DB: Flourless Choc Cake and Choc Chip Ice Cream

I was excited to see this months Daring Bakers Challenge: Flourless Chocolate Cake and and accompanying creamy item. I chose chocolate chip ice cream. 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. I'm not going to lie, I was a little nervous about the ice cream. I've never made ice cream, and I don't have an ice cream machine. Actually, I think I made ice cream once or twice in grade school using one of those soccer ball ice maker things. It was, however, surprisingly easy, and considering how tasty it was I would make it again, and again, and again! The ice cream is slightly time consuming, so I would start by preparing the custard, and if you are lucky enough to have an ice cream maker, crank that baby up. If not, follow the handy instructions from Dave Lebovitz and you'll have fantastic ice cream like mine in a few short hours! I also used Mr. Lebovitz's vanilla ice cream recipe. Here are the chips in progress...

...and blended in for a treat! Look at all those chunks of chocolate!Once the ice cream was well on its way to freezing, I began the Valentino cake. It is so simple to put together, only has 3 ingredients, doesn't dirty too many dishes, and really tastes amazing! I used bittersweet chocolate and a square pan. It puffed up in the oven and sank a little bit while cooling, but held its shape nicely. The flavor was deep and rich, melt in your mouth texture, perfectly accented by the cool, vanilla ice cream.
I will definitely be making these recipes again. They are so elegant they could be for a special occasion, but no one will know how simple they really are to prepare! Yum, Yum! I can't wait to have another slice tomorrow! Please check out other interpretations from my fellow Daring Bakers!


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.

(Chocolate) Chip Off the Old Block- One Third of the Way There!

This week cupcake convert Diana (Pashunfroot and Thyme to Lime) and I decided to make Martha's Chocolate Chip Cupcakes with Chocolate Chip Buttercream. Check out her take on this chocolate chip madness here! This will be my 5th of the 15 cupcakes! 10 more recipes to go! I started a list to the right with links back to my interpretation of each recipe! I had a friend's birthday and a class to bring them to so that I wouldn't eat the whole batch! Good thing too, these are awesome cupcakes! The batter uses beaten egg white to help with the leavening, and it makes for a fantastically light and fluffy white vanilla cake.
Semisweet chocolate chips make for a fantastic chocolatey surprise, a little bitter compared to the sweet cake. The icing is a basic buttercream, ultra sweet, but when combined with the cake its alright. I would use mini chips or chop up the chips, because I don't like big chips in such an otherwise light and soft bite, and its difficult to spread on the cake. I would also consider using a different icing...I'm just not such a fan of the ultra sweet buttercream. I guess it works overall, but its not something I want to add more of to the cupcake, or eat with a spoon (not that I would...wink wink).
Overall, very tasty. Martha's on a real streak- 5/5 cupcakes I will make again! And, I'd even make the cake without the chips! The cake part is delicious! As always, you can find the recipe here!

Noodle Salad and Berry Pie- Oh My!

I have been living on this "Glass Noodle Salad" from Nigella. I made it a while ago when I tried the Slow Cooked Salmon as a side dish, but for the past few days it has been dinner. It's spicy, sweet, tart, crunchy and noodley at the same time! I love it! It jst tastes so good! Even better- It's ridiculously easy. The whole thing comes together in 5 minutes. You won't believe how good it is. Some of the ingredients are best found at an Asian market, but you may be able to find it in your regular grocery. I haven't had fresh ginger so I've used ground ginger, and I also add chopped cilantro leaves. Otherwise its pretty much the exact recipe!

Pie Time: Who doesn't like pie? It's a soothing, comfort food no matter the flavor. For a get together with some friends I decided to make a pie using some berries I needed to get rid of- Blackberries and Blueberries. Then I realized I didn't quite have enough filling, so I added some frozen strawberries (thawed). Here's my filling in the dough.
I decided to make it look cute since it was on Valentine's day and made heart cutouts.

Here you can see where I put the heart cutouts on the sides to make it full of hearts. The juicy purple/pink inside gushed out a little and stained the top, but I think it's kind of artistic.

As for the recipe...I put the berries in a bowl, dumped some sugar on top, macerated them slighly to burst the blueberries and blackberries. For pie crusts, I really got my hands dirty and bought the Pillsbury Pie Crusts (In the red box in the biscuit/refrigerated dough section). It's been our "secret family crust recipe" for years. The crust tastes phenomenal, and comes rolled up in flat rounds so you can adapt it to whatever pan you have. It is MUCH better than the dough that comes premade in the aluminum foil pie tins. If you haven't tried it, I highly suggest it. It is a worthwile shortcut. Believe me, if it doesn't taste good, I'm not eating it (or spending money on it). Anyways, back to the recipe, put the bottom crust in the pan, dump the berries inside, cover with top layer of crust. Brush with egg wash, crimp the edges, and bake at 350 for 30 min with foil on top, then another 20 without the foil or until the inside is bubbling. Serve hot with vanilla ice cream. Oh My, I LOVE Pie!

I Want Some of your Brown Sugar...

If you haven't heard it, listen to the song "Brown Sugar" by D'Angelo. It's a nice smooth sultry song that's been in my head all week. I love dark brown sugar! The flavor is so deep and rich. It really can make a difference in a recipe. On my quest to make all 15 cupcake recipes in Martha Stewart Living Feb edition, my friend Diana (of Pashunfroot and ThymetoLime) and I decided to make the Brown Sugar Pound Cake Cupcakes with a Brown Butter glaze. This recipe is my 4th out of 15... still quite a few to go! Please check out Diana's interpretation of the same recipe at ThymetoLime!

These cupcakes are great! Delicious, sophisticated and rich, these cupcakes are on another level from the ordinary, run of the mill cupcake. The flavor is deep and intense, and the glaze elevates the overall cupcake to a new level. The flavor was reminiscent of the DB Caramel cake with brown butter frosting, but better. I prefer this cupcake, a little less sugary sweet, a little different flavor. They were easy to make. I goofed a little bit, I added 2 1/2 cup of brown sugar instead of 2 1/4, and I used dark brown instead of light brown as called for. I also added a bit of vanilla to the batter. My recipe made 30 instead of 27, and I felt like a little more glaze would have been nice... I was defeinitely scrounging to frost them all. When making the frosting, I put my butter on low, and it still browned up very fast. Make sure you watch the butter, if you don't it will burn right up. I used a sieve to separate the solids, and when I poured the butter into the powdered sugar, it sizzled loud! The recipe doesn't say to let it cool, so I just went for it... as far as I can tell, it didn't mess anything up! Here's the recipe.

Once again, another good recipe, I highly recommend it! Martha's on a roll- 4/4 cupcakes that I'd love to make again!

Addendum: My cupcakes made it to Tastespotting again!! Search: jesschubb. YEAHHH!!!!