Maida Heatters Chocolate Souffle Cake Recipes

MAIDA HEATTER'S 86-PROOF CHOCOLATE CAKE

Steps:

• Adjust rack one-third up from bottom of the oven and preheat oven to 325 degrees. Butter and dust the inside of a 9-inch bundt pan (called a minibundt pan), or any other fancy tube pan with a 10-cup capacity, with fine dry breadcrumbs. Invert the pan over a piece of paper and tap lightly to shake out excess crumbs. Set aside.
• Place the chocolate in the top of a small double boiler over hot water on low heat. Cover and cook only until melted; then remove the top of the double boiler and set it aside, uncovered, to cool slightly. (You can also melt the chocolate in a microwave safe bowl, just keep a close eye on it.)
• Sift together the flour, baking soda and salt and set aside.
• In a two-cup measuring cup dissolve the coffee in a little boiling water. Add cold water to the 1 1/2 cup line. Add the bourbon. Set aside.
• Cream the butter in the large bowl of an electric mixer. Add the vanilla and sugar and beat to mix well. Add the eggs one at a time, beating until smooth after each addition. Add the chocolate and beat until smooth.
• Then, on low speed, alternately add the sifted dry ingredients in three additions with the liquids in two additions, adding the liquids very gradually to avoid splashing and scraping the bowl with a rubber spatula after each addition. Be sure to beat until smooth after each addition, especially after the last. It will be a thin mixture.
• Pour the mixture into the prepared pan. Rotate the pan a bit briskly, first in one direction, then in the other, to level the top. In a minibundt pan the batter will almost reach the top of the pan, but it will not run over and you will have a beautifully high cake.
• Bake for one hour and 10 to 15 minutes. Test by inserting a cake tester in the middle of the cake and bake only until the tester comes out clean and dry.
• Cool in the pan for about 15 minutes. Then cover with a rack and invert. Remove the pan, sprinkle the cake with a little optional bourbon, and leave the cake upside down on a rack to cool. Before serving, if you wish, sprinkle the top with confectioners' sugar through a fine strainer.

MAIDA HEATTER'S CHOCOLATE SOUFFLE CAKE

Steps:

• Coarsley chop the chocolate and place in top of double boiler over hot water on moderate heat. Cut up butter and add it and the oil to the chocolate. Cover and cook until almost melted. Then stir or whist with a wire whisk until completely melted and smooth. Remove from hot water. In mixing bowl, stir yolks a bit with a wire whist just to mix. Then gradually, in a few additions, whisk about 1/2 of the hot chocolate mixture into the yolks. Then, off the heat, add the yolks to the remaining hot chocolate mixture and mix together (the mixture will thicken a bit as the hot chocolate mixture cooks the egg yolks). Add the sugar and vanilla and stir to mix. Set aside. In the large bowl of an electric mixer, add the salt to the egg whites and beat until the whites hold a point but are not stiff or dry. Fold a few large spoonfuls of whites into the chocolate mixture. Then add the chocolate mixture the the remaining whits and fold together gently, only until incorporated. Gently turn mixture into prepared bundt pan. Bake for 2-1/2 hours (okay if cake sinks in the middle while cooking). Remove from oven and, without waiting, cover cake with an inverted serving plate and turn over to remove cake. Serve while hot with cold whipped cream.