Soufflé au chocolat (Chocolate Soufflé)

My first soufflé ever!  I would have posted this two days ago, but for some odd reason my entry did not save and I was too irritated and tired to retype it until now lol.  Anyway, this soufflé seems to be a great choice for a soufflé novice--it forgave me and still behaved correctly despite my failure to notice that my mold was an 8-cup, not a 6-cup, until I had already spooned it in (oops!)  I highly recommend serving ti with vanilla bean ice cream, as shown here:

Link to original recipe:
http://www.williams-sonoma.com/recipe/chocolate-souffle2.html

Ingredients:

2 T. unsalted butter, plus 1 T. melted butter for brushing soufflé mold
3/4 c. sugar, divided
6 oz. chocolate, 70% cacao, roughly chopped/in pieces
2 T. heavy cream
4 egg yolks
1 tsp. vanilla exract
6 egg whites
1/4 tsp. kosher salt
1/4 tsp. cream of tartar
confectioners' sugar for dusting

Instructions:

1. Position a rack in the center of the oven so that the soufflé will have plenty of room to rise above the mold.  When ready to bake, heat oven to 425°F (recipe indicates that you can prepare the filling and let set at room temp for up to 4 hours prior to baking; I left mine out for about an hour and half, while making dinner.)

2. Brush inside (bottom and sides) of a 6-cup soufflé mold with the 1 T. melted butter.  Coat with 1/4 c. of the sugar and tap out any excess.

3. Place 2 T. butter, the chocolate, and the cream in top part of a double boiler.  In bottom part, add a small amount of water and bring to a simmer.  Hold pan over the simmering water, but NOT touching, and stir the chocolate mixture together until all melted and combined.  Set aside in a warm place.

4. Place egg yolks, vanilla, and 1/4 c. of the sugar in a large bowl.  Use whisk attachment on a hand mixer (or hand blender) to whisk until mixture is thick and ribbony.

5. Stir in chocolate mixture with egg yolk mixture.

6. Place egg whites, salt, and cream of tartar in a separate medium or large bowl.  With clean whisk attachment on hand mixer/blender, whisk the whites mixture until foamy.  Slowly add the remaining 1/4 c. sugar and continue whisking until stiff peaks stage is reached.

7. Using 1/3 of whites at a time, fold them into the chocolate mixture gently and carefully.

8. Spoon the mixture into prepared soufflé mold, filling it to the rim (or not, as was the case with my mistaken mold size).

9. Bake soufflé for 15 minutes, then reduce heat to 400°F. and continue baking for another 25-30 minutes.  Soufflé should rise to around 2 inches above mold (or in my case, up to the rim).

10. Dust top with confectioners' sugar and serve immediately.  Enjoy!