Chocolate Soufflé

Chocolate Soufflé

Ingredients
150g Plaistowe Dark Cooking chocolate
Softened butter to coat ramekins
1/3 Cup Caster sugar (about 85 grams)
4 eggs separated
Extra caster sugar for dusting ramekins
Preheat oven to 200 degrees C.

Thoroughly brush ramekins with softened butter. Brush up the sides to create a “path” for the soufflé to rise.  Then coat inside of ramekins with caster sugar. Together the butter and sugar will facilitate the rising.

Melt chocolate in a bowl large enough to incorporate the beaten egg whites.

Place egg whites into a bowl and start whisking with some of the sugar then gradually add the remaining sugar and continue to whisk until thick and shiny soft peaks form.

Mix egg yolks with a fork until well combined and add to the melted chocolate and mix well. This will create a batter that will bind with the egg whites.

Mix 1/3 of egg whites into chocolate mixture until well combined. Then turn and fold in remaining egg white until all ingredients are incorporated.

Pour mixture into ramekins all the way to the top and level the mixture but be very careful not to drip any mixture on the side otherwise you will have to wipe it clean and the soufflé will stick when cooked. (Some recipes suggest running the end of your thumb around inside edge of soufflé dish to ensure the soufflé will rise evenly.

Place ramekins onto a baking tray and place in the oven and cook at 200 degrees for 8-10 minutes in a convection oven or until well risen and gooey in the centre.

Serve soufflé dusted with icing sugar and cold whipped cream with grated chocolate on the side.

To eat, break a hole in the centre of the soufflé and drop in chocolate cream.

Deeeeliiiiicious.

My interpretation of the recipe as seen on MasterChef Australia on Ten

Notes:
We used 10×6cm ramekins (mixture was enough for 2 and 1/2 ramekins). Extra cooking time was required due to the size of the dishes and we don’t have a convection oven.  Although my cooking partner and I both had one souffle each, we were nearly sick by the time we finished them. Next time will try 9×7cm ramekins.

Could reduce the sugar to about 65g from the 1/3 cup (about 85g) because the finished product is intensely sweet.

Recipe on the Epicurious website says the Soufflé can be assembled up to 30 minutes before baking. Keep covered with an inverted large bowl (do not let bowl touch soufflé) at room temperature.
Other recipes found also use flour or cornflour and milk. One website noted that they “omitted the milk that goes into most chocolate soufflés and the result is a puffier, crisper texture outside and a lighter, airier consistency inside”.

Another recipe states that the soufflés can be prepared up to the point of ready to bake them. Just refrigerate for anywhere up to three days.  On the day you plan to serve the soufflés, take them out of the refrigerator about two hours before you plan to serve them so they can warm up a little. If you don’t take them out of the fridge early, then bake them for an extra minute or two.

Another recipe says soufflés can be cooked and when cooled, kept in the refrigerator and reheated in the oven.

Other recipes:

Lifestyle Food – Chocolate Souffle by Gordon Ramsay

Lifestyle Food – Decandent Chocolate Souffles

http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/2922/hot-chocolate-souffl-

Lifestyle Food – Chocolate Souffle by Ben O’Donoghue from The Best In Australia

Lifestyle Food – Chocolate Souffle with Figs by Richard Phillips

Channel 4 – Chocolate Souffle by Gordon Ramsay

ABC – Chocolate Souffle from The Cook and The Chef

Epicurious – Chocolate Souffle

Cooking for Engineers – Dark Chocolate Souffle

The Gourmet Cookbook By Ruth Reichl, John Willoughby, Zanne Early Stewart

The Baker’s Manual By Joseph Amendola, Nicole Rees, Nicole Rees Smith

Professional Baking By Wayne Gisslen, Mary Ellen Griffin, Le Cordon Bleu