Chocolate Soufflés for Two - Handle the Heat

Chocolate Soufflés for Two

  |  
February 3rd, 2017
4.80 from 5 votes
4.80 from 5 votes

Rich yet light Chocolate Soufflés for two are the perfect romantic Valentine's Day dessert with tons of chocolate flavor! Only 7-ingredients needed. Recipe can be made ahead of time - you won't need any other soufflé recipes.

Yield: 2 soufflés

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook: 20 minutes

The ultimate romantic Valentine's Day dessert, he never has to know how EASY it is!! Can be made ahead of time too!

Tessa's Recipe Rundown...

Taste: I love the combination of chocolate and raspberry and it's absolutely perfect for Valentine's Day. Texture: Like eating a chocolate cloud in heaven. Ease: Surprisingly easy yet impressive. I've made this recipe a handful of times without any fails. Appearance: Unfortunately as the soufflés cool they begin to drop and lose their height the moment they're removed from the oven, so they should be served immediately. Pros: Absolutely divine yet totally doable. Cons: None. Would I make this again? I've already made this recipe countless times!

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One evening a few months ago we were sitting on the couch, staring at our laptop screens. I was suddenly hit with the intense urge to make something delightfully chocolate-y.

The ultimate romantic Valentine's Day dessert, he never has to know how EASY Chocolate Soufflés are to make!! Can be made ahead of time too!

I quietly made my way to the kitchen and quickly whipped up the batter while the oven preheated. About twenty five minutes later I delivered two chocolate souffles to the coffee table and completely surprised my man, who exclaimed, “Where did these come from?!”

There’s no better surprise to melt someone’s heart than an indulgent homemade treat. You can surprise your honey for Valentine’s Day with these perfect chocolate soufflés because they are surprisingly quick to make and bake and the batter can be made ahead of time, refrigerated, and baked off later. There’s really no excuse not to make chocolate soufflés.

The ultimate romantic Valentine's Day dessert, he never has to know how EASY Chocolate Soufflés are to make!! Can be made ahead of time too! And you know what? I won’t tell your significant other just how easy these are to make if you don’t. Let them think you slaved away in the kitchen 😉

The ultimate romantic Valentine's Day dessert, he never has to know how EASY Chocolate Soufflés are to make!! Can be made ahead of time too!

How to Make Chocolate Soufflés

Chocolate Soufflé Recipe Ingredients:

This is a simple recipe so use the best quality ingredients that you can get, especially when it comes to the chocolate. I love to use and always recommend Ghirardelli baking chocolate, it’s delicious and readily available at most grocery stores!

  • Butter
  • Cocoa powder
  • Bittersweet chocolate
  • Vanilla extract
  • Eggs
  • Granulated sugar
  • Pinch of salt & cream of tartar

How to bake Chocolate Soufflés:

Soufflés are notoriously finicky and prone to collapsing quickly. However, I’ve never once had this recipe fail for me. Not even when I made it in my Breville toaster oven (which truly is more like a mini oven than a toaster), or even when I drove the unbaked soufflés over to my friend’s house and baked them in her oven.

Why did my Chocolate Souffle fall or collapse?

Avoid opening and closing the oven door too many times, as slamming the oven door can cause the soufflés to collapse. I also recommend serving the soufflés as soon as they’re removed from the oven – if you wait too long to serve them, they will likely fall. Don’t leave out the cream of tartar, as this helps to stabilize the egg.

How to serve Chocolate Soufflés:

The soufflés will begin to lose their height and even collapse as soon as they’re removed from the oven. For the most impressive presentation, serve literally as soon as humanly possible once you pull them out. Have your powdered sugar and raspberry sauce at the ready for this!

The powdered sugar garnish really is worth the extra minute to do. It just looks so gourmet! I like to use my handy OXO Baker’s Dusting Wand to make quick and easy work of this. Also, the raspberry sauce really does add the perfectly complementary tartness and freshness. At the very least, serve alongside fresh raspberries if you don’t have time to make the sauce.

How to make Chocolate Soufflés ahead of time:

The best part about this recipe is that the batter can be prepared and poured into the ramekins, then covered and refrigerated for up to 1 day ahead of time. Bake directly from the fridge, adding up to 5 minutes to the baking time.

More Valentine’s Day Recipes

See all my favorite Valentine’s Day & romantic recipes here!

4.80 from 5 votes

How to make
Chocolate Soufflés for Two

Yield: 2 soufflés
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes
Total Time: 30 minutes
Rich yet light Chocolate Soufflés for two are the perfect romantic Valentine's Day dessert with tons of chocolate flavor! Only 7-ingredients needed. Recipe can be made ahead of time - you won't need any other soufflé recipes.

