Daring Bakers Challenge: February Chocolate Bonanza ~ 純巧克力蛋糕佐巧克力﹑洋槐花蜜風味雪酪

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.

Chocolate Valentino is a flourless chocolate cake adopted from Sweet Treats by Malaysia’s “most flamboyant food ambassador”, Chef Wan. The recipe consists of 3 simple ingredients, chocolate (your choice), butter, and eggs. The simplicity of this recipe gives credit to the ingredients much in the same way of French baguette. It comes together very quickly too. However, the end result is a rich, luxurious and moist cake that would have you asking for a 2nd, maybe 3rd serving!



Our hosts have provided recipes for vanilla ice cream but I opted to try something different. I chose to serve the cake with 2 flavors of sorbet, chocolate and Acacia honey. I recently was giving a book written by the founders of Scharffen Berger and there is this wonderful but seemingly simple recipe for chocolate sorbet that I have wanted to give a try. It was indeed simple to make and has such a deep and clear flavor. This chocolate on chocolate combo answers the call to all the die hard chocoholics =)

I am in love with Acacia honey since I used it to make this lovely cake. I love its subtle floral note and thought that it would make a lovely and delicious flavoring for a sorbet. It was light, delicate and has a distinctive honey aroma. This flavor combo is for those that are looking for a balance from the dense texture of the chocolate cake.

Thank you Wendy and Dharm for this wonderful recipe! Click here to check out my fellow DBrs' version of the cake!




The rules as per our hosts:
- Use the provided cake recipe.
- The original recipe calls for the cake to be served with whipping cream BUT we decided to make this more of a challenge and ask you to make your own ice cream – a first for the DBrs. You can choose any flavor you want and any recipe although we provided two vanilla ice cream recipes. We are giving you a little freedom here and will allow whipped cream as a topping as well or of course non-dairy whip. Be as creative as you want with your topping. Any fruit puree or sauce would be lovely with this cake.
- It is optional to use a heart shaped pan. For a real Valentino, bake it in a heart shaped pan or cut it out into a heart shape. You may use any shape pan that gives you an area of 50” - 6x8 or 7x7. An 8” spring form pan works with great results as do smaller pans or ramekins.

What you need to know:
- A higher cocoa percentage increases the bitterness of the chocolate, which means the darker the chocolate, the denser the cake
- Use your favorite chocolate – the finished cake will taste exactly like the chocolate you use. Be creative with your chocolate, if you like a sweeter cake use milk chocolate or a combination of the semisweet and milk chocolate. If you like bittersweet chocolate use that and add sweetness by mixing the semi sweet with bittersweet. If you are daring, try white chocolate.
- The cake will sink a little as it cools but will still hold its shape and the top forms a light crust kind of like a brownie.

Chocolate Valentino – 8-inch cake

16oz (454 grams) bittersweet chocolate, roughly chopped
½ cup plus 2 tablespoons (146 grams) unsalted butter
5 large eggs, separated

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.

While the chocolate butter mixture is cooling. Butter the pan and line with a parchment circle then butter the parchment.

Separate the egg yolks from the egg whites and put into two medium/large bowls. Whip the egg whites in a large grease free bowl until stiff peaks are formed (do not over-whip or the cake will be dry). With the same beater beat the egg yolks together then add the egg yolks to the cooled chocolate.

Fold in 1/3 of the egg whites into the chocolate mixture and follow with the remaining 2/3. Fold until no white remains without deflating the batter. Pour batter into prepared pan, the batter should fill the pan 3/4 of the way full, and bake at 375°F/190°C。

Bake for 25 minutes until an instant read thermometer reads 140°F/60°C。.
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.Remove cake from oven and cool on rack for 10 minutes then unmold and let cool completely.



Chocolate Sorbet - makes 1 quart
adopted from The Essence of Chocolate

2 cups unsweetened cocoa powder
1 ¾ cup granulated sugar
4 cups water
1tsp pure vanilla extract

Combine cocoa powder and sugar in a saucepan. Whisk in 1 cup of the water until any large lumps of powder are broken up, then whisk in the remaining water, 1 cup at a time, and whisk until all dry ingredients are dissolved.

