Sometimes I need a special dairy-free dessert for a date night or intimate dinner party. And this luxurious dark chocolate souffle recipe is perfect – it’s easy, yet impressive.
The original recipe with photo was shared with us by Filippo Berio, an olive oil brand that I’ve purchased for years! Their extra-light olive oil is neutral in flavor, so it works in almost any baking application.
Their Dark Chocolate Souffle recipe did use a touch of dairy, but coconut cream is a seamless swap. You’re just using a small amount, so it won’t dramatically affect the overall flavor profile. For a visual explanation of coconut cream, see my Guide to Coconut Milk.
Special Diet Notes: Dark Chocolate Souffle
By ingredients, this recipe is dairy-free / n0n-dairy, gluten-free, nut-free, peanut-free, soy-free, and vegetarian. It might work with aquafaba in place the eggs, but we haven’t a vegan version.
- ½ tablespoon extra-light olive oil, plus additional for coating the pan
- ¼ cup cane sugar, plus additional dusting the pan
- 4 ounces dairy-free 70% dark chocolate
- ⅓ cup coconut cream
- 3 egg whites
- 2 egg yolks
- Pinch cream of tartar
- Preheat your oven to 375ºF and grease two (6-ounce) ramekins with olive oil and dust with sugar.
- Melt the chocolate, ½ tablespoon olive oil, and coconut cream together in a double broiler. Let cool.
- Put the egg whites in a mixing bowl and beat with a hand mixer until soft peaks form.
- Whisk the egg yolks into the cooled chocolate mixture. Fold in the egg whites, ¼ cup sugar, and cream of tartar.
- Divide the chocolate batter between your prepared ramekins.
- Bake for 15 minutes. Serve warm and garnish with fresh berries, if desired.
Key Pantry Supplies: Dark Chocolate Souffle
Want More Recipes? Enjoy My Cookbook, Eat Dairy Free!

4 Comments
I’m thinking of attempting this recipe. I just have a few questions;
Is the coconut cream just the thick part of canned coconut milk?
I’m curious what joe meant about adding the sugar & cream of tartar to the meringue mixture instead?
Also, is there any substitute I can use for sugar for this recipe?
Thanks!
Tried this recipe. The substitute of coconut cream worked really well. Next time I would add the sugar and cream of tartar to the meringue mixture to avoid overmixing when combining with the chocolate.
Great tip! Thanks for sharing your feedback Joe.
You can use just the thick cream or a shaken can of coconut cream. It doesn’t need to be as thick as whipped cream. He means he would whip the sugar and cream of tartar into the egg whites when whipping them to soft peaks. That’s a technique used often in making meringue. That should work well, but isn’t 100% necessary.
I’m not sure what you mean in terms of a substitute for sugar. Sugar (all forms – whether cane, beet, coconut, maple, honey, etc) does affect the consistency. If you try to substitute a sugar-free sweetener, it might work, but will still negatively affect the outcome. If you mean another type of sugar, instead of cane sugar (white sugar or beet sugar), they will work, but will each impart their own flavors, and might affect the density a bit.