Valentine’s Day (February 14) is less than 24 hours away, so if you’re looking for a quick and easy way to spoil \u00a0a loved one we have just the thing. Eric Lanlard – an award-winning master patissier and international baker to the stars – is fresh from his recent appearance on Channel 4’s The Taste (alongside Nigella Lawson) and has shared one of his favourite Valentine’s recipes with us here at Distinctive Chesterfields.<\/p>\n

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It takes just 20 minutes to whip up this tempting hot chocolate souffl\u00e9,\u00a0which gives you plenty of time to pull out all the stops on Valentine’s Day evening. The author of five books – including his latest,\u00a0\u2018Chocolat<\/a>\u2019, <\/strong>Eric\u00a0<\/strong>celebrates his favourite ingredient – chocolate – both in the publication itself and on our blog today. He’s baked for the Royal family, and Madonna, amongst others, and his just created a range of themed afternoon teas for London’s prestigious<\/span>\u00a0Jumeirah Carlton Tower Hotel<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Without further ado, then, here’s Eric’s recipe for delicious chocolate souffl\u00e9s:<\/p>\n

He says: “I love souffl\u00e9. It is such as simple recipe with few ingredients, but it still has\u00a0the wow factor every time you make one. This chocolate version, especially\u00a0when served with a vanilla ice-cream drop, is superb.”<\/p>\n

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Serves 6<\/b><\/p>\n

Preparation time: <\/b>20 minutes<\/p>\n

Cooking time: <\/b>15 minutes<\/p>\n

Ingredients<\/strong><\/p>\n

unsalted butter, for greasing<\/p>\n

125g (4oz) dark chocolate,<\/p>\n

roughly chopped<\/p>\n

2 tsp dark rum (optional)<\/p>\n

2 tbsp cr\u00e8me fra\u00eeche<\/p>\n

4 eggs, separated, plus 2 egg whites<\/p>\n

pinch of salt<\/p>\n

icing sugar, for dusting<\/p>\n

Method<\/strong><\/p>\n

–\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Preheat the oven to 200\u00b0C (fan 180\u00b0C)\/400\u00b0F\/gas mark 6. Grease 6 ramekin dishes.<\/p>\n

–\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Melt the chocolate in a heatproof bowl set over a saucepan of barely simmering water, making sure the surface of the water does not touch the bowl. Stir in the rum, if using. Remove from the heat and add the cr\u00e8me fra\u00eeche, then the egg yolks.<\/p>\n

–\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 In a large, clean, dry bowl, whisk all the egg whites and the salt to soft peaks.<\/p>\n

–\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Fold one-quarter of the egg whites into the chocolate mixture, then fold in the remaining whites.<\/p>\n

–\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Fill the prepared ramekins to the top with the mixture, then clean the rims using your finger and thumb. Place on a baking sheet and bake in the oven for 10\u201312 minutes, or until nicely risen. Dust with icing sugar and serve immediately.<\/p>\n

Tip:<\/i><\/b> For a delicious party trick, serve your souffl\u00e9s with an ice-cream drop. Before you make the souffl\u00e9s, scoop out 6 balls of good-quality vanilla ice cream and place on a freezer-proof plate. Keep in the freezer until ready to serve. When serving the souffl\u00e9s at the table, drop an ice-cream ball into each souffl\u00e9.<\/i><\/p>\n

A big thank you to Eric Lanlard for providing us with this lovely recipe. Happy Valentine’s Day, everyone!<\/p>\n

Psst: Eric also has a brand new Valentine’s app out. It’s called Cake-Boy Classics, and contains everything you need to create a successful baking sensation. Brimming with recipes and features, the app contains how-tos for everything from pastries to cakes, cheesecakes and cupcakes. The app is available on both Apple and Android handsets and tablets, and Amazon Kindle.<\/p>\n

Recipe taken from Chocolat by Eric Lanlard published by Mitchell Beazley\u00a0(c) photography Kate Whitaker<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Valentine’s Day (February 14) is less than 24 hours away, so if you’re looking for a quick and easy way to spoil \u00a0a loved one we have just the thing. Eric Lanlard – an award-winning master patissier and international baker to the stars – is fresh from his recent appearance on Channel 4’s The Taste … Continued<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[384],"tags":[533,534,535,536,537,538],"class_list":["post-8587","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-recipes","tag-chocolate-baker","tag-chocolate-souffle","tag-eric-lanlard","tag-recipes","tag-valentines-cakes","tag-valentines-recipes"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n