Skip to main content
Dessert

Chocolate Souffle

A chocolate dessert made by folding beaten egg whites into a chocolate mixture.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Vanilla and milk 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

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the base

  1. Dissolve gelatin in cold water.

  2. Melt chocolate with sugar over hot water; gradually add milk.

  3. When milk is scalded, stir in beaten egg yolks mixed with ½ cup sugar.

  4. Cook until the mixture coats the spoon; add vanilla and dissolved gelatin.

Assemble and set

  1. Strain the mixture over the stiffly beaten egg whites.

  2. Fold in the egg whites gently, then pour into a chilled mold to congeal.

  3. Serve with sweetened whipped 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. Vanilla + milktop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,187 recipes

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

  2. Vanilla + chocolatetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,020 recipes

    Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).

  3. Gelatin + creamtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,628 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

  4. Sugar + gelatintop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,778 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  5. Vanilla + sugartop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together35,032 recipes

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

Vanilla and sugar 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

Eggs
Egg yolks thicken the custard, and whipped whites give the souffle its light, airy structure.
Gelatin
Sets the mixture so it holds its shape when chilled and unmolded.
Chocolate
Provides the main chocolate flavor and richness in the custard base.
Milk
Adds liquid and creaminess to the chocolate base.
Sugar
Sweetens the custard and balances the bitterness of the chocolate.

The step that matters

Fold in the egg whites gently. Folding keeps the air trapped in the beaten whites. Stirring or deflating them makes the souffle dense and flat once it sets.

“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.

You might also like

Chocolate CreamChocolate Cream171 recipesVanilla Ice CreamVanilla Ice Cream108 recipesChocolate CookiesChocolate Cookies76 recipesChocolate FudgeChocolate Fudge55 recipes