Bring the mixture to just a boil over medium heat, whisking occasionally. Remove from heat and stir in the vanilla extract. Pour mixture into a bowl, let cool then refrigerate overnight. The following day, place the sorbet base in an ice cream maker and freeze following the manufacturer’s instruction.

Acacia Honey Sorbet
makes 1 quart

¾ cup plus 2 tablespoon Acacia honey
4 cups water
1tsp vanilla extract

Combine honey and water in a saucepan and bring the mixture to a simmer over medium heat, stirring to dissolve the honey. Remove from heat and stir in the vanilla extract. Pour mixture into a bowl, let cool then refrigerate overnight. The following day, place the sorbet base in an ice cream maker and freeze following the manufacturer’s instruction.

Plating:
Using a small heart shaped cookie cutter, stamp out little cake hearts. Place the hearts on plate, scope out the sorbets and place it on cake. Add the chocolate praline feuillete (recipe here) and top with edible gold. If you like, you may drizzle chocolate sauce on top of all.



抱歉喔﹐說好過兩天會補上食譜的﹐結果過這麼久才貼。這幾天都不在家﹐還有舊金山灣區下了好些天的雨﹐讓我心情鬱悶到不行﹐懶懶的什麼都不想做。還好這兩天太陽伯伯終於露臉了﹐我的心情也跟著放晴 =)

這個純巧克力蛋糕又名巧克力華倫天奴是我二月的Daring Bakers的培烘挑戰。這個月的hostess選用了據說是馬來西亞最華麗耀眼的美食大使Chef Wan 的Sweet Treats 書裡的食譜。雖然不知為什麼以華倫天奴命名﹐但這名字好像常跟浪漫掛鉤﹐我想以這命名的蛋糕是想讓吃到蛋糕的人感受到甜甜濃濃的愛意吧﹗這麼說頗適合送給情人﹐特別在情人節又或是送給喜歡的人表白。。呵呵。。。

此款蛋糕的特色是完全沒有添加任何麵粉，能輕鬆﹑近乎零失敗的在家製作。口感吃起來外層乾、脆，有點像布朗尼蛋糕但內層比布朗尼蛋糕更濕潤綿密，含有濃濃的巧克力味。單吃蛋糕好像單調了點﹐所以建議佐冰淇淋或醬汁一同享用。Hostess提供了香草冰淇淋的做法﹐可我想嘗試不一樣的口味配搭。早前朋友送我一本Scharffen Berger 創辦人寫的巧克力食譜書﹐裡頭有個巧克力雪酪讓我心癢癢的想吃很久了﹐這下終於付諸行動製作手工雪酪了。很容易製作的說﹐然而口感濃稠綿密﹑入口即化。

眼看雪酪這麼好製作﹐決定再弄其他的口味。因為不是人人喜歡濃郁的口味﹐就想來點清爽的﹐那就花蜜口味好了。自從使用洋槐花蜜製作慕斯就喜歡上這個味道﹐喜歡它淡淡的花香﹐我想用作雪酪的調味應該也不錯。還真的是不賴﹐綿綿的口感﹐非常清爽可口﹐很滋味。

你應該知道的事 - 蛋糕:
- 完全沒加麵粉﹐只需3樣材料就能做出的一個蛋糕。烤好的蛋糕中心會稍微下陷﹐但蛋糕體的形狀還是膨膨的。
- 選用的巧克力的可可脂肪越高也代表味道越濃郁﹐也就說蛋糕體越是稠密濃厚。
- 這個蛋糕的風味完全就是你選用的巧克力的拷貝品﹐所以建議使用你鍾愛的巧克力種類。

巧克力華倫天奴蛋糕– 8寸 (20.5cm) 圓形模具1個
16oz (454g) 苦甜巧克力﹐切碎
½ 杯 加 2湯匙 (146g) 無鹽奶油﹐切丁
5 個 L尺碼蛋黃
5 個 L尺碼蛋白

