Thursday, April 29, 2010

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.

6 comments:

Empress JO said...

Hey Ange

Very long time reader, first time poster - with the egg yolks, try making a custard perhaps?

Thanks for so many great recipes and ideas - I've tried quite a few over the years and you've really been an inspiration. :)

Kelly said...

Wow! That looks amazing!

Unknown said...

These look wonderful - well done! You certainly made lots too looking at the photo!

CBH said...

Still look yum to me... you and Michael polish off all 8 souffles?

You're nearly half way through the challenge (and I"m procrastinating, want to pass along some of your organisation skills, please!)

Ange said...

Hi Christine, no we didnt eat all 8, after all we had Chloe the chocolate monster to help, plus my mum & dad over for dinner & a friend for lunch the next day to help with leftovers too!

Jo, thanks for the custard tip, thinking of a crema catalana for the spanish challenge & maybe some fresh egg pasta soon

Agnes said...

Oooh look at that fluffy souffle! I always find it amazing how egg whites cause thing to fluff up like that. Egg whites are pretty magic.