Frozen Strawberry Yoghurt

I’ve been going ga-ga over strawberries this season. I went through so many packs of them, I can’t even remember. And just so that I don’t miss them when they’re not in season when I return from the States, I froze 2 kilos of them before leaving. Yes, I am that obsessed!

So when I found a recipe for frozen strawberry yoghurt on David Lebovitz’s website I just had to make it! And since this recipe  is good to make without an ice cream maker, I gave it a go.

I absolutely loved the results. Creamy, luscious and full of flavour. I was happy I left the seeds in to give it a natural feeling texture of real strawberries.

Frozen Strawberry Yoghurt

Adapted from: David Lebovitz

1 cup (240g) plain, whole milk yogurt
1 pound (450g) strawberries, rinsed and hulled
2/3 cup (130g) sugar
1 teaspoon fresh lime juice

1. Tie the yoghurt in a cheesecloth and let it sit in a strainer in a bowl overnight or for atleast 2 hours. This will help drain off all the whey and result in a very creamy frozen yoghurt dessert.
   
2. Cut the strawberries and toss it in the sugar until it begins to dissolve. 
   
3. Blend it together until it forms a consistent puree. 
   
4. Next, blend in the yoghurt and lime juice until the mixture is smooth.
   
5. Freeze the mixture in a wide dish or plastic container (larger the surface area, quicker the freezing – since we have to pulse this mixture a couple of times).
   
6. Keep checking on the mixture every 30 minutes or so and use the stick blender to break the icicles. I did it 4, maybe 5 times.
   

I did think an ice cream maker would make my job so much easier, but with these results, I was too happy to be licking frozen strawberry off the spatula to complain about the process. Simply astounding!

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Chocolate Valentino Cake

This is probably the first time I’ve kept up with baking my challenge. (you're probably looking up at the date and thinking, yea right! but read on!). I love the rush that comes with baking last minute. But this time I was going to be in Atlanta for my cousin's wedding, so I baked the flourless cake well in advance. I thought I’d write up the post while on the plane, but ran out of power. I thought I’d do it while at my cousin's place, but their modem broke. So yesterday I made a quick photo post thanks to an unsecured network connection in the neighbourbood!

Till date my favourite challenge has been the Danish braid. I *loved* everything about it! But with this Daring Bakers’ challenge I’ve discovered my favourite dessert. I can’t begin to describe how much I enjoyed this. Three quality ingredients gave some astounding results. I didn’t even give the OH as much as I usually do! I used a mixture of chocolates; one of them had nibs and I loved the nutty texture it gave to the silky smooth chocolate cake. Thanks Dharm and Wendy for this wonderful, wonderful challenge!

I made a strawberry yoghurt to serve with the cake, but photographing it was such a task! Either the city it too hot, or I’m just too slow in photographing it!

Chocolate Valentino
Preparation Time: 20 minutes
Recipe Source: Chef Wan

16 oz. / 454g fine chocolate ( I used a combination of Ghirardelli bittersweet 60% cacao, Ghirardelli milk chocolate and Scharffen Berger 62% cacao semisweet nibby bar)
½ cup (1 stick) plus 2 tablespoons (146 grams total) of unsalted butter
5 large eggs separated

For the ganache:
Melted chocolate + butter + cream. I just went with the flow and mixed till I got a thick and creamy consistency.

1. Put chocolate and butter in a heatproof bowl and set over a pan of simmering water (the bottom of the bowl should not touch the water) and melt, stirring often.
2. While your chocolate butter mixture is cooling. Butter your pan and line with a parchment circle then butter the parchment.
3. Separate the egg yolks from the egg whites and put into two medium/large bowls.
4. Whip the egg whites in a medium/large grease free bowl until stiff peaks are formed (do not over-whip or the cake will be dry).
5. With the same beater beat the egg yolks together.
6. Add the egg yolks to the cooled chocolate.
7. Fold in 1/3 of the egg whites into the chocolate mixture and follow with remaining 2/3rds. Fold until no white remains without deflating the batter. {link of folding demonstration}
8. Pour batter into prepared pan, the batter should fill the pan 3/4 of the way full, and bake at 375F/190C
9. Bake for 25 minutes until an instant read thermometer reads 140F/60C.
10. Note – If you do not have an instant read thermometer, the top of the cake will look similar to a brownie and a cake tester will appear wet.
11. Cool cake on a rack for 10 minutes then un-mold.

***
Blog checking information:
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.

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