Friday, May 1, 2009

ahhhh cake....

Who doesn't love a good chocolate cake? I've been eyeing this recipe for quite some time and decided that it was time to give it a shot.

I saw it on the sugarlaws blog and noticed that it's a bakers recipe challenge (from February). My first challenge(margarita cheesecake)went so well I figured this cake would probably be a winner too (plus the pictures on the blog made it way too tempting)!

I picked up some good quality chocolate with hazelnuts and decided to try the simplest, least complicated recipe ever... when a recipe only calls for 3 ingredients, you really can't go wrong... (note: the original calls for semi-sweet chocolate, so use whichever you prefer)...

Chocolate Valentino
ingredients:
400g bar of milk chocolate and hazelnuts, roughly chopped
1/3 c. milk chocolate disks
1/2 c. butter @ room temperature
5 large eggs, separated

Heat your oven to 375F. Take a round pan and butter it, line it with parchment paper and then butter the parchment paper (I find it easiest to take a paper towel and cover it in butter and spread the butter that way).

In a bowl over simmering water melt the chocolate and butter together. Continue to stir the mixture until everything is well combined and smooth. Remove it from heat and allow to cool.

While the chocolate is cooling, simply separate the eggs. The egg whites should go into a glass bowl (they whisk better that way) and you should put your egg yolks in a large bowl.

Using a hand-held mixer, whisk the egg whites until they form peaks. Set aside. Take the mixer and quickly beat the yolks together. Add the melted chocolate to the yolks and combine well (everything should be incorporated).

Take 1/3 of the egg whites and fold them into the batter. Once they are folded in, add the remaining egg whites and fold those in too. You want to make sure that your cake doesn't loose the volume - so don't over mix, but make sure you don't see any more white.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan (it should go about 3/4 of the way up). Place in the oven and cook for about 25 minutes.

When you remove it, the top will look like a brownie. Remove it from heat and allow to cool in the pan for about 10 minutes. Now... be careful removing it from the pan (a spring form pan is best) since the middle is really gooey. Allow it to cool... sigh. I can't wait to try this with some peanut butter. The result is like a truffle.

Really easy - but you'll impress the pants off of everyone!

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