Chocolate Souffle
There has always been a mysterious aura about soufflés. There are two types of soufflés – Hot and Cold. Both are light because of the stiffly beaten egg whites which are folded into a fairly thick base batter. Hot soufflés depend on heat from the oven to make them rise, so timing is of utmost importance and our guests have to sit at the table at a prefixed time, otherwise the soufflé collapses. Cold soufflés depend on gelatin to keep them airy and need to be refrigerated until just before they are eaten. If the egg whites are beaten in a copper bowl with a wire whisk, a chemical reaction between the copper bowl and egg whites makes them more stable, even without cream of tartar. However since we tend to use an electric mixer and any bowl , either metal, glass or plastic , cream of tartar is included in this recipe to keep the stiffly beaten egg whites stable.
- 1 cup milk
- 20 g cocoa powder
- 1/2 cup + 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
- 1 tbsp gelatin
- 1 tbsp custard powder
- 3 eggs
- 200 g cream
- 1/4 cup castor sugar
- 1/4 tsp cream of tartar
- Separate eggs. Place egg whites in a large dry bowl with ¼ teaspoon cream of tartar. Put the egg yolks in a small bowl with I tablespoon of granulated sugar.
- Boil milk with ½ cup granulated sugar and 20 grams cocoa powder after setting aside a little cold milk to mix with the custard powder. When milk boils, add the custard powder and cold milk paste and cook until thick Cool the chocolate custard and ensure that it is thick and smooth.
- Dissolve gelatin in 60 ml cold water. Leave for 5 minutes. Heat for 1 minute in a microwave or on the stove to dissolve the gelatin. Cool.
- Beat the egg yolks and sugar until thick in a double boiler or over a very low flame.
- Mix in the cooled chocolate custard and strain the dissolved gelatin into the mixture. All ingredients should be approximately of the same temperature. Beat well. Chill over ice or in the freezer till fairly thick.
- Beat the cream with castor sugar until fairly thick and add to the partially set mixture. Mix well and chill again till almost set.
- Beat the egg whites and cream of tartar until stiff and fold into the partially set mixture. Pour into the serving bowl and leave to set until firm in the refrigerator. This will take a few hours. Keep chilled until required.