Dave and Linda from Monkeyshines in the Kitchen chose Soufflés as our November 2010 Daring Cooks’ Challenge! Dave and Linda provided two of their own delicious recipes plus a sinfully decadent chocolate soufflé recipe adapted from Gordon Ramsay’s recipe found at the BBC Good Food website.

I've been hankering for a challenge like this one because I love this type of dessert. I love making it and eating it. Not all desserts can fool you into thinking there's nothing to them but this soufflé does...it's almost too easy to polish one off in under 15 seconds. Flat. That's the reason I've chosen a soufflé that offers a bit of substance as well as flavour. You will need time, more than 15 seconds in order to savour this one and to be able to appreciate its texture and spicy nature. The interesting thing is that I am not a big fan of spicy sweets. I love spices but just not in desserts, don't know why. I was, though, drawn into this 1998 recipe from the New York Times. The ingredient list sounded intriguing, intriguing enough for me to eradicate my fear of spicy sweets. The verdict? This is simply delicious. No overpowering tones, none of that here. Subtlety reigns supreme and this soufflé is a winner because of it. I liked the texture as well. You are supposed to let it cool before you eat it and it is what distinguishes it from others. I will turn this into a cake one day and see what happens...serve it with a caramel glaze, perhaps? We'll see.

Ginger Soufflé Cakes, adapted from Bill Lipscomb's recipe in the New York Times.

Time: 2 hours

Cake flour: 150 grams

Baking powder: 1 teaspoon

Ground ginger: 1 1/2 teaspoons

Cinnamon: 1 teaspoon

Ground nutmeg: 1/2 teaspoon

Ground allspice: 1/2 teaspoon

Salt: 1/4 teaspoon

Butter, softened: 226 grams

Dark brown sugar: 75 grams

Whole eggs: 2

Buttermilk: 1/2 cup

Molasses: 1/2 cup scant

Vanilla extract: 3 teaspoons

Eggs, separated: 3

Sugar: 1/3 cup

Milk: 1 1/2 cups

1. Whisk the flour, baking powder, ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice and salt in a bowl until well blended. Set aside. Use some of the butter to grease six 150 ml soufflé dishes. Preheat oven to 160 C.

2. Beat remaining butter with brown sugar until well-blended. Beat in whole eggs, one at a time. Beating at low speed, add the flour mixture alternately with the buttermilk. Stir in molasses and 2 teaspoons vanilla.

3. In a clean bowl, beat the egg whites until softly peaked. Beat in 1/4 cup of the sugar and continue beating until the mixture holds peaks but is not stiff. Fold the egg white mixture into the batter. Pour the mixture into the souffle dishes. Place in the oven and bake 45 to 50 minutes, until firm to the touch on top and a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean. Remove from the oven and allow to cool almost to room temperature.

4. While the soufflés are baking, beat the remaining sugar with the egg yolks until thick and light. In a heavy saucepan, scald the milk and, whisking constantly, slowly pour about half into the egg yolk mixture. Then stir the egg yolk mixture into the hot milk remaining in the saucepan. Place over medium-low heat and cook, stirring with a wooden spoon, until the custard has thickened enough to coat the spoon and steam begins to rise from it. Remove from heat, stir in the remaining teaspoon of vanilla, strain into a bowl, cover and refrigerate.

5. Unmould the soufflés by running a knife around the edges and inverting each onto a dessert plate. Spoon some of the custard around each portion and serve.

Yield: 6 servings