Week 2 - Fairtrade Dark Chocolate Souffle

What I am learning in this journey is that in cooking it's all about the method and that the tricks that chefs and bakers know is what distinguishes them from us common amateurs. It may seem obvious to you, but it's a bit of a revelation to me!

So, it's not just about knowing a bit about the ingredients and how they go together and following (or trying to in my case!) a recipe... but it's all about the 'secrets of the kitchen', like for a souffle, after reading about many amateur's flops, I learnt that's it's crucial to never use a wooden spoon with the egg whites,to always have a dry clean bowl when beating the eggs and that one must ONLY use a metal spoon to fold the chocolate in... with these newly learnt tricks I am happy to say that my souffles didn't only rise, but they didn't collapse shortly after leaving the oven, and they were actually very delicious.

Here's is how you can do it.

Ingredients
- 135 grs of fairtrade dark chocolate

- 150 ml of double cream
- 3 eggs + 2 more egg withes
- 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract
-3 tablespoons of caster sugar (fairtrade of course)
- 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon (for the African twist)
- Icing sugar for decoration

Method

1) Warm up the oven to 220 degrees

2) Butter the ramekins and coat them with sugar. (Ramekins are basically small dishes that can go in the oven.)

3) Break up the chocolate and put it in a non-stick (a heavy pan if you have one) with the cream on a low heat. Stir with a wooden spoon, until it all melts and is combined together.

4) Take it off the heat and add the 3 egg yolks and the vanilla and cinnamon. 

5) On a clean and dry bowl, with clean and dry beaters, beat the eggs until stiff. Add the sugar slowly as you do.

6) Take 1/4 of the the egg whites and pour it on the chocolate. With a metal spoon, fold them in, just to loosen the chocolate mix.

7) Add the loosened chocolate to the rest of the egg whites, and fold, until it's all combined but still fluffy. DON'T stir... and don't over work it or you will lose all the air bubbles.

8) Quickly pour into the ramekins (almost the the top) and put into the oven, for 7 minutes. 

9) Take out from the oven, quickly dust with powdered sugar and serve.

Tadaaa... Pass the spoons and see the jaws drop. Enjoy.

The verdict

Well, once you know the tricks I mentioned above, it really is a very easy dessert to make, and one that has the potential to cause a bit of drama and high impact. It was really very tasty, although next time I will add a bit more chocolate of try a higher percentage cocoa, and forget the cinnamon, since it just got lost in there.

It's also important not to be tempted to leave it in the over for any longer than the 7 minutes, or you might get a squeaky, quiche like dessert instead of the light and fluffy almost gooey one.

Will I make it again? definitely, my daughter will see to it that I do!