I came, I baked, I…er…it collapsed

My first true visual disaster in a Daring Bakers challenge. Who knew that I could screw up a three ingredient recipe? What you see here is actually an illusion. I know, it looks pretty appetizing (at least I think so). However, I had to perform radical surgery to get the cake to look so appealing. Despite that fact, I am IN LOVE with the taste of my visually disastrous cake. I have to add that while I love the cake, the coconut ice cream (recipe below) and strawberries really put this dessert over the top.

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.

While our hosts were kind enough to include two recipes for vanilla ice cream, we had the freedom to choose any flavor our little hearts desired. As luck would have it I just picked up Dessert FourPlay (nudge, nudge, wink, wink, say no more! Sorry, but I couldn’t help the Monty Python reference) by Johnny Iuzzini. While perusing this tome of sugar porn, the stars aligned, doves took flight and silver trumpets rang out when I came across a DIVINE recipe for coconut ice cream. It was meant to be. Thoughts of tropical islands, Polynesian gods, and creamy coconut ignited my imagination and the genesis of a rich chocolate, coconut and strawberry confection was conjured in my mind’s eye.  

The instructions we were given mentioned that, “the finished cake will taste exactly like the chocolate you use.” I went with a conglomeration of favorite chocolates (that I can buy locally).

I included 2 bars of Lindt Milk Chocolate, 1 bar of Green & Black’s 70% Dark Chocolate, approximately half a bar of Cadbury Milk Chocolate, what was left of a bag of Green & Black’s Milk Chocolate, and I made up the rest of the weight with Guittard Milk Chocolate chips. I’m sure that there’s some pastry chef out there laughing his/her ass off from reading this list, but I never said I was a professional.

Everything melted beautifully and tasted pretty darn good considering the mutant-style mixture I came up with. The batter came together with no apparent problems, “apparent” being the operative word here. A couple of pan options were thrown out by our hosts, but I decided to go with a plain round, since I thought it would be easy to unmold. I also decided to throw a bit of the batter in a diminutive loaf pan, with hopes of creating some sugar porn of my own.

If someone could please explain to me what went sooooo wrong with this cake I would love you for it. I realize that some other people had some trouble with some dipping in their cake. A few people even referenced the word “crater“, but mine actually collapsed into itself like the house at the end of Poltergeist, a radical difference in my opinion. Just look at the small one.

Besides a possible poor selection (ha!) of chocolate, I think it was at the point of baking where I also may have gone wrong. The instructions were to bake for 25 minutes in a 375ºF oven, or until an instant read thermometer reads 140ºF. Lacking an instant read thermometer (curses!) I had to go by the time. I decided to peek in at around 20 minutes. Low and behold both pans had a balloon of chocolate cake rising toward the heavens. I’ve run into this problem before, but generally only when I’ve filled my cake pan to the gills with batter. I followed the instructions and only filled my pans 3/4 of the way full. Still, I had my beautiful balloons.

I waited another 5 minutes and checked again, and the balloons had already deflated some. I shut the oven off and left the pans in for another 5 or so minutes praying for the best. By the time I actually removed the pans each had already started to crater. After waiting the required 10 minutes before removing the cake from the pans, they had collapsed in on themselves completely as you saw in the small loaf. The larger round cake was more of like a plateau surrounded by the grand canyon.

The vision before my eyes at that moment caused a similar collapse of pride in my baking skills and I was at a loss for what to do. I thought, “Well, I suppose I’ll get them out of these pans and see if they settle into a more pleasing shape of some sort.” What started out as a disappointment rapidly turned into a disaster when I foolishly tried to remove the cake from the pan. I was still reacting to my bruised ego, and wondering “Where did it all go so wrong?” to myself when I completely lost my head and just flipped the pan over in an attempt to remove my cake catastrophe from the pan.

Despite its misshapen appearance, the cake tastes pretty good. I probably should have let the cake cool completely in the pan before attempting removal. Also, I would probably only make this cake in a springform or removable bottom pan in the future. It will make it much easier to remove. I realize that some people actually got a cake-looking cake rather than a collapsed torte (if any of you are reading, tell me your secret!), but for those of you who don’t seem to have the cake-looking-flourless-chocolate-cake skill then it’s pans with removable bottoms all the way. All that being said, check out these cross section pics. I tried to capture the beautiful color. It almost looks like there are layers.

I had to include a pic of it in the sunlight. Look how it shimmers!