Ingredients

Chocolate Soufflés:

  • 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, divided
  • 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
  • 3 ounces (85 grams) bittersweet chocolate, chopped
  • 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 2 large egg yolks
  • 2 large egg whites
  • 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
  • Pinch salt
  • Pinch cream of tartar

Raspberry Sauce:

  • 5 ounces (142 grams) fresh or thawed frozen raspberries
  • 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
  • Powdered sugar, for garnish

Directions

Chocolate Soufflés:

  1. Preheat the oven to 375°F. Brush 1 tablespoon of the butter to grease two 8-ounce ramekins. Coat the ramekins with cocoa powder, tapping out the excess.

  2. In a large microwave-safe bowl, microwave the chocolate and remaining 2 tablespoons of butter in 30-second bursts, stirring between each burst, until the chocolate mixture is melted and smooth. Use a rubber spatula to stir in vanilla and egg yolks, one at a time.

  3. In a clean bowl, use an electric mixer (stand mixer or hand mixer works) to beat the egg whites, sugar, salt, and cream of tartar just until stiff peaks form. Gently fold the egg white mixture into the chocolate. Spoon into the prepared ramekins. Soufflés can be covered in plastic wrap and refrigerated at this point for up to 1 day.

  4. Bake until puffed and set, about 20 minutes (about 25 minutes if baking directly from the refrigerator).

Raspberry Sauce:

  1. While the soufflés are baking, purée the raspberries and sugar in the bowl of a food processor, blender, or with an immersion blender, until smooth. Press the mixture through a fine mesh strainer to remove the seeds.

  2. Garnish the chocolate soufflés with powdered sugar and serve immediately with raspberry sauce.

Recipe Notes

Recipe adapted from Real Simple
Course : Dessert
Cuisine : French
Keyword : chocolate souffles

This recipe was originally published on 2/4/13. It was recently updated with new photos and recipe tips. Photos by Constance Higley.

Tessa Arias
Author: Tessa Arias

I share trusted baking recipes your friends will LOVE alongside insights into the science of sweets. I'm a professionally trained chef, cookbook author, and cookie queen. I love to write about all things sweet, carb-y, and homemade. I live in Phoenix, Arizona (hence the blog name!)

Tessa Arias

About Tessa...

I share trusted baking recipes your friends will LOVE alongside insights into the science of sweets. I'm a professionally trained chef, cookbook author, and cookie queen. I love to write about all things sweet, carb-y, and homemade. I live in Phoenix, Arizona (hence the blog name!)

Find Tessa on  

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Recipe Rating




  1. #
    Subhagya — November 24, 2021 at 3:07 am

    You make this recopies so easy, very tasty and delicious. Guiding us step by step. Thank you for this helpful post

  2. #
    Faith — February 15, 2021 at 8:01 pm

    This recipe was so easy!! It tasted delicious. This was my first attempt at souffles and this was a great starter recipe. Can’t wait to try it again.

    • #
      Tessa — February 16, 2021 at 12:56 pm

      Hooray! So glad you gave this recipe a try!

      • #
        ted — December 5, 2021 at 4:48 pm

        Hi Tessa – please properly credit the recipe for the chocolate soufflé to Real Simple!

        https://www.realsimple.com/food-recipes/browse-all-recipes/chocolate-souffl

        • #
          Emily — December 14, 2021 at 9:43 am

          Hi Ted! Thanks so much for bringing this to our attention! It looks like this was one of our recipes that lost its credit attributions when we moved all 1,000+ recipes to a new recipe formatting plugin. We have added the credit to the recipe card.

  3. #
    tundep — February 14, 2021 at 10:54 am

    Very decadent, super easy to make, thanks do much!

  4. #
    Meaghan — August 16, 2020 at 7:15 pm

    I made this tonight! They turned out great! My only comment would be that it took almost 8 min to whip the egg white mixture with my hand mixer (too little liquid for my stand mixer), so I wish I had known that going into it just so I could be prepared! These were much easier than I anticipated, and I will definitely make them again -many times!

  5. #
    Shahd — May 4, 2020 at 3:06 pm

    Hey, what do i do if I don’t have cream of tartar and also, why we don’t use flour in this recipe?

  6. #
    Ted Gill — November 3, 2019 at 1:37 pm

    Hi Tessa – please properly credit the recipe for the chocolate soufflé to Real Simple!

    https://www.realsimple.com/food-recipes/browse-all-recipes/chocolate-souffl

  7. #
    Fernanda — February 12, 2019 at 7:55 am

    My ramekins are 7oz… :'( Will that work? Should I just put a little less batter?

