A Month of Soups: Chocolate Soup

Happy Leap Day! It’s been quite a month. Lil Bro asked if I knew enough soups to fill a month. Can you answer that question for him? Not only did I fill the month--admittedly the shortest one--but I have soups left in my files. I actually made choices about which soups to use.

I could do more. For example, when fresh fruits are in season, I make a chilled peach soup with nasturtiums floating on top. I love making gazpacho for a hot summer day. And my chilled cucumber soup is the stuff of memories--fond ones, of course. That’s not even mentioning my 15-Bean Soup or Turkey Rice or Split Pea or French Onion or Reuben Soup. Need I go on? But we are at the end, and you earned your reward. We’ve had appetizer soups and dinner soups. Today, dessert soup.

Ah! Chocolate, the food of love. Chocolate soup is decadent. To add to the decadence, take a couple of slices of pound cake and cut into cubes. Let them dry a bit. Then toss with butter and cinnamon and bake until lightly browned. Cool and float on top of your soup.

But we’ll leave it here. DH is screaming for dead red! Steak coming up with a dollop of blue cheese on top! Then chocolate soup! Ah! Won’t he be surprised?

Chocolate Soup (serves 4-6)

2 c heavy whipping cream

2 c milk

2 egg yolks, beaten

4 T sugar

~4 oz grated chocolate, at least 70% cacao

1 t vanilla

¼ t red pepper flakes

¼ c toasted coconut

20-30 2” cubes pound cake or angel food cake

Put cake cubes under broiler. Watch closely. When browned, turn over and brown the bottom. Remove to a rack to cool.

Over low heat, bring whipping cream and milk to hot. Slowly whisk in egg yolks and stir until incorporated. Stir in sugar. Slowly add grated chocolate. Whisk until smooth. Add vanilla and red pepper flakes. Serve with cubes of cake and a sprinkle of toasted coconut on top.

DH’s Rating: 4 Tongues Up! You know, he surprised me. I thought he would think this weird, and he did, kind of, but he ate it and enjoyed it. He thought it had too much red pepper (I had used ½ t pepper flakes), so I adjusted the recipe for you. Wait until you see what I’m going to do with the leftover soup!