事前準備:
- 將一烤架移到烤箱中格﹐烤箱預熱至375°F/190°C。
- 模具抹上一層奶油﹐鋪上烤盤紙﹐再在紙上抹上一層奶油﹐備用。

先燒開一小鍋的水﹐備用。將切碎的巧克力和切丁的奶油混合倒進一個耐熱的容器裡﹐放小鍋上(容器不能碰到熱水)隔熱水不停攪拌至順滑﹐完全融化為止。放一旁降溫。

在另一碗中加進蛋白﹐用電動攪拌器以中速攪打蛋白﹐攪打至富含空氣且顏色變白出現尖角程度為止﹐約3分鐘﹐蛋白霜就完成了。跟著將蛋黃倒進另一個拌碗中﹐打發至顏色變鵝黃色﹐然後拌進微溫的巧克力中﹐拌勻。

將1/3量的蛋白霜加進巧克力蛋糊中﹐用橡皮刀輕輕的源邊往下刮翻切拌勻。再分兩次拌進剩下的蛋白霜﹐刮翻切拌勻至不見任何蛋白霜即可。

將麵糊倒進模具中﹐將麵糊推勻﹐輕輕敲一下烤模釋放氣泡後﹐放進預熱過的烤模裡﹐以375°F/190°C烘烤約25分鐘。將糖果溫度計插入蛋糕中央﹐如果溫度到達140°F/60°C﹐蛋糕就烤好了。如果沒有糖果溫度計也可以用竹籤插入中央﹐慢慢拔出時不會沾黏但還是濕濕的﹐而蛋糕表面已形成一層硬薄膜(有點像布朗尼蛋糕的薄膜)就好了。從烤箱取出﹐擺在網架上放涼5分鐘﹐然後翻轉倒扣脫模﹐翻轉﹐整個放涼後用心形餅乾模吸切割出小蛋糕。
如果不立刻使用﹐可將蛋糕包好放冰箱存放﹐可以保存3天﹐使用前靜置回溫即可。　



你應該知道的事 - 雪酪:
- 類似冰淇淋的雪酪(sorbet)，跟冰淇淋的區別是完全不含乳脂製品﹐多以新鮮果泥、果汁為主要成分。
- 新鮮做的雪酪有點柔軟，如果喜歡吃質地硬一點的，將雪酪放進冰箱多冷凍1小時。

巧克力雪酪 – 4杯份量
食譜摘自The Essence of Chocolate

2杯 無糖可可粉﹐篩過
1 ¾ 杯 砂糖
4 杯 水
1茶匙 香草精

把篩過的無糖可可粉、砂糖混合裝進小鍋裡，慢慢注入1杯水﹐攪拌勻後再注入餘下的3杯水﹐拌至可可粉及砂糖溶解為止。以中火煮沸，熄火，加進香草精﹐拌勻。將可可漿倒進1個大碗中﹐放涼後再放冰箱冷藏一個晚上。從冰箱取出雪酪基地﹐倒進冰淇淋機裡，然後根據製造商的指示製作雪酪。

洋槐花蜜風味雪酪 – 4杯份量

¾杯加2湯匙 洋槐花蜜
4杯 水
1茶匙 香草精

把洋槐花蜜、水混合裝進小鍋裡，以中火煮至沸騰花蜜完全溶解，熄火。加進香草精﹐拌勻後倒進1個大碗中﹐放涼後再放冰箱冷藏一個晚上。從冰箱取出雪酪基地﹐稍攪拌直到它變得有點順滑後，倒進冰淇淋機裡，然後根據製造商的指示製作雪酪。

組合擺飾:
將用心形餅乾模吸切割出的心形小蛋糕﹐擺放在碟子中央。將雪酪挖成橢圓形狀的小球﹐然後放在蛋糕的上方。將切成三角形狀的巧克力千層酥(食譜點這裡)插在蛋糕體﹐再擺些烤過的杏仁片﹑食用金箔點綴即可。如果喜歡﹐也可以擠些巧克力醬。