Chef Dina

Now available for Bay Area full service catering in conjunction with "A Fork Full of Earth" organic catering, intimate dinner parties and weekly meal preparation.



Tuesday, February 7, 2012

Valentine's day Chocolate

It's almost Valentine's day, my favorite hallmark holiday...well, aside from secretary's day which I hold very near and dear to my heart (insert sarcasm font here).   At lease we have an excuse to eat chocolate. SO, if you want to bake something chocolaty and delicious for YOUR valentine, I have 2 options for you, at the request of one of our guests...thanks for coming Katja!  I also have a post regarding a certain delicious beetroot and chocolate brownie sundae from May 2011,  with a delicious frozen custard recipe to go along beautifully with either one of these concotions.

I'll be making this one and putting and orange twist on my custard along with a strawberry coulis....

MOLTEN CHOCOLATE CAKE

8-9 oz semisweet chocolate  (chocolate chips work just fine!)
1 stick butter, cubed
3 eggs
3 yolks
1 c. sugar
4 Tbs flour
2 T Grand Marnier (optional and substitutable)
1 tsp vanilla

Melt chocolate and butter in the microwave (not too long...until butter melts, take it out and stir chocolate until melted) or in double boiler.

Combine eggs, yolks, and sugar and whisk. Temper in chocolate mixture.  Add liquor and vanilla.  Stir in flour. 

Pour into greased ramekins or molds of some kind about 2/3 of the way up.  Bake at 425 for 10 minutes (until tops are rounded and possibly cracked).  Don't over bake or you will lose the molten!  Invert onto plate, they should pop out as easy as muffins.  In fact, if you are making multiple cakes all at the same time, you can use a muffin pan. 



Flourless Chocolate cake


7 oz semisweet chocolate (45-50 % cocoa)
1 1/2 sticks butter
1 cup  sugar
4 eggs, separated


Preheat oven to 350deg F 
Line a 9 in cake pan (springform if you have it) with greaseproof or other non-stick paper and grease the tin.
Break the chocolate into small pieces and melt it with butter over hot water. (you can also throw it in the microwave, but don't scorch the chocolate. Take it out before it is totally melted and stir to finish)
Beat the egg yolks with half of the sugar.
Fold in the melted butter and chocolate mixture.
Beat egg whites until frothy by using an electric mixer; gradually add the remaining sugar, beating until stiff peaks form.
Fold in the beaten egg whites.
Bake at 350 degrees until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean, approximately 40 minutes. Let it cool for an hour before you try to remove it from the pan.  The cake will be quite sticky.  You can also chill it for a bit to help the chocolate set. 


Happy Valentine's Day! 



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