Souffle......one of the scariest words I have ever heard in the kitchen. It's reputation is intimidating. When I first read the challenge I decided to go all out, try it to the best of my ability. I planned a romantic night in for me and MrB, after all we had the house to ourselves. Cheese souffle main course followed by a cheese souffle dessert. I would conquer this challenge!
Then I hurt my ankle.
Then we were invited to friends.
Then there wasn't time.
Then I couldn't access the kitchen.
One excuse after the other. Time was running out.....
I was all set to create an amazing chocolate souffle (despite feeling depressed after some bikini shopping) for a divine dessert for MrB, his parents and me. Then we had a power failure.
Was I doomed? Was this dessert that I have feared since I first stepped into a kitchen going to beat me? Tuesday morning I jumped out of bed, had a quick work out and attempted a dairy-free souffle before dashing off to work.
Honestly? If I can do this, so can you. You need an oven that works, the ability to whisk eggs to a stiff glossy peak and patience. I was so excited by the results that I am excited to experiment. I want to make cheese souffle (with goat's cheese of course), flavour it up, get creative, try new flavours........ I feel like a new door has been opened in my culinary world!
So here goes!
(I found inspiration for this recipe here)
Chocolate Souffle
1/3 cup castor sugar
150g dark chocolate, broken into pieces
3 egg yolks, at room temperature
6 egg whites, at room temperature
pinch of salt
80g brick margerine
Cocoa Powder
Preheat the oven to 180 degrees. I don't have ramekins so I used heat-safe tea cups, line the cups with the margerine and sprinkle with castor sugar. Tip the tea cups and shake off excess sugar.
Melt the chocolate in a chocolate double boiler (or heat a pot of water and place a bowl over the pot and melt the chocolate in the bowl). Be careful not to burn the chocolate! I prefer to remove the chocolate just before the last pieces are melted. I then stir the chocolate and allow the heat of the chocolate to melt the pieces. Remove the chocolate from the heat and stir in the egg yolks. I added the egg yolks one by one as I have experienced some trouble in the past when I mixed too many egg yolks with chocolate.
In a large bowl, prepare to whisk the egg whites. Add the pinch of salt as this helps with the glossy effect of the whisked egg white (so I've been told). Whisk to stiff peak stage (this means that when you lift your whisk, the peaks that are formed remain in place and don't flop over). The original recipe tells you to add the remaining castor sugar, but I skipped this part as I prefer the bitter taste of dark chocolate.
Gently combine the chocolate mixture and the egg whites. It is recommended to add 1/3 of the egg whites to the chocolate, at a time. I added a generous amount of egg to the chocolate and then added the chocolate to the egg mixture as I was limited by the containers I could use. The idea is not too add too much chocolate to the egg mixture or it will fall flat and you will loose your fluffy texture. Mix the chocolate and egg well.
Spoon the mixture into your ramekins or cups. A few recipes state that the mixture can rest for 30minutes at this stage, but I popped mine straight into the oven due to time limitations. I baked mine for 15minutes due to the higher altitude. I suggest giving it 12-15 minutes. There was a child-like thrill in watching the souffle's rise in the oven! Do not open the oven door until 12minutes have passed!
The souffles are ready when they have risen and have a firm top, almost like a crust. I decided to dust mine with cocoa.
Serve these delights immediately! Our tea cups were generous so we only had 4 souffles. With the recommended ramekins, this recipe should yield 6.
(In the picture it looks really moist and possibly undercooked. I can assure you it didn't taste that way, it was more of gooey centre)
Watch this blog for more souffles!
A big thanks to Dave and Linda for hosting this challenge and for kicking me out of my comfort zone.
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