June 22, 2008

ROUND FIVE REBUTTAL: Gainesville Chocolate Lava Souffle

I know that playing fast and loose with baking recipes does not generally yield good results. Whereas cooking is pretty abstract and substituting X for Y and goofing around with proportions and measurements will usually not result in total disaster, baking is chemistry. You get the formula wrong and it is likely that your product will literally blow up in your face. The Baking Fates were smiling upon me today, my friends.

I started with a recipe similar to Susan's except it yielded four cakes instead of six (because single girl + house full of chocolate cake = bad idea). This recipe also called for super fancy dark chocolate, which I did not have. So I decided to make do with my store-brand semisweet chocolate chips and intensify the chocolatey-ness with cocoa powder, instant coffee, and bourbon. Behold, Gainesville Chocolate Lava Souffle:1/2 C butter
4 oz semisweet chocolate chips
1 T cocoa powder

1 T bourbon
1 t instant coffee
2 eggs
2 egg yolks
1/4 C sugar
2 T flour

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

Melt butter and chocolate chips together in microwave (1 minute, stir, then another 30 seconds - I'm way too lazy for a double boiler). Add cocoa powder, bourbon, and instant coffee and mix completely into chocolate.

In a stand mixer, beat eggs, egg yolks, and sugar on high speed until light-colored and thick (this took about 5 minutes on highest setting on Kitchenaid mixer). Turn mixer down a couple notches and stream in chocolate mixture (the eggs will deflate a bit when the warm chocolate is added, but that's okay). Put mixer on lowest setting, add flour and mix just until combined. Divide batter among four four-ounce ramekins and bake 7-8 minutes. The souffles will rise an inch or so out of the ramekins but the middles will still look shiny and jiggly.


Remove from oven, let sit a minute or two and then tip onto serving plates, setting them upright again as quickly as you can. Dust with confectioner's sugar and serve immediately (with LARGE glasses of cold milk)!

4 comments:

Susan said...

Mmmm...I like the addition of the coffee and the bourbon. I also like your Alton-like analysis at the beginning of your post...wise, very wise.

Kristin said...

looks fabulous. you might have to put this on the bake-a-palooza list.

Jamie said...

Whoa! These look super yummy. My rebuttal will be posted sometime this week, right after I invent the fat free, sugar free chocolate cake!

Jenn said...

yummie-yum. Im making this one when the inlaws roll in next weekend. we will need large amounts of chocolate and bourbon.
Jenn