A Piece Of Cake

Here we are at the Daring Bakers time again, yippee!

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.

The Chocolate Valentino cake is a flourless chocolate cake inspired by Malaysia’s “most flamboyant food ambassador”, Chef Wan. The recipe comes from Sweet Treats by Chef Wan.

Not only was the challenge based around a cake but I really did think it would be a piece of cake to complete too – I love ice cream and have made several lots before with relative ease and the chocolate cake looked as though it couldn’t be simpler to make; my challenge I thought was to come in one part and one part only, choosing the flavour combinations.

Up until a certain point I was correct in my assumptions; the cake was a doddle to make and the flavour combination plan came together relatively quickly after a brainstorming session but when it came to the ice cream I hit a standstill. I knew what I wanted to make and I knew how to make it, had everything in the pantry to go ahead but didn’t have the space in either of my freezers to accommodate my Kitchen Aid ice cream attachment. I found the below image via a search on Google but it isn’t far off how my freezers looks at the moment, I seriously need to do a clear out and organise them better.

Image Courtesy of Google Images

So I had to have a major rethink, how on earth could I make ice cream without using my ice cream machine? Much to my annoyance I couldn’t justify buying a much coveted work top Gaggia, oh how I dream, but I haven’t the space or the ability to justify spending that kind of money on something that wouldn’t get used all that often. After much deliberating I had a ‘light-bulb’ moment, you know the kind where in cartoons light bulbs begin flashing over characters heads, suddenly I remember watching a chef make ice cream in a food processor that didn’t require any freezing on Saturday Kitchen, so I headed straight over the their website and searched for the recipe, success was to be had at last. I needed to play around with the recipe a little to achieve my planned flavour combination but it worked out really well. Do give it a go, I was so sceptical but the result was utterly delicious, so rich and creamy. My version of the recipe can be found at the end of the blog post. Another thing I need to point out here is that although we were given two ice cream recipes by the challenge hosts we didn’t have to stick to them and were allowed to go with whatever recipe we wished.

So I can hear you muttering, get on with it, what flavours did you use? I flavoured the chocolate cake with green cardamom and teamed that with a bitter Seville orange ice cream; that bitter, sweet balance really worked out well and brought the dish together brilliantly. 

The cake was so simple to make and utterly gorgeous to eat, but only in small pieces as it was so rich. I confess here that I ate some of the mix before it reached the oven and it was even more delicious then; almost like a hot chocolate mousse which would be just perfect to dip crisp amaretti biscuits in for a simple but elegant dinner party dessert.

I used Valhrona  70% chocolate and French unsalted butter which made the (delectable) cake rather expensive but as the flavours are so pure it really is worth making the extra effort to obtain top notch ingredients. The addition of the cardamom really brought out the Valrhona Guanaja Dark Grand Cru Chocolates flavour – it is made with a blend cocoa beans from South America and has an exceptionally bitter flavour which is offset by floral tones which marry perfectly with the heady sweet scent of the ground cardamom. Although buying pre-ground cardamom would save time I’d always go for freshly ground for a cake like this, you want to keep as much of the aromatic flavour as possible.

The Seville orange ice cream was really simple and effective too, who would have thought ice cream could be made in less than five minutes (plus of course the freezing time) and be completely smooth and creamy too? I wouldn’t have believed it if I hadn’t made it myself but please do trust me and give it a go.

The ice cream was served in espresso cups from the Nigella Lawson Living Kitchen Collection (a lovely present from the lovely Brenda) with a small cylinder of cake on the side, a bigger portion really wasn’t required as it was so rich. I scattered the ice cream with crystallised strands of Seville orange peel which gave the dish a little more texture and boosted the presentation too, to see how to do this please click here. As with almost all sweet dishes a scattering of icing sugar just set the finishing effect.

The Recipes:

Cardamom Scented Chocolate Valentino:

• 16 ounces (1 pound) (454 grams) of chocolate, roughly chopped (I used 70% cocoa but you can use whatever chocolate you prefer)
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) plus 2 tablespoons (146 grams total) of unsalted butter
• 5 large eggs separated
• 2 teaspoons of ground green cardamom

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 and cardamom 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. 
10. 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.
11. Cool cake on a rack for 10 minutes then unmold.

Seville Orange Ice Cream:

• 1 banana, peeled, cut into chunks 
• 3 Seville oranges, peeled and cut into segments
• 3 tablespoons sugar
• 50ml double cream
• 100ml buttermilk

1. Spread the fruit chunks out on a tray and transfer to the freezer. Leave in the freezer until frozen all the way through (about one hour).
2. Place the frozen fruit into a food processor. Add the sugar and the double cream. 
3. Turn on the processor and blend for a few moments. Then, while it is still running, pour in the buttermilk in a thin, steady stream. 
4. Blend until the mixture is smooth and creamy. Serve at once.