super rich and chocolatey and a small slice was plenty. So, try it. If you love chocolate, you'll love this. And you can play with the chocolate you use. I used bittersweet and semi-sweet, but could've easily used milk chocolate (if I like milk chocolate :D )












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.