flourless chocolate cake with raspberry ripple ice cream (my first Daring Bakers challenge!)

I had seen this “Daring Baker” logo around a few different blogs I frequent, but wasn’t sure what it was all about, so I decided to check it out. For those of you who are unfamiliar, it’s basically a group of food bloggers who all make the same recipe once a month and post about it on a pre-determined day. I had seen some of the completed challenges on fellow MLFB blogger Maggie‘s site, and they looked pretty difficult, but I thought it would be fun to challenge myself. I signed up at the end of January and almost laughed out loud when I got the challenge recipe- a flourless chocolate cake. Ironically, flourless chocolate cake is my “ace in the hole” dessert, the one I can make in my sleep, when I need something that is simple but tastes like a million bucks, and for which I will likely have all the ingredients without having to make a trip to the store. It’s probably the only recipe for a dessert that I have memorized. I like to switch it up by adding different flavors such as cinnamon and cayenne for a “Mayan” cake, espresso powder, or a little orange oil or hazelnut oil. Since the top of the cake caves in and is not much to look at, I usually pile billows of lightly sweetened freshly whipped cream on top. People go into ecstasies at this cake, and it’s only a few ingredients. Once you master the knack of folding the egg whites into the chocolate, you’re golden.

(We’ll pause here for a word from our sponsors: “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 was intrigued by the recipe given to us since it varies from mine in that it uses no sugar, less butter and an entire POUND of chocolate!!  If you’re feeding a crowd, maybe this is the recipe for you, but this is an extremely rich cake as it is, and I’ve never met anyone who could eat more than a small-to-moderate size piece.  But, I was curious to see how the DB recipe stacked up to the one I was used to using.  The final product was pretty similar to what I was used to, and may have even been slightly more chocolatey.  (My recipe yields a smaller cake, and is a little lighter, less fudgy and more “crumbly” on the edges.) I didn’t make it for Valentine’s Day, but Marvin had invited a couple friends over for dinner last night so I decided that would be as good a time as any.  And hey, it wouldn’t be in character for me to make anything more than a day before the deadline!

For the ice cream, our hosts provided a couple recipes for vanilla, but were gracious enough to let us pick our own flavors if we so chose.  I was going to do hazelnut ice cream, until I got to the store and found out that hazelnuts were $7.99 for an 8-oz bag.  Boo!!  I changed tack and chose raspberry instead, seeing as how a bag of good quality frozen raspberries can be had for a few bucks.

If you’d like the Daring Bakers recipe for the cake, it can be found on either of the host blogs linked above.  I’m going to give “my” recipe below.  If you’re a chocolate lover, make them both and do a taste test and let me know what you think.  I have a slightly sentimental attachment to my recipe, as it comes from the first cookbook I ever owned, a tome entitled France the Beautiful Cookbook.  In the book, the cake bears the somewhat un-politically correct name “Le Nègre”, but if you can move past that, it’s a good recipe.  The ice cream recipe comes from Nigella.

Flourless Chocolate Cake (aka “Le Nègre”)

(printer-friendly version)

7 oz best quality bittersweet chocolate
7 oz unsalted butter
1 cup sugar
4 eggs, separated

Directions:  Preheat the oven to 375.  Butter an 8-inch round cake pan.  Melt the chocolate and butter in a double boiler.  Or, do what I always do and nuke them on really low power.  I do 5 minutes at 30% power, give it a good stir and then another 3-5 minutes at 20% power.  Set aside to cool.

While the chocolate is melting, separate the eggs, putting the whites in a metal bowl if you have one (I use my stand mixer).  It’s important that the bowl be very clean and grease free, or the whites will not attain their full potential.  (If you get any yolk in with the whites, start over, like I had to do, and save them for scrambled eggs.)  Whisk the yolks with half the sugar (you can do this by hand) until mixture becomes pale in color.  Whip the whites, gradually adding in the rest of the sugar, until glossy and forming stiff peaks.  (This is another difference in my recipe- because the whites have sugar added, they are sturdier when beaten, and I think easier to fold in to the chocolate.)

Once the chocolate has cooled, stir in the egg yolks.  Take a large dollop of the egg white and beat it into the chocolate to lighten the mixture. Gently fold the chocolate into the egg whites until completely incorporated and no white remains.  The way I go about this is to pour the chocolate a little at a time down the side of the bowl and then stir with a spatula with a scooping motion, down the side, along the bottom of the bowl, up and over.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 40 minutes or until a tester comes out clean.  Let cool on a rack.  The cake will fall considerably, but c’est la vie.  If you want to decorate it, you can turn it out on a plate so the flat side is on top and use a stencil and powdered sugar to do a design.

Raspberry Ripple Ice Cream (adapted from Forever Summer by Nigella Lawson)

(printer-friendly version)

1 cup heavy cream
1 1/2 cups half and half
6 egg yolks
3/4 cup sugar
1 1/4 cups raspberries

1 1/2 tsp best quality balsamic vinegar

Whisk together egg yolks and 1/2 cup sugar.  Heat the cream until almost boiling, then pour the hot cream into the egg mixture, whisking.  Return to the stove over medium-low heat and cook, stirring frequently, until the custard thickens.  Let cool, and freeze in an ice cream maker according to instructions.  (If you don’t have an ice cream maker, the Daring Bakers hosts give instructions with their recipes.)Make the raspberry sauce by putting the raspberries, balsamic and remaining 1/4 cup sugar in a blender and pureeing until smooth.  (The balsamic may seem like an odd ingredient, but it really amps up the raspberry flavor.)  If desired, put through a fine-mesh strainer to remove the seeds.  When the ice cream is almost frozen but still soft enough to stir, put it into a container a little at a time in layers, drizzling the raspberry sauce in as you go.  Use a skewer to swirl the sauce through the ice cream.  Freeze for another 1-2 hours until firm.  I made extra raspberry sauce to drizzle over the top of the cake.

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