Ahhh, February - the month of romance and love, culminating in Valentine's Day on 14 February. To coincide with this, our Daring Bakers challenge this month was to make a Chocolate Valentino Cake (a heart-shaped flourless chocolate cake) and icecream to accompany it. You didn't have to make your cake heart-shaped, and you didn't have to use the icecream recipes given by our hosts, Dharm and Wendy (to whose blogs I have linked at the foot of this post, if you would like the cake recipe).
I chose to make one large heart shaped cake with 8 mini cakes:
The cake recipe uses a large quantity (454g) of chocolate. I chose Cadbury's Old Gold original dark chocolate for my cake.
The end result is a fudgy, dense, chocolate packed punch of a cake, with a crispy, brownie-like top:
I paired my Valentino cakes with Baci icecream (which I thought was very appropriate for Valentine's Day, given that "baci" means "kisses" in Italian) that I made especially for this challenge, and some strawberry icecream that I made some time ago for visual contrast:
The Baci icecream recipe is by Vera Kuznetsova, and can be found on page 120 of Issue 6 of Desserts Magazine. This stuff is addictive - it is silky smooth and super soft, and the taste is heaven itself. However, given its ingredients (including half and half, full cream, hazelnut spread and hazelnut meal), I can only imagine how highly calorific it is, so I will be urging my colleagues to share this with me.
I have previously posted the recipe for the strawberry icecream, by Nigella Lawson, here. Although it tastes fine, it is not a patch in my view on the chocolate hazelnut variety.
To check out all the other wonderful chocolate cakes and icecream varieties from the other Daring Bakers, visit the Daring Bakers blogroll. Thanks to our hosts, Dharm and Wendy, for hosting this month's challenge.
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.
29 comments:
Oh, that baci ice cream sounds fantastic. And dangerous. Nice work!
Baci ice cream sounds delicious. To me, the ice cream was the winner of this challenge.
This is so pretty, that ice cream sounds amazing!
Hi Caitlin, it is oh so dangerous, because it tastes wonderful. The rest of mine is currently living in the freezer at work so that I have to go a long way to get some when I am not there.
Hi Pinkstripes, making the icecream was good for me because I had only made it once before and was not terribly excited by the results - this time, the icecream was superb, so I have learned that you have to choose the right recipe.
Thanks Sara - the icecream is lovey, and I can really recommend Vera's recipe (I have learned that Vera is from the Baking Obsession blog).
Love the heart and the baci ice cream sounds heavenly!
Two ice creams! Very ambitious and delicious.
Thanks Maria - do try the Baci icecream if you love chocolate icecream, because it is sooooooooo good.
Hi Dana, I cheated a little in that I had already made the strawberry before this month :)
Baci ice cream sounds wonderful. Your presentation is very sweet - perfect for your heart shaped cake! Nicely done!
It looks delicious and I love your idea of Baci ice cream too Cakelaw. Well done! :D
These ice creams look delicious! Very well done!
Cheers,
Rosa
Thanks Chez US - it was fun creating this arrangement.
Thanks Lorraine.
Hi Rosa, thanks for your kind words.
I've never tried baci ice cream - something new for me to find. Wasn't this challenge a fun one - not crazy long days in the kitchen and beautiful outcome.
Oh that does look wickedly addictive my dear. Beautiful pairing too...wow!! Was a totally enjoyable & delicious challenge indeed!!
Beautiful! The ice cream sounds fabulous, as well.
Old Gold Choc would taste just great with this cake. So glad you liked the challenge and I must say the ice cream sounds super!
Mmm, your cake looks wonderful, and that baci ice cream sounds divine!!
Great job this month! Your cake and ice cream look delicious!
What a scrumptious looking cake! I love what you did with it. The Baci ice cream fits perfectly with the theme. Beautiful job!
Hi Giz, I am so with you on that one - I find it harder to get motivated if I perceive that it's a tall mountain to climb.
Thanks Deeba, so agreed - this was fun!
Thanks Anne :)
Hi Dharm, this was a super challenge - thanks again.
Hi Lauren, thanks.
Thanks Heather - much appreciated.
Thanks Susan - it was definitely a fun challenge, especially choosing the icecream flavour.
Yum, I love baci ice cream. I will try it soon.
Ciao ! Bacio is one of my favorites !!!
Beautiful! And the baci ice cream sounds divine!
baci ice-cream sounds delicious and I love your heart shaped cake pan!
Oh wow, that ice cream sounds delicious, and you're right, very appropriate for this challenge! Well done!
I love the idea of the baci ice cream, so fitting with this cake too. Great job!
Lots of chocolate going on over here! And the baci ice cream is very cool sounding.
Hi Zorra, do try it - it's heavenly.
Hi Natalia, it is good, yeah?
Thanks Culinography :)
Thanks Tammy - there are never enough chnaces to use the heart shaped pan, so I was happy about this.
Thanks Ally - I liked the idea of Baci for Valentines Day.
Thanks Kitchen Goddess - it was a fun challenge.
Hi Mary - I know - naughty but ever so nice ...
Well done and great job on this month's challenge.
Yum yum! I love your ratio of cake to ice cream! :D
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