Help! substitution question (is it possible?) for souffle cake

[CompassRose]

I made, recently, the Chocolate Soufflé Cake from Alice Medrich's Chocolate & the Art of Low-Fat Desserts.

Ah! it rocked! Delicious!

Now, I am hosting my delightful mother-in-law to lunch this Saturday, for Mother's Day, and I would like, among other things, to serve cake.

However, she's not really much of a dark dark chocolate fiend, SO... I had this notion... what if I made the chocolate soufflé cake, but made it with WHITE chocolate instead, and served it with, say, fresh strawberries, and a bit of fresh mint from my garden, and maybe something of a strawberry sauce?

My dilemma: the recipe includes ½ cup cocoa. I'm not sure what, if anything, I could use instead, or if it would even work. More regular flour? A soft, "gooey" flour, oat perhaps? Or even - this crossed my mind -- something arcane like pure soy protein, which I put into quite a lot of my baking, and which I think might have similar cocoa-ish properties?

THE RECIPE:
1 oz almonds
3 T all-purpose flour
3 oz semisweet chocolate
½ cup Dutch cocoa
½ cup sugar
½ cup boiling water
2 egg yolks
1 T liqueur

4 egg whites
¼ tsp cream of tartar
¼ cup sugar

The almonds are ground with the flour. The chocolate gets minced in a processor, then mixed with cocoa and sugar, then melted together with the boiling water. Egg yolks and liqueur whisked in, then almond-flour mix. Beat egg whites to peaks, fold into batter, bake. It rises, then collapses in a lovely crunchy-on-top squishy-in-the-middle way.

Suggestions?

Much appreciated,
CR

[W.DeBord]

I'll be curious to see what anyone else posts, but I can't think of how to make that work and still taste great.

The cocoa power is taste in a low fat way (no cocoa butter)...I can't think of what would pull that off with a white chocolate. Best guess I can do is guess that you could sub. in a instant pudding with the h2o and w. choc..

[CompassRose]

Weeelll..... I did think of that, but a cocoa angel food cake is pretty much a straight cocoa-flour replacement, so I thought it might work. 'Course, the best thing would probably be more almonds, but that kinda obliterates the whole low-fat thing, which is even more important to my MIL (high BP) than it is to me. I contemplated chestnut flour/puree, but I think the taste would be too strong.

No offense, but I don't know about whacking up three ounces of Callebaut White and then tossing in a box of vanillin and artificial flavours...

I'm inclining to the soy protein, with maybe an extra ounce of white chocolate. I'd probably be better off just going with my original Lemon Mousse Cake plan -- but ah! kitchen adventure beckons!

[Isa]

In Chocolate Passion there is a recipe for a white chocolate soufflé, it's a real soufflé not a soufflé cake. Interested?

[CompassRose]

Oo! White chocolate soufflé? That sounds good, if fearsomely decadent!

I actually found something that I think might work: a similar cake-type recipe that used some low-fat ricotta but otherwise looked very similar. Now I need to figure out the wet volume of 1/2 cup soaked cocoa. Sigh. About a quarter cup, do you think? Or less?

[Isa]

In one of my book, it says thatif you want to make a chocolate genoise, just replace about 10% of the flour for cocoa. It should also work the other way around.


I'm not sure I understand your recipe, are you adding a liquid to the cocoa?

[CompassRose]

Yes... my interpretation of the directions might be a little telegraphic... Mix cocoa, sugar and chopped chocolate, then pour the boiling water over and stir until the chocolate melts.

I ended up not making it (no time to make something else if it flopped!). Lemon Mousse cake instead, which turned out very well and looked beautiful -- I'm very proud, as I replaced gelatin with agar, and that seemed to work all right. I think I may try it out tonight, though. Since I'm not in a show any more and have plenty of time to fool about.

Oh, by the way, I WOULD most love that chocolate souffle recipe, Isa, if you have time.

[momoreg]

I found this thread a bit late, but better late than never. How about skim milk powder in place of cocoa? I've had success subbing that for cocoa in many recipes.

[CompassRose]

Oo, thanks, momoreg! That didn't occur to me. And I do believe I WILL try it out tonight. Just 'cause.

[CompassRose]

And I did. I ended up using the soy protein, straight substitution, because when I pulled out my skim-milk powder jar, there was but a drift across the bottom.

It worked. It is delicious. I had two pieces, and I've left my husband alone with the rest, so who knows if I'll get any more?

[Isa]

White Chocolate Soufflé

3 tablespoons unsalted butter
3 1/2 tablespoons all purpose flour
Pinch of salt
3/4 cup whole milk
4 ounces white chocolate, finely chopped
5 large eggs, at rom temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/3 cup sugar


preheat the oven to 375°F. Tear a piece of 12-inch wide aluminium foil, long enough to fit around a 1 1/2 quart soufflé dish with 2 inches to spare. Fold the foil in half lenghtwise and wrap it around the outside of the dish; be sure the foil extends 3 inches above the rim. Roll and pinch the two ends of the strip of foil together to connect them securely. Grease the dish and collar, and coat with a dusting of granulated sugar. Set aside on a baking sheet.

In a medium saucepan set over medium heat, melt the butter. Whisk in the flour and salt; stir constantly for 2 minutes to cook the starch. Gradually whisk in the milk, then bring to a boil, stirring often. Remove the pan from heat, add the white chocolate, and whisk occasionally until smooth. Beat in the egg yolks and vanilla extract.

In a dry, grease free, 4 1/2 quart bowl of a heavy-duty electric mixer, using the whip attachment, whip the egg whites until frothy. Gradually sprinkle in the sugar while continuing to whip until all the sugar is added; continue beating until stiff.

Gently whisk 1/4 of the whites into the yolk mixture until blended. Gently fold in the remaining whites just until no streaks remain. Scrape the batter into the prepared dish. Bake for about 35 minutes, until puffed and golden.


Chocolate Passion
Tish Boyle and Timothy Moriarty