[bakerchik]

in attempt to come up with a dessert for our kitchen cook off i made (or attempted) chocolate soufflee cakes. in the picture they unmolded beautifully but mine weren't even close. i tried three different times. the recipe called for 9.4 oz unsalted butter, 17.7 oz bittersweet chocolate, melted together. 1.6 oz dutch process cocoa, pinch salt mixed in. then make french meringue of 8 egg whites (8 oz.) and 3.5 oz granulated sugar. then fold the warm chocolate mixture into the egg whites and bake at 350 in 3-6 oz. custard cups for 7- 10 minutes. the problem was that they didn't cook all the way in the middle and fell-like a soufflee. but the recipe was for a soufflee cake and in the picture it was firmer also. i tried filling the cups with less batter and baking them longer and the still fell. then i tried a water bath but the bottoms didn't cook and didn't come out when unmolded. the only difference i made in the recipe was i used reguar cocoa instead of dutch process and semisweet instead of bittersweet since that's what we had on hand. any suggestions?

After reading this recipe about chocolate souffle cake, I don't think I have the patience to even attempt it. It seems like an awful lot of trouble to go to for something that has a large chance of failure. What I am talking about is this recipe:
http://www.globalgourmet.com/food/il...0/souffle.html

[momoreg]

You've gotta have flour in it. What holds the cake together while it's being leavened by the egg whites? Cocoa alone is not strong enough to do that.

What you're making is closer in texture to a flourless chocolate ckae, but without whole eggs.

And since you're planning to unmold these, rather than serve them in a souffle ramekin, they need to be even stronger than a regular souffle. The name implies that, anyway.

Lastly, if you want to make the most out of egg whites, always fold them into the heavy mixture; not the other way around. If you dump warm, heavy ingredients on top of delicate egg whites, they will deflate.

Good luck..I hope this helped.

[Eeyore]

In other words....it may be the recipe..not you. Not all recipes are good or even tested. Just a way for someone to make money.

where did you get it?
eeyore

[momoreg]

Ain't that the truth. So many recipes are not tested.

[bakerchik]

yeah i kinda thought it needed flour...or whole eggs maybe...i had fun playing with it for two days though...i think of it more as a learning experience...thanks for the replies

[m brown]

I have made flourless souffle cake and flourless chocolate cake. they fall. that is their nature unless you run it out a la minut.
the structure comes from eggs, chocolate, cocoa leavening from the mechanical manipulation of eggs and cream.
I have great success with a choux based souffle that can be preped ahead and baked to serve.
no shame in using a chocolate souffle cake formula with flour for the extra structure you desire.
my flourless chocolate cake calls for
4.4 lb el rey extra bitter
3.5 lb whole egg
.5 lb kahlhua
2 quarts whipped cream with
9 oz sugar
salt.
melt chocolate, combine and break up eggs with kahlhua, fold together, fold in cream and put into food release spraied 4 oz alumium cups, bake 350 in water bath, i use 2 inch hotel pans. do not cover. bake until they souffle. serve or let drop, cool and store, serve warm.
the chocolate is VERY intence, not for the fain of heart!!

[m brown]

above formula makes about 51 servings.

[KyleW]

Re: 51 servings

The age old dilema betwenn you pros and us ams

[kokopuffs]

Hey, even a souffle needs a small amount of flour for binding. For souffle does not live by eggs alone!

[mudbug]

You should definitely try other recipes.

nullClick here for Chocolate Souffle Cake Recipes to try.

[m brown]

kokopuffs, gonna have to disagree on the flour in the souffle, you don't need it for a la minute souffle, especially fruit souffle and even chocolate souffle. I prefer to use a choux base to give more body myself and like the build ahead ease. But the flour is not needed in many cases.

[mudbug]

Click here for David Lebovitz's Recipe for Chocolate Soufflé Cake.

Tried and true.

[ March 11, 2001: Message edited by: cchiu ]

[Eeyore]

Ok so here is a new twist:

I ate at a premier restaraunt here in town. I know the ex. chef. I ate at the chefs counter. He gave me a course tasting and I just let him surprise me. Well the dessert course was a molten cake. He said that it is flourless. I asked him about turning them out of the dishes. He said that every other one would fall apart...UNTIL:

They started chilling them in the dish. Then they allow them to come to room temp before service. Then right before service they warm them a little and they turn out beautifully.

I dont know the recipe (yet). But it was yummy.

eeyore

[KC]

Cook's Illustrated had a really, really good recipe for individual molten chocolate cakes about a year ago. You could unmold them without having them fall apart too.