Daring Bakers Challenge, February 2009: Chocolate Valentino (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.

Nothing says February quite like hearts, flowers and chocolate. And Birthdays if you live in our house. Rolling (quite literally) off Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years comes February, host to 3 birthdays and Valentine's Day and all the associated merry-making that goes along with it. I've not dropped off the face of the planet, by the way, I've just been a little, ah, busy of late.

I looked at this recipe and it was similar to one that I already make, but in this one the egg yolks and whites stand in opposite corners and then come to play separately in the form of egg yolks mixed directly into the chocolate and the egg whites beaten into stiff peaks and then folded into the batter. Ok - I'm up for something new.

Since I didn't want to use the whole POUND of chocolate the recipe calls for I halved it. I added 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon and 3/4 teaspoon ground chipotle pepper powder to give it some interest. The batter was tasty and it had lovely golden fat blobs floating about in it, shimmering like molten sunlight. Since I was using individual pans, I reduced the baking time significantly and dropped it to about 10-15 minutes. I decided to use this cake/recipe for The Little One's birthday cake since I was cupcaked out from making a batch for school. My DS had given me these mini springform pans years ago and I've finally used them. We were going to have a small gathering of 8 people for his birthday "party" so I cut these little babies in half - each person got to eat half a cake! We really know how to celebrate around here.

Since these were such unique sizes/shapes I dug out 2 platters that were probably supposed to be used for appetizers or dips or somesuch, and repurposed them as party plates. I went for the homemade whipped cream topping option - I have made ice cream before - but transporting all this and 3 kids with ice cream was a little out of my league at the moment. Two cakes, a blob of whipped cream in the middle and a light dusting of cocoa powder to keep everything for looking so stark and Bob's your uncle.

Thanks to Wendy and Dharm for selecting this month’s Daring Bakers Challenge. You can find the complete recipe on their sites.

To see what all the other DBer’s did, you can find the blogroll here and if you’d like to join the monthly party, info about that can be found on that page as well.

Chocolate Bourbon (Batter Buzz) Cake

I don't like football, or most sports for that matter. The Superbowl is remotely passable if there's a party with friends and even at that, I only actually watch the screen when the commercials come on OR during halftime when the chances are significantly higher that someone will have wardrobe malfunction. (Last year however, the thought of a Tom Petty wardrobe malfunction kept me in the kitchen the entire time with my eyes averted. {{shuddder}}.

You'll remember from my Toffee Crunch (aka Ghetto Toffee) post that I like to bring food fabulousness with me wherever I go. What to bring, what to bring? I thought about making my famous marbled sour cream pound cake, but eh, I'm tired of that one, even if it does rock. Then across the RSS feed comes Chocolate Bourbon Cake from Elise at Simply Recipes. Hmmmmm. It's not the Derby, but I'll stretch those culinary sports alcohol bonds and go with it anyway.

Having said that, if you have a grownup affair to go to, you need to make this cake. I'm not a hard liquor fan at all (at all!), and never would I have thought it was possible to get a "batter buzz" from like, ah batter, but oh yes you can! I didn't even eat that much! This stuff packs a wallop.



Learn from Elise and her dad's experience and use the whole cup of whiskey. The bundt pan will be very full when you put it in the oven - place it on a cookie sheet just in case it decides to flee the bonds of bundtpan-dom. Mine started this abstract art type of thing when the sides cooked faster than the middle and started to flip over. Cool.



When the cake is done, leave it in the pan for the prescribed 15 minutes and then flip it out onto your serving dish. Sprinkle with a little more bourbon. At this point, I covered it and put it in the fridge. I made it on Saturday and was going to serve on Sunday. I've found that most of these bundt pan cakes are so much better the next day. The flavors have had time to meld and the cake is 10 times easier to slice. Dust with powdered sugar before slicing. Use a serrated knife and voila! It's cake.

I also whipped up (tee hee) some whipped cream and added a little confectioners sugar and about a tablespoon of the bourbon to create Bourbon Spiked Whipped Cream to serve on the side. Everyone went nuts over this one and the kiddos were sad that they couldn't have any, but hey, that's why I made the toffee. I think I even spotted one guy eating the whipped cream plain. Winner!

Chocolate Bourbon Cake Recipe
from Elise at Simply Recipes

Ingredients
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened, more for greasing pan
2 cups all-purpose flour, more for dusting pan
5 ounces high quality, unsweetened dark chocolate
1/4 cup instant espresso (can use instant coffee)
2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1 cup bourbon whiskey (can use 1/2 cup), more for sprinkling
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
2 cups granulated sugar
3 large eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 cup confectioners’ sugar (powdered sugar), for sprinkling

Method
1. Preheat oven to 325°F. Grease and flour a large bundt pan (10 cup capacity), or two 8- or 9-inch loaf pans. Melt chocolate in a microwave oven or in a double boiler over simmering water. Let cool.
2. Put instant espresso and cocoa powder in a 2-cup (or larger) glass measuring cup. Add enough boiling water to come up to the 1 cup measuring line. Mix until powders dissolve. Stir in whiskey and salt; let cool.
3. Beat softened butter until fluffy (2-3 minutes on high). Add sugar and beat until well combined. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, beating well between each addition. Beat in the vanilla extract, baking soda and melted chocolate, scraping down sides of bowl with a rubber spatula.
4. With the mixer on low speed, beat in a third of the whiskey espresso cocoa mixture. When liquid is absorbed, beat in 1 cup flour. Repeat additions, ending with whiskey mixture. Scrape batter into prepared pan and smooth top. Bake until a cake tester inserted into center of cake comes out clean, about 1 hour 10 minutes for Bundt pan (loaf pans will take less time, start checking them after 55 minutes).
5. Transfer cake to a rack. Unmold after 15 minutes and sprinkle warm cake with more whiskey (about 1 - 2 Tablespoons). Let cool. (I refrigerated mine at this point). Sprinkle powdered sugar through a mesh sieve over the cake before serving.