Everyone has heard that souffle’s are “fancy”, and pose a bit of a difficulty. I wanted to know why that is? So I read more about it. Yup, I googled it. The reason souffle’s rise is that the bubbles in the whipped egg whites expand when heated. So as the souffle’s cool, and the egg white bubble cool, they drop. But that said I hadn’t eaten a souffle before I made these, so I wasn’t sure what to expect either way. For me taste and texture can make it or break a good dessert for me. “Fancy” doesn’t always mean amazing!
Dark Chocolate Souffle
makes 4 6 oz souffle
2 oz heavy cream
8 oz 70% cacao dark chocolate
1 Tbls butter
4 large eggs separated
A dash of cream of tartar
1/3 C sugar
Prepare four 6 ounce souffle ramekins by applying a layer of cold butter to the interior of the ramekins. Pour some granulated sugar into the ramekin and shake and roll the ramekin to coat the bottom and sides with sugar. Coat all the way up the side to facilitate the rise. The sugar sweetens the side, and makes it crunchy.
Melt the butter, cream, and chocolate in the double boiler, then turn off the heat. Whisk the two egg yolks into the chocolate. It will seize, just stir until smooth.
In a medium bowl, beat the egg whites with the cream of tartar until the egg whites reach soft peaks. Add the sugar to the egg whites and continue to beat until you reach stiff peaks.
Adding the whites a little at a time and slowly fold them into the chocolate mixture
Pour the batter into the two prepared ramekins. Fill them at least 3/4 of the way up (mine went to the top). They can be prepared to this point beforehand and refrigerated for up to three days, just make sure to leave them out for 2 hours before cooking. Place the ramekins on a baking pan and place the pan in the oven on a rack set in the middle position. Bake the souffle’s for 15 minutes at 375°F.
It was actually very easy and quick to make. As they cooled and shrank they got more dense. I made sure to use high quality chocolate with a great flavor and was pleased with the end results. I’m a big believer that when it comes to a dessert like this, with few ingredients, that success in the end results completely depends on the quality of the ingredients.
I did have one problem, I had some unexpected visitors come right as my souffles were done. So I wasn’t waiting right at the oven when it went off and they ended up cooking an extra min. With normal desserts that isn’t an issue, but with something this delicate it makes a huge difference. Next time I’ll set two timers, one for 13 mins so I get called into the kitchen, and be ready with oven mitt in hand, in time for the second timer to go off and take them right out.
Having not had any other souffle before I was really pleased with how they turned out. Warm, moist, not too gooey or too cakey. I THINK I got them right, but with nothing to compare it too I could be way off! But either way they tasted great and looked pretty darn cool.
