Chocolate Souffle

Cake week, Day 2: Chocolate Souffle. Soufflé basically is a lightly baked cake made with egg yolks and egg whites combined with other ingredients such as fruits, chocolate and cheese; it can be served as a savoury dish or a sweet dessert.

Soufflé came from the French word “souffler” which means “to blow up” and it is a good description of this dish as it really puff’s up during the cooking process.  A proper soufflé is a bit tricky to prepare because once it comes out of the oven it should be fully puffed and fluffy. The most common mistake in making one of these is they deflate once you put them out in the oven but generally it should stand for at least 5-10 minutes before collapsing.

According to the food historians the modern soufflés have been invented during the 18th century in France.  It was credited to Antoine Beauvilliers (cooked to King Louis XIV and owner first real restaurant in Paris, Le Grand Taverne de Londres), he was famous for this dish as he served a lot of soufflés in his career and probably it had started as early as 1782.  Also, during his time soufflés were baked in a pastry case called croustade instead of ramekins.  Then in 1814 Carême published the first soufflé recipes in print.

I personally find this post as the most difficult to photograph not because of it looks and how to compose it, but I am worried that it will collapse in anytime. Imagine yourself given a minimum alloted time to take photos and enjoy what you baked.

Ingredients (Egg Yolk Mixture)

3 egg yolks
3 tbsp warm water
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2 tbsp sugar

Ingredients (Egg Whites Mixture)

8 egg whites, room temperature
1/2 tsp lemon juice
1/2 cup sugar

Ingredients (Chocolate Mixture)

200g finely chopped bittersweet chocolate
4 tbsp butter

Ingredients (Others)

butter for moulds
confectioners’ sugar
cocoa powder

Method

1. Brush 6 ramekins with soft butter then coat it with sugar, once done place in freezer until needed.
2. In a double boiler mix together chocolate and butter until melted and smooth.  Remove from heat then stir in the vanilla extract, set aside
3. Mix together egg yolks and warm water in a mixing bowl, beat in high speed until frothy.  Gradually add 2 tablespoon of sugar and continue beating for 5 more minutes.
4. Fold the yolk mixture with the chocolate mixture.
5. Place the egg whites in a clean mixing bowl together with the lemon juice, beat in high speed until frothy, then gradually add the 1/2 cup of sugar until it forms stiff peaks.
6. Lightly fold 1/2 of the egg whites with the chocolate mixture, once evenly mixed fold the remaining egg whites until fully blended.
7. Remove ramekins from the freezer then pour the mixture in, place on baking pans then level of the surface.
8. Bake soufflés in 200C pre heated oven for 18-20 minutes or until soufflé rises 1 to 2 inches from the ramekins, remove from oven then dust with confectioners’ sugar or cocoa powder then serve immediately.