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Dessert

Cold Chocolate Souffle

A chilled chocolate custard folded with whipped egg whites, served in a mold with jelly and fruit.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 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 ↓

Cold Chocolate Souffle

Ingredients

Directions

Make the custard

  1. Beat the egg yolks in a bowl.

  2. Boil the milk and pour it over the yolks.

  3. Return the mixture to the saucepan and stir over gentle heat until thick.

  4. Add the sugar and vanilla, then set aside to cool, stirring often.

  5. Dissolve the chocolate and gelatine in the water, then cool and stir into the custard.

Set and serve

  1. When the custard begins to thicken, whip the egg whites to stiff peaks and gently fold them in.

  2. Pour the mixture into a border mold decorated with clear jelly and mixed fruits.

  3. Once set, turn out and fill the center with sweetened whipped cream flavored with vanilla, or serve without 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. Vanilla + chocolatetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,020 recipes

    Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).

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

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

  4. Sugar + chocolatetop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,404 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  5. Milk + chocolatetop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,128 recipes

    Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, sweet).

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 yolks
Thicken the custard base and add richness when gently heated.
Egg whites
Whipped to stiff peaks, they give the soufflé its light, airy structure.
Gelatine
Sets the chilled mixture so it holds its shape when turned out.
Chocolate
Provides the chocolate flavour and some body to the custard.
Milk
Forms the liquid base of the custard along with the yolks.

The step that matters

Folding in the egg whites. Fold gently once the custard has begun to thicken. Stirring vigorously knocks out the air trapped in the whites, and folding into a mixture that is too warm or too runny lets the foam collapse, leaving a dense, flat soufflé.

“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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