Chocolate Souffle - Cookbook Challenge - Week 24

Out of the hundreds and possibly thousands of recipes I have featuring chocolate, I decided before even looking through my books that I wanted to have a go at a classic chocolate souffle for this weeks challenge, something I love to eat when out yet have never cooked myself.  I have attempted more complicated souffles and some simple fruit based souffles yet chocolate had somehow been missed.  I found a recipe in Relaxed cooking with Curtis Stone, the recipe mentions that normally only cocoa is used and the addition of chocolate in this one makes it even more rich & irresistible.  The recipe was pretty straightforward to put together.  As you can see from my photo, even though I tried my best to get the butter and sugar coating on evenly my souffles still managed to rise uneven, no effect on the flavour, purely a presentation issue so it didnt bother me too much.  Also, by the time the 12 minutes cooking time was up they hadnt risen all that much so I let them go a couple of extra & they rose well though there was no gooiness left.  They were still lovely & moist  and hadnt dried out at all, I just prefer them with that hint of goo in the middle.  All in all I was happy with the outcome, the flavour was nice & rich without being too over the top, though I didnt think they were that sensational & will probably stick to ordering them when out for now.  Now to find the perfect recipe to use up all of those egg yolks leftover.

Chocolate Souffles - Relaxed Cooking with Curtis Stone

Serves 6.

15g unsalted butter
1/3 cup sugar, plus more for coating the souffle dishes
125g good quality dark chocolate (60-70 % cacao), coarsley chopped
1/2 cup cold water
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa
6 large egg whites
icing sugar

Preheat the oven to 180c.  Coat the interiors of 6 240ml souffle dishes (mine were smaller so I made 8) completely with the butter, then coat them with sugar.  Place the dishes on a baking tray.

Stir the chopped chocolate in a large bowl set over a saucepan of simmering water until it is melted and smooth.  Whisk in the cold water and the cocoa powder.  Remove from the heat & set aside.

Using an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat the egg whites in a large bowl until they are soft peaks.  Gradually beat in the 1/3 cup sugar.  Continue beating until the egg whites are shiny and form soft peaks when the whisk is removed.  Fold a quarter of the mixture into hte warm chocolate mixture.  Fold in the remainin egg whire mixture.  Divide between the dishes & bake for about 12 minutes until puffed but still moist in the centre.  Lightly dust with ising sugar & serve immediatley.