The Fluffy Goddess

Soufflé is like magic - everybody loves to see it and enjoys eating it. I always order soufflé if it is on the menu whenever I visit a restaurant. I have tried both sweet and savory, from lobster to passionfruit; chocolate by far is the best that I have ever had. The uniqueness of soufflé lies upon its fragility, it only has a few seconds of glory at the maximum peak and total fluffiness, as soon as it clashes with cold air, it then get deflated and wrinkles up into a sad and clumsy cake.

Yesterday, when I was debating whether to make a chocolate cake or almond cookies, a sudden crave called for chocolate soufflé. I quickly went to my bookshelf and fetched for the old recipe, within two hours time, I recreated the dessert with additional ground hazelnut. Here is a picture of the happy soufflés enjoying a steam bath in the hot oven.


Making a soufflé can be very tricky and failing is common. I have lots of bad experience before, including overbeating the egg white, curdling the yolks, overmixing the batter, etc, etc.... the demand for precision is particularly painful, and the stress level is like going through a brain surgery. Still, up to today, I need to be fully concentrated whenever I make a soufflé, making sure I don't overbeat the meringue and mess up the procedures, and hold my breath when taking these babies out of the oven. Luckily yesterday the soufflé was able to sustain its peak when I took them out of the oven, I got so excited and kept snapping pictures, forgetting to sprinkle powdered sugar to make it more presentable....anyway, I will make up for it next time..