I love soufflé. It is such a simple recipe with few ingredients but it still has the wow factor every time you make one. This chocolate version, served with a vanilla ice-cream drop, is superb.
See also: Eric Lanlard’s flour-free dark chocolate cake
Serves 6
Preparation time: 20 minutes
Cooking time: 15 minutes
You’ll need:
Unsalted butter, for greasing
125g (4oz) dark chocolate, roughly chopped
2 tsp dark rum (optional)
2 tbsp crème fraîche
4 eggs, separated, plus 2 egg whites
Pinch of salt
Icing sugar, for dusting
Method:
Preheat the oven to 200°C (fan 180°C)/400°F/gas mark 6. Grease 6 ramekin dishes. Melt the chocolate in a heatproof bowl set over a saucepan of barely simmering water, making sure the surface of the water does not touch the bowl. Stir in the rum, if using. Remove from the heat and add the crème fraîche, then the egg yolks. In a large, clean, dry bowl, whisk all the egg whites and the salt to soft peaks. Fold one-quarter of the egg whites into the chocolate mixture, then fold in the remaining whites. Fill the prepared ramekins to the top with the mixture, then clean the rims using your finger and thumb. Place on a baking sheet and bake in the oven for 10–12 minutes, or until nicely risen. Dust with icing sugar and serve immediately.
Tip:
For a delicious party trick, serve your soufflés with an ice-cream drop. Before you make the soufflés, scoop out 6 balls of ice cream from a small tub of good quality vanilla ice cream and place on a freezer-proof plate. Place in the freezer until ready to serve. When serving the soufflés at the table, drop an ice-cream ball into each soufflé using a spoon.
Chocolat by Eric Lanlard
This recipe is taken from Chocolat by Eric Lanlard (published by Octopus and available at all good bookstores for R300).
Read more about Chocolat.
Photograph by Kate Whitaker.
