Chocolate Souffle

Nine egg whites. That's what I have left over after making English Trifle. There's only one answer to having nine egg whites — chocolate souffle. (Hey, you all are welcome to share your answers to having nine egg whites in the kitchen.)

This recipe calls for eight, but I hate throwing out a perfectly good egg white, so I usually just play with the amounts a bit.

Fresh out of the oven...

Recipe in extended post. (Note recipe correction: fill to an inch above the mold)

Chocolate Souffle
4 1/2 ounces bitterswett chocolate, chopped
8 large egg whites
1/4 cup sugar
2 tsp fresh lemon juice
whipped cream or creme anglaise
powdered sugar (confectioners sugar)

Preheat oven to 375 F. You're going to use the center rack. Remove any racks above the center one to give the souffle roomto rise.

Coat the inside of a 1.5 quart souffle mold with butter. Add some sugar and tilt to coat all inside surfaces.

Using a double boiler over high heat, melt the chopped chocolate. Stir occasionally. It should be quite hot.

Place the egg whites, sugar, and lemon in another double boiler over boiling water. (Remember, the bottom of pot or bowl should not be touching the water.) Whisk until lukewarm. Remove from heat and use an electric mixer to whip the eggs to stiff peaks. Use a rubber spatula to fold the hot chocolate into the whipped eggs. How well you fold will affect the chocolate distribution in the souffle.

Gently place the souffle mixture into the buttered and sugared mold. Fill to about one inch above the rim of the mold. (Yes, if you overfill the mold you will get a really high souffle.) Place in the center of the oven. (Did you remove the racks above the souffle?) Bake until the souffle has risen 1.5 times in height and starts to brown on top — approximately 20 minutes.

If necessary, while the souffle is cooking, make the whipped creme.

Remove from oven and top with powdered sugar. Serve immediately with whipped cream or creme anglaise.

Comments

[ZarahMaria]

I'm thinking pavlova - you know, the big meringue things? But then again, I'd never say no to a chocolate souffle!

[Zarah Maria]

Btw love the new lay-out!

[Linda]

What about an angel food cake? I recently made a coffee angel food cake and the addition of coffee made it really sing. Have fun with the chocolate souffle or whatever you make!

[Kitchen Chick]

I'm sticking with the souffle this time because I have a strong craving for it, but a pavlova looks like a lot of fun, and I've never made an angle food cake from scratch, so I'll definitely have to try that too.

I'm glad you like layout, Zarah Maria. The chick picture in my banner is of the taro dimsum I had at Lai Wah Heen in Toronto. As soon as I saw it, I knew it had to be my banner image, and I finally got around to photoshopping it.

[mik]

9 egg whites??
-face mask (do you think they suck out the fat too??)
- macaroons
- omelette (that's what all the celebrity eat right?)
- meringue (here's one stawberry meringue roulade I made moons ago..
but I agree with Zarah Maria, I'll settle for the chocolate souffle.

Mik

[johanna]

uh! you beat me to it! i am planning to make a chocolate souffle soon, having discovered a fabulous indigenous australian spice - wattleseed. tastes a bit smokey, a bit like coffe and should work a treat with chocolate...

[Kitchen Chick]

I hope to see your chocolate souffle recipe with wattleseed on your blog soon.