Daring Bakers February Challenge: Flourless Chocolate Cake

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 Daring Bakers Challenge was a flourless chocolate cake. It was far easier than any chocolate cake recipe I have made, and resulted in a rich, decadent dessert. I baked mine in ramekins, which produced perfectly portioned mini chocolate cakes. I brought them to a dinner party last night along with fresh whipped cream and strawberries.

Chocolate Valentino
Preparation Time: 20 minutes

INGREDIENTS:
16 ounces (1 pound) (454 grams) of semisweet chocolate, roughly chopped (I used 10 ounces bittersweet and 6 ounces semisweet - delicious!)
½ cup (1 stick) plus 2 tablespoons (146 grams total) of unsalted butter
5 large eggs

METHOD:
1. Put the 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. (I melted the chocolate and butter separately in the microwave and mixed them together. Worked perfectly).
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. Serve with fresh whipped cream and strawberries, or your favorite ice cream. Shown here is mocha ice cream.

Chocolate Mousse

Evan loves chocolate mousse. I had all of the ingredients handy, so I gave it a shot (specifically, we had extra heavy cream from the carbonara). It came out pretty well. A little grainy, but very tasty. After it has chilled, I recommend letting it sit for a little bit before serving, to let it mellow slightly. I served it with homemade whipped cream.

Chocolate Mousse
Adapted from Gourmet Cookbook (2004)

2 cups very cold heavy cream
4 large egg yolks
3 tablespoons sugar
Pinch of salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
7 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped

Heat 3/4 cup cream in a 1-quart heavy saucepan until hot but not boiling. Remove from the heat.


Whisk together yolks, sugar and salt in a metal bowl until well combined, then add hot cream in a slow stream, whisking until combined.

Transfer to a saucepan and cook over moderately low heat, stirring constantly, until it registers 160 F on a thermometer. Pour custard through fine-mesh sieve into a small bowl and stir in vanilla.

Melt chocolate in a large metal bowl set over a pan of barely simmering water stirring frequently (or melt the chocolate in the microwave). Whisk custard into chocolate until smooth. Let cool. Beat remaining 1 1/4 cups cream in a large bowl with an electric until it just holds stiff peaks.

Whisk one quarter of the cream into the chocolate custard to lighten it, then gently but thoroughly fold in remaining cream.


Spoon mousse into eight 6-ounce stemmed glasses or ramekins. Refrigerate, covered, for at least 6 hours.


Meanwhile, make the whipped cream. Simply beat heavy cream and sugar together until it is a desired consistency. Add sugar to suit your tastes.

When the mousse has set, let it sit out for a few minutes. Top with whipped cream and serve.