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Dessert

Coffee Souffle

A light dessert made by folding beaten egg whites into a coffee and gelatin mixture.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 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 ↓

Coffee Souffle

Ingredients

Directions

Make the base

  1. Heat the coffee, milk, gelatin, and half the sugar in a double boiler until hot.

  2. Add the beaten egg yolks and the remaining sugar, then stir for a few minutes.

  3. Remove from heat.

Add the whites

  1. Beat the egg whites until stiff.

  2. Mix in the vanilla.

  3. Fold the egg whites into the coffee mixture gently.

Set and serve

  1. Pour the mixture into a wet mold.

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

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

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

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

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

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

  4. Coffee + vanillatop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,391 recipes

    Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).

  5. Coffee + milktop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,202 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4-heptenal (creamy, biscuit).

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

Eggs
Yolks enrich and thicken the base, while beaten whites add lightness.
Powdered gelatin
Sets the mixture so it holds its shape when unmolded.
Egg whites
Whipped into foam to give the souffle its airy, light texture.
Sugar
Adds sweetness and helps stabilise the whipped egg whites.
Milk
Adds richness and a softer, creamier body.

The step that matters

Folding the egg whites into the coffee mixture gently. Whipped egg whites trap air that gives the souffle its lift. Vigorous stirring knocks that air out, so the finished dessert turns dense and flat instead of light.

“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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