Baking Souffles with Mum

It was a sunny Saturday afternoon. It was the afternoon of our Reunion Dinner and Mum was looking for a dessert to serve after our steamboat dinner.

She was baking Chocolate Souffles (yum!) She was already using the Kenwood Chef (the one from the last story) when I came into the kitchen and I asked her if I could help her do it. Then she let me do it. She asked me to turn it to speed 4 and I ran away! ( I thought the batter was going to fly!) We also made some chocolate sauce but we'll come back to that.

Souffles are sticky!! They're not like normal cakes - they contain very little flour and no butter, and they are made mostly with egg whites and are puffy!



First we had to make the batter. The batter was made with:

• Bittersweet chocolate - 8 oz said the recipe. My mom broke one 200g bar of Old Gold cadbury chocolate (mmm!). I melted it in a bowl that sat in a bigger bowl of hot water.

• 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

• 1/2 cup sugar

• 1 cup flour

• 6 eggs - you have to separate the yolks from the egg whites. You also need 2 more whites from 2 large eggs (my granny's friend just made 40 kueh lapis last week so we have more egg whites in our fridge than Sprite and Capri Sonne!)

To make the batter, Mum put the egg yolks and the sugar in the Kenwood and I turned it to level 4 it till it was really white and creamy - then we put in the flour and mixed it till the flour disappeared.



Mum scooped the batter into a bowl and mixed in the melted chocolate and the vanilla extract. While she was doing that hard part I helped to prepare the ramekins (these are these special bowls with ridges, quite low so that the souffle can rise above the top like a chef's hat!).


I had to brush the little bowls with some butter and then I had to put some sugar icing powder and then hit it around and then shake out the excess powder. Mum taped some parchment paper around the ramekins so that when the souffle rose it wouldn't poop all over the place but rise up like a nice hairdo. When she was done, I put them in the freezer till she was ready with the mix.

The hard part of the souffle is getting the egg white right. Mum's writing this part:


1. Put the 8 egg whites in a mixing bowl with a pinch of Cream of Tartar. (if you're beating by hand with a balloon whisk, use one pinch of salt instead of the tartar)
2. Turn the mixer on with the whisk on, and beat it, adding 1 tbsp of sugar, till the mixture is stiff.
3. Then add another tbsp of sugar and beat egg whites till stiff peaks form.
4. Fold in 1/3 of the egg white into the chocolate batter. Once completely folded, use a rubber spatula and fold in the rest of the egg whites.


5. Take the ramekins out of the freezer, and pour the batter in till it reaches just beneath the rim. Put the ramekins in a baking tray, and bake at 205 deg C for 10 minutes. Then lower heat to around 190 deg, and bake for 15 more min till firm. (PS Oven should have been pre-heated to 205 deg Celsius.)
6. Remove from oven and poke a hole in the centre, and pour in chocolate sauce.*

To make chocolate sauce:
4 ounces of bittersweet chocolate bar or chips
1 cup of heavy cream

Warm the cream in a pan over the stove. In a bowl, break chocolate into pieces or pour out chips. When cream is hot (don't let it boil) remove from fire and pour over choc chips and stir till chocolate is melted. Pour chocolate sauce into a jug and pour chocolate sauce into centre of souffle.




We baked the souffles that night. They were very nice. Everyone had a great time eating them. Mom made 2 of them with Baileys which is like a wine but more yucky. My grandma loved it.

Mum says it will be a very long time before she makes them again because they are really troublesome. But very yummy.