Where it comes from
Created in 1978 by Moscow confectioner Vladimir Guralnik at the Praga restaurant, who spent six months perfecting it; the Russian version's signature is agar-agar rather than gelatin in the soufflé.
On the plate
The soufflé is impossibly light, melting on the tongue somewhere between marshmallow and mousse, gently sweet and faintly tangy with milk. The thin chocolate shell snaps crisply against it, and the sponge adds a tender backbone. It feels like eating a sweetened cloud.
How it works
Agar-agar sets firmer and more heat-stable than gelatin, holding the airy meringue in a sliceable yet melting soufflé at room temperature. Streaming the hot syrup into the whipping whites cooks and stabilizes them, while the butter and condensed milk add richness without weighing the foam down.
Variations
Classic chocolate-glazed cake, lemon-scented soufflé, parfait or candy-bar versions, gelatin-set Western adaptations, layered with multiple sponges
On the Palate
Ingredients
Serves 10
How it's made
8 steps · Show ↓50 min active · 240 min waiting
How it's made
8 steps · Show ↓- 130 min
Bake a thin, tender butter sponge and cut it into two layers.
- 210 min
Soak agar-agar in water, then boil it with sugar into a hot, thick syrup.
- 315 min
Whip egg whites to stiff peaks, then beat in soft butter with condensed milk separately.
- 45 min
Pour the hot agar syrup into the whipping whites in a thin, steady stream.
- 53 min
Quickly fold the butter mixture into the warm meringue before the agar sets.
- 68 min
Pour half the soufflé over one sponge layer, add the second sponge, then the rest.
- 7240 min
Chill until the soufflé is fully set and firm, at least three to four hours.
- 820 min
Pour over melted chocolate glaze, smooth the top, and chill again before slicing.
