Bittersweet Cocoa Souffle

          There were certain drawbacks( it appeared to be) when I wanted to make this souffle,  I did not have ramekins, orange blossom cream or chocolate, but that did not deter me from making this souffle and nothing will make me wait if a chocolate recipe gets my attention. I don?t even know if ramekins are available in this remote city, by the time I could explain to the sales person, what I am looking for, I would rather fly overseas to  buy them, which is not going to happen in the near future, so I decided to use my small dessert cups and even used some coffee mugs, but they overflowed as I had filled more than 3/4 th of the cup, but the black beauties in the small cups behaved well.

           It was a pleasure to see the souffle raise up, but the first batch deflated by the time I could get my camera ready. So, for the next batch, I stood vigilant like a hawk watching every movement of its prey, with the camera in hand and clicked the souffle  in full bloom, inflated.





             The original source of the recipe is from epicurious, but I found it at ?thegoudalife?, who had tried it from epicurious and after reading her reassuring words, I decided to give it a try right away, mindless of the availability of the ingredients. The result, the given quantity would serve at least 3 to 4 people, but I am a little embarrassed to say that it was finished off greedily by two people only and that includes me.

Here?s the recipe for this rich chocolate souffle



Ingredients

1. Sugar - 1/2 cup +3 tbsp

2. Flour - 2 tbsp

3. Whole milk - 2/3 cup +2tbsp

4. Cocoa Powder - 1/2 cup

5. Egg yolks - 2

6. Egg whites - 4

7. Vanilla - 1tsp

8. Cream of tartar - 1/8 tsp ( I used lemon juice)

9. Bitter sweet chocolate - 3 ounces (finely chopped) ( I skipped)

orange blossom cream

8 ramekins or 4 to 5 coffee mugs for that rustic style



Method

1. Butter ramekins, dust with sugar up to top edge.

2. Whisk 1/2 cup sugar, flour and 1/8 tsp salt in a saucepan.

3.Add 2/3 cup milk to the saucepan mixture, first about 2 to 3tbsps and whisk to form a thick paste, then gradually whisk in remaining milk.

4. Stir over medium ? low heat until bubbles begin to form around edges of pan. Continue cooking until slightly thickened, stirring constantly about 2 minutes longer.

5. Transfer mix to a large bowl, add cocoa powder, remaining 2tbsp milk, egg yolks vanilla and stir until smooth, thick paste forms.

6. Beat egg whites and cream of tartar using electric mixer, until soft peaks form.

7. Gradually beat in remaining 3tbsp sugar, beating on high speed until firm peaks form.

8. Add 1/4 of whites to the chocolate mixture, fold to blend. Add remaining beaten egg whites and chopped chocolate and fold until whites are just blended into batter.

9. Divide the mixture among prepared ramekins, position rack in bottom third of the oven, bake at 375 degree F, until puffed above the rim of the ramekins and toothpick inserted into centre comes out with thick batter attached, about 12 minutes.

10. Using spoon form small indentation in top of each souffle, spoon a dollop of orange blossom cream and serve.



My suggestions

1. The souffle tasted bitter sweet even without adding chocolate, which was quite the way I like, so those who prefer an intense bitter taste can add bitter sweet chocolate.

2. I baked the souffles at 180 degree c and those in the coffee mugs took 15 minutes to cook and the small cups took 13 minutes.

3. Since I did not have cream, I prepared vanilla custard (recipe given already) using 250 ml of milk and it was ready by the time the second batch of souffle was baked and used it instead of cream. I would have definitely used orange zest in my custard if I had them, since I love the combination of orange and chocolate, instead I used lemon zest for that added flavour.

4. The souffle just melted in the mouth and I loved the ones that were baked in coffee mugs, which had some density unlike the ones in the small cup.

5. Let the souffle cool completely before you dig in, as it continues to cook even after taken out of the oven.