Daring Bakers: Chocolate Valentino

The February 2009 challenge is hosted by Wendy of WMPE's blog and Dharm of Dad ~ Baker & Chef. They 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.

The rules were as follows:
Bake the Chocolate Valentino and serve with homemade ice cream – any flavor we choose.

The challenge mentioned that it would be best to select high-quality chocolate as the cake would taste exactly like the chocolate used. Knowing this, I went on a search for any of the top three: Valrhona, Callebaut or Scharffen Berger.

My local grocery store doesn't carry these so I wound up searching Chowhound for any suggestions on buying chocolate locally. Luckily, I saw a thread regarding Trader Joe's and their chocolate selection. The only Trader Joe's in the area is a few towns away, but not too far to go for good chocolate.

When I walked into the Trader Joe's on a busy Saturday morning, I wandered about looking for the chocolate. I eventually found the Valrhona, but only in small bars. I combed the store up and down before finally asking an employee for help. He managed to find some tiny bars of Scharffen Berger for me but no luck on the Callebaut. He then recommended that I try the Trader Joe's brand of imported dark chocolate. It comes in "more than a pound" bars and, in his words, "we don't put crap in our chocolate!"

So here was my choice, spend a gazillion dollars on little bars of high-quality chocolate or spend $4 on the Trader Joe's brand. What to do?

Buy all three, of course!

I planned to make the cake three times and taste test the difference between the brands. Um, yeah, that didn't happen.

So, in the end, I made it once using the Trader Joe's chocolate. I'll have to find something else to make with my one pound each of Valrhona and Scharffen Berger.

Poor me. = )

A traditional Valentino is baked in a heart shaped pan, but I wasn't about to buy one just for this so I used my 8" x 8" square pan – I love that pan.


Chocolate Valentino (Flourless Chocolate Cake)
Source: Sweet Treats by Chef Wan
16 ounces (1 pound) of semisweet chocolate, roughly chopped
½ cup (1 stick) plus 2 tablespoons of 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 your chocolate butter mixture is cooling. Butter your 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 medium/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.

Add the egg yolks to the cooled chocolate.

Fold in 1/3 of the egg whites into the chocolate mixture and follow with remaining 2/3rds. Fold gently 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 degrees F for 25 minutes until an instant read thermometer reads 140 degrees F. (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.)

Cool cake on a rack for 10 minutes then unmold.


For a long time now, I had my eye on a Cuisinart ice cream maker. I had added it to my Amazon wish list but held off buying it. I was worried that I'd have no room for it in my teeny kitchen and that either I'd never use it, or I'd use it too much. (Moderation? What's that?!) Well when this challenge was announced, I knew the time was right and made my purchase!

Ideas were zooming through my mind for different flavors I'd like to try. Ultimately, I gave a list of about 10 options to Matt and let him choose.

When he took his first bite of this ice cream, he said, "let's never buy ice cream again!"

Now that's some good stuff!


Peppermint Patty Ice Cream
Adapted from Elise at SimplyRecipes (who got help from David Lebovitz)
2 1/2 cups heavy cream
1 1/2 cups whole milk
8 large egg yolks
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons peppermint extract
1/2 cup chopped peppermint patties

Warm the milk, sugar, and salt in a medium saucepan making sure the sugar and salt dissolve completely.

Pour the cream into a metal bowl set in a larger bowl of ice and set a mesh sieve on top. (I used a colander lined with cheesecloth.)

In a separate bowl, whisk together the egg yolks. Temper the yolks by slowly pouring the warm milk into the egg yolks, whisking constantly. Then scrape the warmed egg yolks back into the saucepan.

Stir the mixture constantly over medium heat with a wooden or heatproof rubber spatula, scraping the bottom as you stir, until the mixture thickens and coats the spatula, about 5 to 7 minutes.

Pour the custard through the strainer into the cream. Then stir until cool over the ice bath. Chill mixture over night in the refrigerator.

One the mixture is thoroughly chilled, add peppermint extract, a 1/4 teaspoon at a time, until you reach the desired flavor.

Freeze in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's instructions.

Once the ice cream reaches a soft-serve consistency, add your chopped peppermint patties. Move to an airtight plastic container and place a layer or plastic cling wrap on the surface of the ice cream. Place in the freezer (not in the door) for at least an hour, preferably several hours.

