Double chocolate souffle with warm fudge sauce

Souffle has a notorious reputation for being difficult to perfect and I can easily see why. It's all about how much and if your souffle rises that determines if it was made properly. I've only attempted to make souffle in culinary school (was successful the first batch and failed miserably the second) so I wanted to give it another try today. 

Double Chocolate Souffles with Warm Fudge Sauce

Recipe from Cooking Light

Cooking time: 1 hour

Yield: 6 souffles and 2 tablespoons of sauce per serving

Ingredients

Souffle:

cooking spray

1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar, divided

3 tbsp all-purpose flour

3 tbsp unsweetened cocoa

1/8 tsp salt

1 1/4 cup fat-free milk

3 oz bittersweet chocolate, chopped

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 large egg yolk

6 large egg whites

Sauce:

1 tbsp butter

1/3 cup sugar

2 tbsp unsweetened cocoa

1 tbsp all-purpose flour

1/2 cup fat-free milk

1/2 oz bittersweet chocolate, chopped

Directions

1. Position oven rack to the lowest setting, and remove middle rack. Preheat oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit.
2. To prepare souffles, lightly coat 6 (8 oz) souffle dishes with cooking spray. Sprinkle evenly with 2 tbsp sugar. Set aside.
3. Combine remaining 1/2 cup sugar, 3 tbsp flour, 3 tbsp cocoa, and salt in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat, stirring with a whisk. Gradually add 1 1/4 cups milk, stirring with a whisk; bring to a boil. Cook 2 minutes or until thickened, stirring constantly with a whisk; remove from heat. Add 3 ounces chocolate, stir until smooth. Transfer to a large bowl; cool to room temperature. Stir in vanilla and egg yolk.
4. Place egg whites in a large bowl; beat with a mixer at high speed until stiff peaks form. Gently fold in remaining egg whites. Gently spoon mixture into prepared dishes. Sharply tap dishes 2 or 3 times on counter to level. Place dishes on a baking sheet; place baking sheet on the bottom rack of 425 degree oven. Immediately reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees (do not remove souffles from oven). Bake 40 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in the side of the souffle comes out clean.
5. To prepare sauce, melt butter in a small saucepan over medium-high heat. Add 1/3 cup sugar, 2 tablespoons cocoa, and 1 tablespoon flour; stir well with a whisk. Gradually add 1/2 cup milk, stirring well with a whisk; bring to a boil. Cook 1 minute or until slightly thick, stirring constantly with a whisk. Remove from heat; add 1/2 oz chocolate, stirring until smooth. Serve warm with souffles. 

Nutritional Analysis:
per serving: 315 calories, 9g fat (5.1g saturated, 0.3g polyunsaturated, 1.8g monounsaturated), 51.8g carbohydrates, 2.9g fiber, 9.1g protein.

**Helpful tips and common mistakes

Before you even begin, make sure you have the right dishes. You want to choose souffle dishes that have tall straight sides; the most common dish would be a standard ramekin. 

Start by making the base since it needs to cool before you cook it. Keep an eye on the base (step 3) because it can easily burn! As soon as it reaches the right consistency and is thick, remove it from heat to prevent it from burning.

Using stand mixers rather than the portable hand mixers will produce the best results when whipping the egg whites. They are able to incorporate in more air as opposed to the hand mixers. Make sure not to overbeat; however, to the point that the egg whites are grainy. They should look satiny and shiny while still being able to form stiff peaks. This only took about 3 minutes to achieve on speed 6 for the kitchen aid mixer. 

When folding in the egg whites with the chocolate base, be sure to not deflate the egg whites. Use a rubber spatula for the best results. To fold properly, you want to cut down the center and up the sides of the bowl, resembling the figure 8 or making an S motion. Continue until all of the egg whites are incorporated.

Ten minutes in and already my souffle has reached a good height. I smell success! 

I used a convection oven and it actually took only 30 minutes as opposed to the 40 in the recipe.

Once you pour the chocolate sauce, the weight of the sauce will make the souffle sink so either pour table side or have it on the side. This chocolate souffle reminded me of a chocolate lava cake but might lighter in texture, almost fluffy. Now that I know I can make a chocolate souffle, savory souffles will be the next challenge!