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Dessert

Chocolate Souffle

A baked chocolate dessert made with butter, flour, milk, chocolate, eggs, sugar, vanilla, and salt.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Milk and vanilla are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 19,187 recipes. Both carry ethyl caproate, which smells fruity, apple peel. The science ↓

Chocolate Souffle

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Make the base

  1. Melt the butter in a saucepan.

  2. Add the flour and gradually pour in the milk while stirring constantly.

  3. Bring the mixture to a boil, then add the melted chocolate mixed with sugar and hot water to form a smooth paste.

  4. Beat the egg yolks until thick and lemon-colored, then add to the chocolate mixture and stir in the salt.

Fold and bake

  1. Cool the mixture slightly, then cut and fold in the beaten egg whites until stiff and dry.

  2. Add the vanilla and gently mix.

  3. Turn the mixture into a buttered baking dish and bake at 350°F (175°C) for 30 to 35 minutes.

  4. Serve immediately with creamy sauce or vanilla ice cream.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Milk + vanillatop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,187 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).

  2. Chocolate + vanillatop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,020 recipes

    Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).

  3. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  4. Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together35,032 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  5. Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Sugar and vanilla barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 35,032 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Egg whites
Whipped into foam, they lift the mixture and give the soufflé its airy rise.
Egg yolks
Thicken the base and add richness and structure as they set with heat.
Chocolate
Provides the main flavor and, melted into the base, gives the soufflé its color and body.
Flour
Thickens the milk into a sauce that holds the air bubbles and supports the rise.
Milk
Forms the liquid base with the flour, adding moisture and softness to the texture.
Butter
Adds fat and flavor to the base and helps prevent sticking in the buttered dish.

The step that matters

Folding in the egg whites. Egg whites hold air only until deflated. Folding gently keeps bubbles intact, and the base should be cooled slightly first so heat does not collapse the foam.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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