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.

I made the cake with semisweet chocolate, baked it in an 8x8 pan, and cut three-inchish circles out of the finished cake. It was incredibly rich and yet still light, two characteristics that are very difficult to balance with chocolate. I paired the cake with pistachio ice cream with a salty caramel ribbon - the caramel from the previous caramel-themed challenge (Nov 08, I believe). Some friends back from a trip to New York had raved about this flavor of ice cream and I wanted to try it. I used the hazelnut gelato recipe from epicurious, substituting pistachios for the hazelnuts and drizzling in the slightly warm caramel as I was freezing it.

To serve, I formed foil collars around half-moons of cake and filled circle with softened ice cream, and then froze them util soild. I drizzled them with a bit of chocolate and caramel sauce, a dollop of whipped cream, and then garnished them with pistachio brittle wedges. I served them at Ladies' Night, and they were a big hit.


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.
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.