Chocolate Valentino

I seriously can't believe that its the end of February. School has been really hectic and I couldn't find any time for myself, let alone time to bake. :/

Anyway, I finally completed it since this Daring Bakers' Challenge was pretty straight forward and simple. A flourless chocolate cake, served with home-made ice-cream. I paired the warm chocolate cake with a salted-caramel & almond ice cream. Overall, it was a really good combination and we really liked it alot. However, the cake had a rather weak structure and wasn't very easy to slice at all. But the flavour of the cake was intense! I used 72% cocoa chocolate and boy did it taste divine. It was moist, chocolaty and really really fudgy. (: (: (:

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.

Chocolate Valentino
adapted from Sweet Treats by Chef Wan
16 ounces semisweet chocolate, roughly chopped
1 stick plus 2 T unsalted butter
5 large eggs, separated

Put chocolate and butter in a heatproof bowl and set over a pan of simmering 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.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 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 375F
Bake for 25 minutes until an instant read thermometer reads 140F. Cool cake on a rack for 10 minutes then unmold.