Daring Bakers - Chocolate Valentino Cake with Rosemary Ice Cream

Look, look, I'm still here!  Barely so, and late with my post, but still here.  =)

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.  

At this point, I don't even know what to say about where I've been... this semester has been insane.  It's my last semester, so I'm taking more classes than I have time for, and I'm an editor on a film that just finished shooting last night.  And in film school, editors have to be on set.  So for the past month or so I have had no weekends (on set) and have spent most of my "free time" during the week in the editing lab.  I've actually been squeezing in a lot of baking, because I've  made it a point (to keep up both my own sanity and the morale on set) to bring baked goods to set every day.  But then once I'm there, they get eaten so quickly and I'm so busy that no pictures get taken, soooo.... I've made a bunch of cupcakes that you will never see.  Sorry...  Some of them were really awesome, so maybe I'll do a pictureless post sometime soon with recipes and descriptions.  =)

In any case, shooting is over, I have weekends again, and I did complete February's challenge!  yaaaaay!  It was awesome and easy, too.  I think the hardest part of this challenge was finding time to make it and people to eat it.  I couldn't bake it for set, because it's more of a plated, temperature sensitive dessert than it is a "lay out for the crew to ravage" dessert.  So instead, I persuaded my producer, editing partner, and the sound mixer to get together at 10 PM when we had finished shooting on Saturday, and they made sushi (yum) while I made the cake.  

Sounds simple... but this happened at the producer's apartment, so I had to re-locate my things to a new kitchen.  Then there was some business with improvising mixing bowls, realizing that I had brought the beaters from my electric mixer and not the mixer itself, then realizing that I had left my keys at my apartment with my mixer and so not only would there be no cake, there would be no sleeping in my bed that night.  

But it was ok, because eventually I was able to wake up one of my roommates and re-acquire my keys and mixer.  So I made the cake.  It just happened to be 2 AM when it finally came out of the oven.  And the people I had rounded up to eat it that night?  Filled with sushi and alcohol, and half asleep all over the living room, too lazy to even get up for cake.  I did manage to get a slice eaten, along with a good amount of my delicious rosemary ice cream (weee), and it was well-appreciated in a zombie-like manner.  As it should be.  

I'm glad I was able to do this challenge, because had I not done it, I don't think I ever would have attempted to make ice cream without an ice cream maker.  I've been spoiled by ice cream makers, but I don't have one currently, so its nice to know that I can still make lovely ice cream without them.  Thanks, Daring Bakers!