Dark, deep, rich chocolate. None of that "milk chocolate" nonsense. And even less, white chocolate [not even really chocolate?]. But give me some bittersweet or dark chocolate, and I am one happy camper.
Make that a flourless chocolate souffle cake?
I'll be your best friend.
Valentines Day means people are
a) lovey-dovey to the point of irritation
b) broody to the point of irritation
Then there are those who eat their feelings. That would be me. Though, without the negative implications of the aforementioned statement. Rather, I eat because...that's what I do [have you met me?]. I just use Valentines Day as an excuse to make something decadent. This year, the dessert of choice was chocolate souffle cake with salted caramel sauce.
Noosh and I enjoyed a womantic dinner of Boylan burgers and sweet potato fries [carb-counting today? please.], and then
Chocolate Souffle Cake
Adapted from Sticky, Chewy, Messy, Gooey
For the cake, you'll need:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Line the base 10-inch springform pan with parchment paper and grease the base and sides. Combine chocolate and butter in a microwave-safe bowl and melt [begin with 1 minute and 30 seconds, stir, and continue melting in increments of 15 seconds until smooth]. Set melted chocolate aside. In another bowl, whisk egg yolks and salt. Whisk in 1/2 cup of sugar and beat on medium-high speed until yolks turn a pale yellow color, 4-6 minutes. Whisk in the bourbon and vanilla. Slowly whisk in melted chocolate mixture until uniform. Set aside.
In a clean, stainless steal bowl, beat the egg whites and cream of tarter until frothy. Increase speed to high and beat until soft peaks form. Gradually add in the remaining 1/2 cup of sugar, one tablespoon at a time, and beat until stiff peaks form. Fold 1/3 of the egg whites into the chocolate mixture to lighten the batter. Add in the rest of the egg whites and fold gently until just combined. Pour batter into pan and bake for 45 minutes, until a toothpick comes out almost clean [it's fine if a few crumbs stick to it, but there should not be liquid batter coating the toothpick]. Let cake cool at least 30 minutes before removing from the pan [it may have 'sunk' a little bit, which is fine].
Drizzle warm salted caramel sauce over cake right before serving. Top with chopped pecans. Serve with whipped cream, if desired, to offset some of the sweetness.
Adapted from Sticky, Chewy, Messy, Gooey
For the cake, you'll need:
- 1 cup [2 sticks] unsalted butter
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 pound bittersweet chocolate
- 8 large eggs, separated
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 2 tbs bourbon [I used 1 tsp bourbon extract]
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1/2 tsp cream of tartar
- top with desired sauce; click here for my salted caramel sauce recipe
Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Line the base 10-inch springform pan with parchment paper and grease the base and sides. Combine chocolate and butter in a microwave-safe bowl and melt [begin with 1 minute and 30 seconds, stir, and continue melting in increments of 15 seconds until smooth]. Set melted chocolate aside. In another bowl, whisk egg yolks and salt. Whisk in 1/2 cup of sugar and beat on medium-high speed until yolks turn a pale yellow color, 4-6 minutes. Whisk in the bourbon and vanilla. Slowly whisk in melted chocolate mixture until uniform. Set aside.
In a clean, stainless steal bowl, beat the egg whites and cream of tarter until frothy. Increase speed to high and beat until soft peaks form. Gradually add in the remaining 1/2 cup of sugar, one tablespoon at a time, and beat until stiff peaks form. Fold 1/3 of the egg whites into the chocolate mixture to lighten the batter. Add in the rest of the egg whites and fold gently until just combined. Pour batter into pan and bake for 45 minutes, until a toothpick comes out almost clean [it's fine if a few crumbs stick to it, but there should not be liquid batter coating the toothpick]. Let cake cool at least 30 minutes before removing from the pan [it may have 'sunk' a little bit, which is fine].
Drizzle warm salted caramel sauce over cake right before serving. Top with chopped pecans. Serve with whipped cream, if desired, to offset some of the sweetness.
 |
| poked holes over the top for the sauce to seep in |
This dessert is not for the faint-hearted. Really.
In terms of what to serve this with, I definitely suggest salted caramel if you want a sauce. Anything sweeter would be far too much, since the cake itself is so rich and dense. Lightly sweetened whipped cream or vanilla ice cream would also be good choices.
Man. This cake is good. Like, really good.
Though, not sure I would recommend eating this after a heavy dinner of burger and fries.
It makes for a good treat though... if you haven't eaten anything all day...
Ugh. Sugar.
So bad.
And yet...
Happy Valentine's Day!
Somehow the song "Bittersweet Symphony [in my mouth]" seems like an appropriate song for this delectable occasion. Mmm...
ReplyDeleteI wish this was facebook so I could 'like' that comment.
ReplyDeleteoh my goodness. this is really really ridiculously good looking! and major props for making this dish; souffles are very intimidating to me!
ReplyDeleteIf there was a picture next to the word "sinful" in the dictionary, this cake would be in it. I'm totally going to have to find an excuse to make this cake... preferably sometime sooner than next Valentine's Day. :)
ReplyDeleteFWIW, every recipe I've seen adapted from Sticky, Chewy, Messy, Gooey that's made me go OMG-get-in-mah-belleh-right-now... clearly, it's a sign that I must get this cookbook ASAP.
That looks incredibly rich and delicious! Bookmarked!
ReplyDeleteGreat blog; happy I found you!
Mary xx
Delightful Bitefuls
This cake looks simple amazing. Elegant and decadent for sure. Great recipe!
ReplyDeleteHey you never told me you baked a cake on VDay!Is there a lone piece lying somwhere you could maybe freeze for me?
ReplyDeleteGreat recipe however, please can you also give metric measurements. Blogs have a global audience and the cup measurement system is not one that we can use.
ReplyDelete