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Saturday, February 28, 2009

Daring Bakers in February - Chocolate Valentino and Strawberry Sour Cream Ice Cream

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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.


February’s challenge is a Flourless Chocolate Cake, Chocolate Valentino, inspired by Malaysia’s “most flamboyant food ambassador”, Chef Wan. Recipe comes from Sweet Treats by Chef Wan and can be found on Dharm's or Wendy's blog, listed above.


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For my ice cream recipe I chose to make a Strawberry Sour Cream Ice Cream from David Lebovitz's fantastic book, The Perfect Scoop (which I am sure will be being used a lot today around blogs!). It is the same ice cream I used the other day with my TWD Caramel Crunch Bars.

I really liked the flavor of this cake - but if you like chocolate, why wouldn't you since it is a full pound of melted chocolate, somehow held together with just eggs and butter. It was a lot of fun to make, but even though I used an instant read thermometer to check the temperature of my cake for doneness, it still seemed a bit undercooked.

The ice cream was super easy to make and is absolutely refreshing and delightful. I will definitely be making this ice cream all summer long. I made a small change to the recipe and mascerated the strawberries with some really good pure vanilla (bourbon) extract instead of vodka (since I don't have any). It seemed to have worked just fine and there was a nice lovely little hint of vanilla to the ice cream as well.
Be sure to head over to the Daring Bakers blogroll to see all the chocolatey goodness. I would like to say a thank you to everyone who comes here and reads this blog, even when things have been a bit slow this past month. Today's Daring Baker's post marks the 200th post on PheMOMenon as well as my one year anniversary of joining the Daring Bakers. It has been a great year and this community continues to not only amaze me, but really, to often restore my faith in the goodness of the majority of people around the world. So, again, thanks for being here! I really do love you guys!

Strawberry Sour Cream Ice Cream
Makes about 1 1/4 Quarts
1 pound fresh strawberries, rinsed and hulled
3/4 cups sugar
1 tablespoon vodka or kirsch (I used Madagascar Bourbon Pure Vanilla)
1 cup sour cream
1 cups heavy cream
1/2 teaspoon freshly squeezed lemon juice

Slice the strawberries and toss them in a bowl with the sugar and alcohol, then stir until the sugar starts to dissolve. Cover the bowl and let it stand at room temperature for one hour, stirring every so often.
Pulse the strawberries and their liquid in a food processor along with the remaining ingredients until almost smooht but still slightly chunky (not fully pureed). Refrigerate the mixture for one hour, then freeze in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturers instructions.

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19 comments:

Unknown said...

Lovely :D !! Love the heart stencil work ;)

Heather B said...

Great job this month! Your cake looks delicious! I love strawberry ice cream! Congrats on 200 posts!

Gretchen Noelle said...

Congrats on 200!! And what a lovely way to celebrate with this delicious chocolate cake!

Erin said...

Congrats on 200 posts! I bet the strawberry ice cream was great with this cake.

Engineer Baker said...

I absolutely love that ice cream book - it's where I got my recipe too! Congrats on 200 posts, 1 year of Daring Baker-ishness, and one absolutely fabulous looking cake!

Di said...

I had the same problem with the cake being under-done even though I took its temperature. Your ice cream looks delicious--I'll have to check give it a try. And congrats on your milestones!

Stephanie said...

Love the combination! Strawberries and chocolate are a perfect match.

Kristen said...

The cake looks great and that ice cream sounds amazing. You can't really go wrong when it comes to David lebovitz's ice cream.
I can't wait for all of the fresh berries to be in season so that I can try it out.

Anonymous said...

Congrats on the 200th post! Your cake and ice cream look wonderful.

Mary said...

Your cake is beautiful and your ice cream just makes me think of summer!

Jen said...

Your cake looks great. It's interesting that you thought yours was underdone even with the instant read thermometer. I used a thermometer too and thought my cake was overdone.

Tammy said...

the perfect scoop is the perfect ice cream book! that looks fabulous!

Tammy said...

the perfect scoop is the perfect ice cream book! that looks fabulous!

Jenny said...

Happy Blogaversary!
And your cake and ice cream looks wonderful!

chriesi said...

That ice cream looks totally delicious and the cake as well!

breadchick said...

Now that ice cream sounds fantastic! Especially with the chocolate cake.

Jaime said...

awww you actually got it into a heart shape :) love the strawberry sour cream ice cream!

Jo said...

Great job on your challenge, well done.

Netts Nook said...

MMMMMMM Chocolate your cake looks great I need to try this recipe. Beautiful.

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