  8. #
    nicole (thespicetrain.com) — January 2, 2019 at 8:01 pm

    These look incredible and that top photo is one of the best action shots I’ve ever seen. Thank you for sharing, Tessa! 🙂

  9. #
    Albert Bevia — February 16, 2018 at 11:43 am

    Love your take on the almighty chocolate souffle, but I have to say…that touch with the raspberry sauce takes your souffles to the next level…impressive recipe

  10. #
    Cheryl — February 14, 2018 at 7:50 pm

    We agree with Di,
    Definitely will not be making these again! My soufflés are usually “over the top”in taste and appearance; these failed on both accounts and were the less than I had hoped for the ending to our delicious Valentines dinner.

  11. #
    Di — January 30, 2018 at 6:40 pm

    I just made this about 30 mins ago, for myself while hubby is away. I liked it, but it was oddly cake-ish to me. Squishy cake, but cake like. I have gotten into souffles recently and all the other ones I have made have more of a roux base that you cook, and a lighter fluffier texture. This rose nicely and looked beautiful, but as much as I like chocolate I don’t think I will be making this again.

  12. #
    Lisa — February 15, 2017 at 10:34 am

    Made the decision to make this last night at 5 PM, had them whipped up and in the frig in less than half hour. Cooked them while we started watching a movie (he had no idea), and he was so happy and surprised when I presented the chocolate souffles to him! As recent empty nesters, I appreciate the recipe was for two, and I LOVE the fact that you can put it in the frig ahead of time!! Great recipe!!

    • #
      Tessa — February 16, 2017 at 2:38 pm

      LOVE this, Lisa! So glad you and your man enjoyed the recipe.

  13. #
    Alexandra — February 3, 2017 at 12:34 pm

    All this, AND you have a Breville smart oven? Something’s really not fair. 😉

    • #
      Tessa — February 9, 2017 at 8:33 pm

      Haha! I’ve had it for YEARS. Bought it when I worked at Sur la Table in college with my employee discount 😉

  14. #
    Donna — February 3, 2017 at 9:02 am

    Anna, the first sentence in the directions specifically say (2) 8-oz ramekins.

  15. #
    Anna — November 6, 2016 at 10:43 am

    Looks delicious! What size ramekins to use, please?

  16. #
    Anna — November 6, 2016 at 10:43 am

    What size ramekin?? Looks delicious!

  17. #
    Teresa — April 11, 2016 at 5:59 am

    I made this recipe last night and absolutely loved it! I want to make it for a dinner party for 8 people do I just a multiple all the ingredients by 4? Just seems like 12 egg yolks is a lot.

  18. #
    Lisa — February 15, 2015 at 5:27 pm

    I made these for my husband and me. They were delicious!! Its difficult to find recipes for two. I appreciate that you developed and shared this one!
    Thank You!
    Lisa

  19. #
    Deanna — May 4, 2014 at 3:56 pm

    Can I double the recipe?

    • #
      Tessa — May 6, 2014 at 1:42 pm

      Sure!

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  21. #
    Hayley — February 17, 2013 at 4:53 pm

    SO delicious, hit with my dad and sis, very easy.

  22. #
    halle — February 12, 2013 at 3:29 pm

    how many calories in each?

  23. #
    Brigette — February 12, 2013 at 12:02 am

    These look wonderful! Perfect for Valentine’s day…or even just a loooong day at work!

  24. #
    Paul — February 6, 2013 at 3:40 am

    Another one of your must try recipes, stumbled across your site a few months ago, glad I did. Love the emails.

  25. #
    Lynna — February 5, 2013 at 10:05 pm

    These chocolate souffles look adorable! 😀

  26. #
    Tracey — February 4, 2013 at 11:02 am

    Chocolate souffles are one of life’s little pleasures, they’re just so darn good! You totally have me craving one now!

  27. #
    Caroline @ chocolate & carrots — February 4, 2013 at 10:39 am

    I’ve made chocolate souffles before and it’s the best excuse for chocolate ever. Yours looks fabulous!

  28. #
    Diane @ Vintage Zest — February 4, 2013 at 9:28 am

    Ooh! I have to blame you for the weird looks my neighbor on the plane just gave me. I squealed a tiny bit after seeing this picture. It looks sooo yummy!

    I’ll have to add this to my ever growing list of recipes to cook when I get back. First your lentil soup, then the Mexican chocolate pie for sure because the boyfriend has been looking forward to both of those!

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