Daring Baker's: Vegan Chocolate Flourless Torte & Coconut Rum Raisin Ice Cream

A rich, dense, nutty, dark chocolate torte served with a drizzling of chocolate syrup and cool creamy coconut rum raisin ice cream- vegan decadence for the Daring Baker's Challenge!

Here's a description of the challenge:
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.

It was an extra challenge for us vegan bakers, due to the fact that a traditional torte has a lot of eggs and very little or no flour. My recipe was adapted from this one by Vegan Visitor (awesome blog, btw), and The coconut ice cream was slightly adapted from this recipe by Vegan Ice Cream (another kick-ass site).


The upside- a ridiculously indulgent dessert with much less fat and cholesterol than the original.
The downside- yet another heart-shaped food... but I promise, it's the last one... er... at least until next year ;)

Here are the recipes:

Vegan Chocolate Flourless Torte:

Makes about 8-10 servings

3/4 C. ground almonds
1/2 C. sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 package extra firm silken tofu (Mori-Nu)
6 oz. semi sweet baker's chocolate
2 T. N-ergy Egg Replacer
1/2 C. water
1/2 tsp. cream of tartar
1/4 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. baking soda
powdered sugar (optional)

Spinz:

In a food processor, spin together the almonds, sugar, vanilla, salt, and silken tofu until smooth and well combined. Melt the chocolate in a double boiler and mix in. In a high-powered blender, whiz the egg replacer, water, cream of tartar, baking powder, and baking soda until you get a nice foam. I wouldn't recommend a food processor or magic bullet for this, as the resulting pressure could cause it to explode! If you don't have a regular mixer, you can try a stick blender. Fold in the foam gently into the chocolate mixture and pour into an 8X8 pan sprayed with cooking spray. Bake at 350 for 35-45 minutes. Mine did crack a little in the middle, so I would recommend baking in a water bath. I also baked for 35 minutes, turned off the heat and let it sit in the oven for an additional 10. Let cool completely before turning out. Sprinkle with powdered sugar (optional)

Coconut Rum Raisin Ice Cream:
(the only thing different from the original recipe is that I subbed coconut rum for dark rum)

makes about 1 quart of ice cream

3 1/2 C. coconut milk
3/4 C. sugar
2 T. arrowroot
1 tsp. vanilla extract
3/4 C. raisins
3/4 C. coconut rum

Spinz:

Soak raisins in the rum, set aside. In a sauce pan, add coconut milk (reserving 1/4 C.), sugar, and vanilla and heat. Add the 1/4 C. reserved coconut milk to the arrowroot and dissolve. When the mixture in the sauce pan comes to a simmer, add the arrowroot mixture and whisk until thickened. Take off heat and let cool to room temp. Put into ice cream maker as directed by the manufacturer. Add in raisins and 1/4 C. of the rum at the last 5 minutes. Transfer to an air-tight container and freeze until solid.