Hey everyone!! Long time no see! The past several months have been comprised of frantic bar prep - then taking the bar exam, which in terms of difficulty and misery was like solo healing Titan Ex in i70 gear - then I moved to Dallas - then I started a new job! Cooking has been the last thing on my mind recently (*looks guiltily over at In N’ Out burger wrappers*), but now that I’m actually in the same place for more than two weeks at a time, let’s resume cooking all of the amazing dishes Eorzea has to offer. (Just in time for 3.4 to come out!) ALSO. Y’ALL. My new place has a gas stove. Talk about Master Culinarian digs.

I probably should ease back into the posting-once-a-week-or-so schedule with an easier recipe, but of course I saw a soufflé on the menu and decided I wanted to make that instead. This one is a long one, so I’ve inserted one of them fancy Read More page breaks. Sorry y’all. Meringues are fussy.

I’ve had savory soufflés before, but I think from the ingredient list (maple syrup, cream cheese, lemon) that this Cheese Souffle is meant to be more like a Japanese “cheesecake soufflé,” a Moogle-fluffy, melt-in-your-mouth meringue concoction rarely seen in America. It’s not as tall and puffy as a regular souffle, and it’s much lighter and eggier than a cheesecake - it’s kind of a hybrid of the two. After studying some recipes, I adapted the usual cheesecake soufflé to include the universal Eorzean sweetener, Maple Syrup, as a glaze. I made this with a springform pan, because the high sides are great for a cheesecake (and because springforms make it easy to extract a cake without tearing the sides.) My cake cracked a bit, but the texture and flavor were delicious!

Cheese Souffle!

Cooking spray

14oz cream cheese, softened

6 eggs

¾ cup sugar

4 tbsp (half a stick) of unsalted butter

¾ - 1 cup heavy whipping cream

Juice of 1 fresh squeezed lemon (about a tablespoon)

½ cup flour

Very hot water (about 2 cups)

¼ cup maple syrup (the real stuff, not pancake syrup!)

1/8 tsp vanilla extract





Separate your six eggs into whites and yolks. (I just pour the yolk back and forth over a bowl to catch the whites.) Make sure that not a speck of yolk ends up in your egg whites, because any fat can destroy a meringue. Leave your cream cheese, eggs yolks, whipping cream, and butter on the counter for an hour or two before baking to soften them up, but put the whites in the fridge. Wrap the bottom and sides of your springform pan as tightly as possible in heavy-duty aluminum foil to avoid the batter seeping out. Spray the inside liberally with cooking spray, then cut a piece of parchment paper and line the inside (bottom and walls.) Preheat the oven to 320 degrees Fahrenheit.

Unless you want Roegadyn arms, use an electric mixer to beat the cream cheese and about 5 tablespoons of sugar until smooth. Mix in the butter, then add the egg yolks and the heavy cream. (I used a little less than a cup of heavy cream, after using some for our morning coffees. Luscious.) Finally, add the lemon juice and beat until smooth, then add the flour. When the batter is smooth, set it aside. Halfway there!

Now for the tricky part. Clean your beaters thoroughly - remember, no fat anywhere. Place your egg whites in a new bowl and begin to mix them on medium-low until they begin to look thick and bubbly. Add your sugar about a third at a time until it’s incorporated smoothly, then turn the speed to high and beat the whites for several minutes. Your meringue should turn glossy and swell up to double its size. Beat until stiff peaks form, then mix some of your meringue into the first batter and mix. Finally, fold (don’t mix! keep those whites fluffy!) the remainder of the meringue into the batter, gently sweeping until incorporated into a smooth batter. Pour the completed batter into the parchment paper-lined pan, then tap the pan on the countertop to encourage any lurking air bubbles to leave.

Place your pan in the middle of a baking dish, then pour the hot water around it to reach about 1″ high (no need to be too exact.) You can also just put the hot water-dish one level lower than your baking pan if you don’t have one big enough; it’ll keep the oven moist. Bake for about an hour at 320F or until the top begins to brown, then drop the temperature by 20 degrees (to 300F) and bake for another half hour or until a toothpick comes out clean. The cake will be “done” at this point, but removing a soufflé from a hot oven will ruin the airy texture. Just turn the oven off, leave the door partway open, and let it cool for 15-20 minutes before you take it out, to slowly lower the temperature and keep the puff intact. Remove the walls from the springform pan (or carefully remove the cake by lifting the parchment paper) and place the cake on a wire baking rack or other surface to cool.

While the cheesecake is cooling, heat maple syrup and vanilla extract to a simmer in a saucepan and let the syrup reduce, stirring occasionally, until it thickens a bit. Once the cake is cool, brush the glaze over the surface with a pastry brush (or spoon it on and use the back of the spoon to cover the top of the cake.) Slice and serve!