This is my cousin Michele’s birthday weekend.  In honor of her birthday, I am preparing Sunday brunch.  Now, Michele loves all things soufflé.  In particular, she is a huge fan of chocolate soufflé. 

So I decided to make a soufflé brunch. We’ll begin with a bit of the bubbly (I haven’t yet decided which one).  I’m preparing a sausage and sweet potato soufflé as an opener, followed by buttermilk fried chicken and buttermilk biscuits. I’d live to serve something green as well, but I’ll decide what that is when I get to the market.  We will finish our meal with a chocolate soufflé.

When I got home from work yesterday, I butchered a chicken into 10 pieces and put it into a buttermilk and Dijon mustard marinade, along with bay leaves, peppercorns, thyme sprigs, sage leaves, tarragon, red pepper, paprika and salt, then covered it and stored it in the fridge.

Having never made an actual chocolate soufflé before, I began searching though all the recipes I could find for it when I stumbled upon Lydie Marshal’s Fallen Chocolate Soufflé.

We made this recipe in France last summer (although I didn’t make it personally) and I loved it.  What was unique about this specific recipe is that it is best served cold.  It falls into a brownie-like consistency that is just heavenly.  The other unique element to this cake is its use of liquor-soaked dried fruit (plums or cherries).  I just happen to have a jar of dried plums marinating in a bottle of vintage port that I put in my fridge nearly a year ago for just this type of occasion.

I prepared the cake today so that tomorrow I could focus on the other elements of our meal.  I’ll also make whipped cream to serve alongside each slice.

Lydie’s Fallen Chocolate Soufflé

Ingredients:
• 7 oz bittersweet chocolate, chopped (I used Scharfenberger but Lydie recommends Valrhona or Lindt)
• 8 tablespoons unsalted butter
• Dried plums or cherries soaked in liquor
• 1 tablespoon of liquor (from fruit)
• 5 medium eggs, separated
• ½ cup sugar
• For the top: sifted powdered sugar or coca powder

Method:
1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees, if you are using convection then lower the heat to 300.
2. With melted butter, brush the bottom of the pan, then line with parchment and brush again.
3. Break the chocolate and combine it with the butter in a double boiler, melt on low heat.  When melted, stir and add the liquor of your choice.
4. Combine the egg yolks and sugar in the bowl of a Kitchen Aid mixer and beat until they turn a pale yellow and the mixture forms a ribbon.
5. Add the fruit and chocolate to the egg mixture, adding a little bit of chocolate at a time (so as not to scramble the yolks) until completely incorporated
6. Whip the egg whites to stiff peaks
7. Fold egg whites into chocolate mixture (do this by hand)
8. Bake for 20-30 minutes or until the center of the cake is springy.
9. Allow to cool in the tin.  (serve warm or cold)
10. When the soufflé is quite cold, remove it from the tin and peel off the paper, then cover and chill for several hours (It can keep in the refrigerator for several days)
11. Serve the cake dusted with powdered sugar or coca.

Right now, the cake is cooling...  I'll show more pics tomorrow when it is finished