I was really excited when this month's challenge involved both ice cream and chocolate cake. I have always wanted to make my own ice cream and never had a reason to do it before. Lucky for me my sister owns an ice cream maker which I was able to borrow. I also loved the fact that the chocolate cake was just a few simple ingredients. I also knew the perfect time to make everything and that was for Valentine's Day. My husband and I have a tradition of making our own Valentine's Day dinner together instead of going out. So I thought this was the perfect way to end that meal.
I first started making the ice cream a couple of days before I wanted to serve it with the cake. I made just a plain vanilla recipe since also this was my first time making ice cream. We were provided with two recipes but I made one that I had in a cookbook instead. It was very similar to the one that Dharm provided for us. Everyone thought it was very tasty and not something you would get in the store. I unfortunately don't have a picture of the ice cream with the cake because it was on my computer.
The chocolate flourless cake recipe could not be any easier then it was which is a bad thing...makes it too easy to make again and again. I didn't have the 8" springform pan it called for so I used a 9" cake pan which worked out great. About 5 minutes after I took it out of the oven it developed a big crack down the middle. Since I needed to find a serving platter to put it on I just flipped it over onto a tart pan. I ended going to visit my in-laws and needed something to transport it on anyway. Another one of the requirements/suggestions was to make it in a heart shape. I didn't have the heart shape pan but decided to make strawberry hearts and use conversation hearts to fulfill that part.
My Review: I loved the taste of both the ice cream and the cake. I have had a lot of flourless choclate cake and I just liked the texture of this one a lot. It wasn't so dense that you needed a gallon of milk to just eat one piece. Instead of using all semi-sweet chocolate for the cake I used a combo of semi and milk chocolate. Next time I might try all semi or mix some dark into it. I really like the flavor of the ice cream and will make it again but next time maybe I will try a more complex flavor.
I currently don't have access to my computer and so I don't have all the links I need to attach to this post. Once I get my computer back I will update this post.