Maida Heatters Chocolate Souffle Cake Recipes

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.

Steps:

• You will need two special madeleine pans, available in fine kitchen equipment shops, to prepare these cookies.
• Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
• Lightly brush the cookie indentations of each pan with butter, using a pastry brush. Take care not to leave any unbuttered spots.
• Sift together the flour, cocoa, coffee, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
• Place the 1/4 pound of butter in the bowl of an electric mixer and cream thoroughly. Beat in the vanilla, rum or Cognac and granulated sugar. Add the whole eggs and egg yolks and beat thoroughly. The mixture may take on a curdled look, but that is proper. Start beating on low speed while adding the dry ingredients. Beat only long enough to blend.
• Place a rounded teaspoon of the batter into each of the cookie indentations. Do not spread; it will settle itself. Place in the oven and bake about 12 minutes or until madeleines spring back when touched with the fingertips.
• Remove from the oven and invert onto a rack. Arrange them patterned side up on the rack. Using a sieve, dust lightly with confectioners' sugar.

Steps:

• Heat the oven to 350 degrees and line 4 6-cup muffin tins with cupcake liners. Sift together the flour, soda, salt, and cocoa powder and set aside. Use a standing mixer or hand-mixer to cream the butter. Add the sugar and vanilla and mix to combine. Add the eggs one at a time, beating after each one until smooth.
• On the lowest speed, alternately add the dry ingredients in three additions and the milk in two. Beat only until smooth and fully combined, you don't want to overwork the batter.
• Scoop the batter into the prepared pans filling each about two-thirds full (don't bother to smooth the tops--the batter will level itself as it cooks). Bake the cupcakes for about 25 minutes, or until the tops are puffed and spring back when lightly pressed. Be careful not to overbake the cakes, but know that if you take them out too early they may sink a bit. Cool the cakes in the muffin tins for about 5 minutes and then remove them to a rack and let cool completely.
• To make the ganache, put all the ingredients in a small, deep saucepan over medium-low heat. Cook, whisking occasionally to combine, until the chocolate and butter are nearly melted. Take the pan off the heat and whisk continuously until all the chocolate is melted; the ganache should be shiny and without any lumps.
• When the ganache is about room temperature, use a butter knife to spread it evenly on top of the cakes; sprinkle with nonpareil if you like. The cakes can be made a day in advance and refrigerated (they actually get better) or frozen in an airtight container.

Steps:

• Position oven rack 1/3 up from the bottom of the oven; preheat to 300°.
• Butter a 10-inch Bundt pan; then sprinkle granulated sugar all over the pan; shake the pan to coat it thoroughly with sugar, and invert it over a piece of paper and tap to shake out excess.
• Then sprinkle 1-2 teaspoons of sugar evenly in the bottom of the pan; set aside.
• Coarsely chop the semisweet chocolate and place in the top of a large double boiler over hot water on medium heat.
• Cut up the butter, and add it and the oil to the chocolate; cover and let cook until almost completely melted.
• Then stir, or whisk, until completely melted and smooth; remove from the hot water.
• In a bowl, stir the yolks a bit with a wire whisk just to mix.
• Then gradually, in a few additions, whisk about half of the hot chocolate mixture into the yolks, and then, off the heat, add the yolks to the remaining hot chocolate mixture and mix together (the mixture will thicken a bit as the heat from the chocolate cooks the eggs).
• Add in the sugar and vanilla; stir to mix; set aside.
• In the large bowl of an electric mixer, add the salt to the egg whites; beat until the whites hold a point but are not stiff or dry.
• Fold a few large spoonfuls of the whites into the chocolate mixture.
• Then add the chocolate mixture to the whites and fold together gently only until incorporated.
• Gently turn the mixture into the prepared pan.
• Bake for 2 ¼ hours; during baking the cake will rise and then sink; it will sink more in the middle than on the edges; that is as it should be.
• Remove from the oven and without waiting, cover the cake with an inverted serving plate.
• Hold the pan and the plate firmly together, and turn them over.
• The sugar coating in the pan forms a crust and the cake will slide out of the pan easily.
• Serve while still hot; if desired, cover the top of the cake generously with powdered sugar, sprinkling it on through a fine strainer held over the cake; brush excess sugar off the plate.
• *When cutting the cake it will crumble a bit as you cut through the bottom crisp crust; don't try to cut thin slices; do try to cut with a serrated knife.
• *May top with chilled whipped cream.