Chocolate Soufflé Sheet
Multiple variations of this recipe have appeared over the years in culinary magazines, baking books, pastry chef’s collections, and home bakers’ recipe files. It serves as the base for tortes, chocolate roulades, layered rectangular cakes, and being flourless, desserts suitable for Passover.
I am quite certain that all versions trace back to the recipe for Chocolate Pastry in The Art of Fine Baking by Paula Peck, published in 1961. This gem of a pastry baking book contains many excellent component recipes, and this is one of them.
Chocolate Soufflé Sheet
| Yield: 1 10 ¼” by 15 ¼” jelly roll pan | # of Servings: 10 to 12 |
Ingredients:
6 oz (170 g) chocolate, 55% to 61%, broken up
2 tbl water
6 large egg yolks
¼ cup (1.8 oz / 51 g) sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
6 large egg whites
¼ tsp salt
½ cup (3.6 oz / 102 g) sugar
Tools and equipment needed:
- 10 ¼” by 15 ¼” jelly roll pan
- Handheld or countertop mixer with whisk attachment
- Scale or dry measuring cup
- Mixing bowls, double boiler setup, plastic spatula
- Mixing bowl, plastic spatula, whisk
Pre-recipe preparations:
- Preheat oven to 375 °F
- Cut a sheet of parchment paper 9 ¼” by 14 ¼”. Butter the bottom and sides of the pan, line with the parchment, and butter the parchment.
Directions
- Melt chocolate and water in large metal mixing bowl over a double boiler. Set aside.
- In machine bowl with whisk attachment on medium high speed (8 on a KitchenAid), or in mixing bowl with a handheld mixer, beat the egg yolks, sugar, and vanilla extract. Beat until thick and light colored, scraping down the sides of the bowl occasionally.
- Add yolk mixture into chocolate, stir to combine with plastic spatula. Be sure to scrape the bottom of the bowl to incorporate all the chocolate.
- In clean mixing bowl, with a clean whisk attachment beat whites on medium high speed (7 on a KitchenAid) with salt until soft peak stage. Slowly add the sugar and beat just until firm peaks. Do not overbeat.
- Add ¼ of the whites to chocolate mixture and stir to lighten. Fold in remaining whites just until the batter is homogenous and no white streaks appear.
- Pour batter into prepared pan, and spread evenly with an offset spatula.
- Bake for between 10 and 12 minutes, just until the sheet is firm to the touch, and cake tester comes out clean.
- Remove to a cooling rack and cool in the pan until room temperature, about 1 hour.
- If making a roulade use as soon as it reaches room temperature.
Baking tip:
- If doubling the recipe, scale each pan at 21 oz (595 g)