While those pictures are great, due to the unattractive condition of my cake as a whole, I wracked my brain for an agreeable plating concept to display my creation. What did I come up with? Coconuts. That’s all I came up with. Coconuts. I went out and bought one. Unfortunately I bought a bad one, so I couldn’t actually eat it, which was what I was planning on doing with my tasty prop after I was finished with it.  I was wondering why I had a HELL of a time getting the damned thing to split in half properly. I believe it was due to said “bad-ness” but who knows. Coconuts are notoriously hard nuts to crack. Yes, a coconut is in fact a nut. Don’t break out the nutcracker just yet though, according to some botanists, it’s also a fruit (or a dry drupe, but it depends on the botanist your run into). Apparently nuts fall under the fruit umbrella because they are the part of a plant that carries the seeds, the coconut being the seed…the whole thing. So, grains are even considered fruits. Weird huh? That really puts the whole food pyramid (or is it stepladder now) the USDA touts out of whack.

I was looking at the thing in the supermarket wondering how the heck I was going to split it open so I could use it as serveware. I decided to check the handy-dandy internet for advice. Turns out I’m not the only one in need of a good nut-cracking technique (get your minds out of the gutter!) because there were several articles written up as well as videos on the subject. I feel the one I’m including here gives the best explanation of what to do, but I would suggest using the back of a hammer, unless you have the knife of Thor, God of Thunder, and the strength to match. I finally resorted to the hammer after banging on my coconut with the back of my crummy cleaver for about 10 minutes without making a dent. It still didn’t really want to break open, but I do think it was due to the bad nature of my coconut and not necessarily the technique.

While I didn’t end up plating the whole dessert in the coconut, I did take a few snaps of the coconut ice cream melting in it.

So there you have it folks. I hope I’ve provided you with some semi-informative ramblings on how you too can screw up a three ingredient recipe. One thing that did come out beautifully in every way was the ice cream. The Daring Bakers were kind enough to include a link to David Lebovitz’s instructions on how to make ice cream without an ice cream maker which came in handy since that’s another item my kitchen is lacking. The only thing I would add to his instructions are be prepared to spend more than 3 hours finishing this stuff. Maybe it’s my freezer, but it took me a heck of a lot longer. I think I’d probably mix it every 45 minutes in the future rather than half hour. Enjoy!

Coconut Ice Cream

(from Dessert FourPlay by Johnny Iuzzini)

1 1/2 cups plus 1 tablespoon (372 G) Whole milk
3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons (210 G) Heavy cream
1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon (45 G) Nonfat milk powder
2 tablespoons (30 G) Invert sugar (see below for recipe – woops, forgot it! Don’t stone me! I’m adding it now.)
4 teaspoons (24 G) Light corn syrup
1/4 cup plus 3 tablespoons (90 G) Granulated sugar
3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons (225 G) Canned coconut milk

Set up an ice bath in a large bowl.

Put the milk, cream, milk powder, invert sugar, corn syrup, and granulated sugar in a saucepan and bring to a simmer over medium-high heat, stirring to dissolve the milk powder and sugar. Bring to a boil. Mix with an immersion blender and pour into a medium bowl. Set into the ice bath and chill completely, stirring often. Add the coconut milk and mix thoroughly with the immersion blender. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight for the flavors to mature.

Freeze in an ice cream maker (or if you don’t have an ice cream maker follow instructions here). Pack into a plastic container and freeze for at least 2 hours before serving.

Some Tips For Making Ice Cream and Sorbets
* Make the base the day before for all the infused ice creams and sorbets. That way the flavors have a chance to ripen and develop in the refrigerator overnight.
* Make sure the base is very cold before you start churning it in your ice cream maker.
* For best results, churn the ice cream or sorbet the morning you plan to serve it. These ice creams and sorbets should cure in the freezer for at least 2 hours before serving, but they will be at their best when they’ve had a few more hours in the freezer.
* Move the ice creams and sorbets to the refrigerator 10 minutes before serving, so they soften a little before you scoop them.

Invert Sugar

2 1/4 cups (450 G) Sugar
1 cup less 1 tablespoon (225 G) Water
2 teaspoons (10 G) Fresh lemon juice

Combine the sugar, water, and lemon juice in a small saucepan. Bring almost to a boil over high heat. Reduce the heat and cook at an active simmer for 30 minutes. If you taste the mixture at this point (careful, it’s hot!), there should be no hint of acidity.

Transfer to a heatproof jar and let cool completely before using. Store in the refrigerator. Like simple syrup, it lasts for months in the fridge. Invert sugar creates a smoother texture and softer mouth-feel in ice creams, sorbets and other frozen desserts. It helps the ice cream from becoming too dense and rock hard.

Tagged as: Chocolate, Coconut, Daring Bakers, Ice Cream, Oops!, Strawberry