To serve, take the ice cream out and let it sit at room temperature for 5 minutes or so to soften a bit.

Makes 1 1/2 quarts.


Another great challenge for the Daring Bakers. I loved making my own ice cream and plan to make a lot of it in the coming months so stay tuned!


Be sure to check out the blogroll to see what variations the other Daring Bakers came up with this month!

Homemade Christmas: Dulce de Leche

This post is overdue – seeing as how it's January – but you'll forgive me, right?

Every year I make and give homemade treats for Christmas gifts. This year I decided to go on a canning kick. I wanted to give several different types of canned treats and set out to find a variety of recipes.

That's when I decided upon Dulce de Leche – a sweet caramel-like sauce made from milk. In researching which recipe to use, I came across three very different ways to prepare Dulce de Leche. I decided to test all three techniques before deciding which was the best for my gift-giving purposes.

Two of the recipes call for using (almost) nothing but sweetened condensed milk. The third seemed to be the most homemade and was the version I was routing for.

The first technique I tried seemed to be the most dangerous. I almost skipped this test all together but then changed my mind when I saw a recipe for this method on the Food Network site.

Dulce de Leche
Source: Gale Gand
1 (14-ounce) can sweetened condensed milk

Remove label from the can. Stand the can in a saucepan and add water to cover. (Note: Do NOT open or puncture the can in any way prior to cooking.) Bring the water to a gentle simmer and keep it there for 3 hours, adding water as needed to keep the can submerged. (WARNING: Please be careful and keep the can submerged otherwise there is a risk of the can exploding!)


Using tongs, carefully (it's hot!) remove the can from the pot and allow it to cool completely before opening. The milk will have transformed into a smooth, creamy, caramel-colored sauce, dulce de leche.

Transfer cooled Dulce de Leche to a mason jar and store, covered, in the refrigerator.


The second technique is a safer version of the condensed milk option which uses the oven instead of the boil-in-can technique.

Dulce de Leche or Confiture de Lait
Source: David Lebovitz, Adapted from The Perfect Scoop
1 (14-ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
Sea Salt

Preheat the oven to 425° F (220° C).

Pour the can of sweetened condensed milk into a glass pie plate or shallow baking dish. Stir in a few flecks of sea salt.

Set the pie plate within a larger pan, such as a roasting pan, and add hot water until it reaches halfway up the side of the pie plate.

Cover the pie plate snugly with aluminum foil and bake for 1 to 1¼ hours. (Check a few times during baking and add more water to the roasting pan as necessary).

Once the Dulce de Leche is nicely browned and caramelized, remove from the oven and let cool. Once cool, whisk until smooth.

Store in the refrigerator.

The final technique comes from Alton Brown, the goofy guru of food science and host of Good Eats.

Dulce de Leche
Source: Alton Brown
1 quart whole milk
12 ounces sugar
1 vanilla bean, split and seeded
½ teaspoon baking soda

Add milk, sugar and vanilla bean to a large saucepan set over medium heat. Stir until sugar has melted then add ½ teaspoon of baking soda. Reduce heat to low and cook uncovered for 1 hour, stirring occasionally (the mixture may foam up a bit but that's okay).


After one hour, remove vanilla bean and continue to cook for 1½ to 2 more hours until mixture reduces to one cup and is the color of dark caramel.


Strain into a mason jar and refrigerate for up to four weeks.


So, after thorough testing, I determined that the best method for my gifted dulce de leche was Gale Gand's boil-in-can technique.

The baked version was not fool-proof enough for making in mass quantities – I clearly took it out of the oven too soon as the color had not gotten nearly dark enough.

The homemade stove-top version had quite an odd texture indeed. I'm sure this had something to do with my preparation as after nearly 2½ hours of cooking, it still looked like milk. I cranked up the heat until the mixture boiled then reduced and cooked for another 2 hours. This left me with a beautiful caramel color but a foamy and somewhat gritty texture. I would like to try this one again being sure to bring the milk to a boil before adding the baking soda.


So yes, while I was scared to pieces making the Gale Gand boil-in-can version, it came out nicely browned, thick and creamy. Plus, I could boil a few cans at a time making it ideal for making large quantities.

Now, while the boil-in-can method was my favorite, I'm sure all of these methods could have produced beautiful dulce de leche. I encourage you to try each and find your favorite.