The magic of chocolate soufflés is that they’re both rich and light. The chocolate mixture can be prepared two or three days ahead, and the ramekins a day; whisk the eggwhites and fold them into the chocolate mixture just before the soufflés go in the oven.
Ingredients
Chocolate cream
Method
1.Generously butter six 125ml ramekins; it’s important to butter the sides all the way to the rim to help the soufflés rise. Refrigerate ramekins until butter is set (15 minutes), then dust liberally with caster sugar.
2.For chocolate cream, whisk egg, egg yolks, and sugar in a bowl until pale and fluffy. Add cornflour and cocoa and whisk to combine. Bring milk and vanilla seeds to a simmer in a saucepan over medium-high heat. Pour into egg mixture, whisking to combine, then return to a clean saucepan and stir vigorously over high heat until mixture thickly coats the spoon (2-4 minutes). Add chocolate and stir until smooth. Remove from heat, transfer to a bowl, cover directly with plastic wrap and stand to cool (1 hour). Add wine and beat with a wooden spoon to a smooth cream, then stand at room temperature.
3.Preheat oven to 200C. If chocolate cream has been made ahead, bring it to room temperature and whisk until smooth. Whisk eggwhite with a pinch of salt until soft peaks form, then gradually add sugar, whisking until smooth, firm peaks form. Fold a third of the eggwhite mixture into the chocolate cream until evenly combined, then repeat with remaining eggwhite mixture.
4.Spoon mixture into prepared moulds to the top. Level tops with a knife, then run your finger just around tops of rims to remove excess soufflé mixture (to prevent soufflés sticking). Bake until puffed (13-15 minutes), dust with cocoa and serve with chocolate ice-cream.
