February 2009 Daring Bakers Challenge: Chocolate Valentino-Flourless Chocolate Cake & Ice Cream

I know, I know. I'm late. But, I did inform our loving Daring Baker community that I was going on vacation to New York City 3 days before the posting date and I got a bit of a pass for my tardiness. Thanks gals (and guys)!!
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.

Never ever attempting either of these items before, I basically followed the recipes kindly given by Dharm of Dad and Wendy. First came the chocolate valentino cake, and mine took on the flavor of white chocolate macadamia nut because that happens to be a favorite of my valentine.


While the final product of the cake came out tasting great probably because I used Ghirardelli white baking chocolate and Hawaiian macadamian nuts on top, I do think my texture was incorrect. Mostly I think I didn't beat my egg whites enough and that's why my cake looks deflated compared to the others I saw on the Daring Bakers website. All in all, it was a great lesson learned so if I decide to make this cake again I know exactly what to do. Plus, my valentine really, really loved it and that is the greatest accomplishment of all.


In order to get my heart shape I actually have a heart cookie cutter older than me that was my mom's. I cut out as many hearts as I could from my round 9"x4" cake and cut the rest up into bite sized pieces. The mini-cake bites were incredibly and one idea I am definitely keeping in the arsenal.

Part two of the challenge was the really intimidating portion: making your own ice cream. I don't own an ice cream maker so I had to do it the old fashioned way. Following Wendy's vanilla ice cream recipe to a T, I found that the final product was more custardy than me and my Valentine would really like. Yet we made the best of it by putting in some more macadamia nuts and enjoyed it just the same!

THANKS FOR SUCH A GREAT CHALLENGE! I LEARNED SO MUCH AND CAN'T WAIT TO DO THIS AGAIN!!!