Sally's Baking Addiction Chocolate Soufflé Review

I have checked out Sally's Baking Addiction for years. Any time I need a dessert recipe, it's one of the first sites I head to. Every month she features a baking challenge. This year, I've tried both of the recipes, but this post is about the Chocolate Soufflé recipe for February.

I've never made a soufflé before, but I've certainly watched the French Chef episode where Julia Child makes a cheese soufflé plenty of times, and it didn't seem overly scary, so why not give it a try with this chocolate version. I'm not usually afraid of dealing with egg whites. I haven't done it many times since the recipes I usually use don't include whipped egg whites, so maybe it's just false confidence, but the worst I can do is beat the crap out of them and ruin it. It helps that this was only for the two of us, and if it didn't work out, we had ice cream in the freezer!

Sally's directions on the blog are fantastic for someone who has never attempted a soufflé before. There are notes on where you might hit a snag and helpful tips for completing the recipe.

I didn't have the perfect ramekins for the project, so I went with my 7-ounce Corningware dishes. They have a wider lip, so I didn't get the impressive picture with the lift, but I can tell you that the soufflés did their thing and rose, even if you can't see it in the finished product. If I were to make these for company, I'd get the right container.

There are only two of us, so I decided I'd also take the recipe's tip for preparing ahead of time. We had the first pair on Saturday night and the second pair Sunday night. I thought this would also be a great way to test the make-ahead aspect of the recipe.

With the clear directions, the mixture came together quickly. I was surprised how fast it went. For the chocolate, I used a Ghiradelli semi-sweet bar from the baking aisle. I've used the Ghiradelli bars many times and have always been pleased with the chocolate flavor.

I did use my Kitchen Aid Stand Mixer for the egg whites, because why wouldn't you? I added the egg whites in three additions as the recipe recommended. I was a little nervous about deflating all of the air that I had worked into the whites, and it stayed light and fluffy. The finished mixture was smooth and shiny.

I spooned the mixture into the dishes and added the channel that the recipe recommended in the recipe. I'm not sure it helped because of my containers' shape, but at least it was practice. Then, I covered them all with plastic wrap and put them in the fridge until later. When it was time for dessert, I preheated the oven and placed two dishes on a baking sheet. I ended up baking the soufflés for about 16 minutes. Since I've never baked one before, I wasn't sure exactly how much jiggle it should have, so I erred on the side of less jiggle.

As you can see, the soufflés did mushroom just a little bit, but again, I think that's 100% a function of the dishes that I used. I'm confident that if my dishes only had straight sides all the way up, I would've had the straight sides that the recipe shows. I did sit in front of the oven and watch as they baked. It's just like tv, right? I was a little worried that it didn't seem to be doing much for most of the time, but in the end, it puffed right up.

We had the soufflés with homemade whipped cream (just heavy cream, a sprinkle of sugar, and a drop of vanilla extract) and raspberries. I felt like the raspberries were an excellent way to cut the intense chocolate flavor, but my partner wasn't too thrilled with the seeds in his teeth. The next day, he nixed the raspberries. We were both impressed with the finished dessert, and while there isn't much that I've made that he hasn't liked, he said several times how much he enjoyed these chocolate soufflés.

I would definitely make this Chocolate Soufflé again! If you're at all nervous about making them, just go for it. The directions are clear and easy to understand, and if you don't try and maybe make a mistake, how can you get better?