A Brownie is a Brownie ..what's a Souffle?

Originally published in 2011. Updated in 2025 to reflect our ongoing belief that handmade food and the words we use to describe it, matter.

In 2011, I ordered a chocolate soufflé at a café. After a long wait, what arrived wasn’t a soufflé at all, it was a chocolate pudding, cold in the centre and heavy in texture.

It was a small incident, but it struck a nerve. Food words aren’t just labels. They carry history, expectation, and respect for craft. When we order a soufflé, we imagine the patience of whisked egg whites, the precise fold of a custard base, and the fleeting rise in the oven. When that promise is broken, the dish and the word itself lose their meaning.

A soufflé is one of those dishes that demands respect. It begins with a base, often a pastry cream, custard, or purée, carefully folded with egg whites whipped to soft peaks. The science is as important as the artistry: the trapped air in those whites gives the soufflé its signature lift.

When it emerges from the oven, it should be puffed, delicate, and proud. Within minutes, it will collapse, that’s its ephemeral beauty. A pudding, by contrast, is dense, heavier, and unashamedly so. Both can be delicious, but they are not interchangeable.

It may seem harmless to call a pudding a soufflé, or a bread roll “sourdough when it is not.” But casual misuse erodes the value of those names and the tradition behind them.Calling a pudding a soufflé doesn’t modernise it, it strips away the meaning of the word. This soufflé vs pudding mix-up is just one example of how food terms lose integrity.

Food words are not just convenient markers; they are shorthand for skill, time, and culture. To use them loosely is to blur the line between craft and imitation.

At Dello Mano, we’ve always believed that luxury lies in handmade food. For us, respecting the language of food is part of respecting the craft itself.

The debate of soufflé vs pudding goes beyond the café table. It reflects how cultures hold on to tradition while embracing comfort food. The soufflé, born in France, is about elegance, timing, and technique. The pudding, with roots across Britain and beyond, represents warmth, nostalgia, and hearty satisfaction.

Both have value, but they are not the same. When their names are blurred, the stories they tell risk being lost. Food culture is richer when soufflé is celebrated as soufflé, and pudding is honoured for what it is.

When we created the Luxury Brownie™ back in 2006, we knew it wasn’t simply “a chocolate slice.” Words matter. “Brownie” carried the weight of a story we wanted to tell, of Belgian chocolate, real butter, and small-batch care.

Just as soufflé vs pudding highlights the difference between precision and mislabelling, we knew our brownie was not simply a chocolate slice or just a brownie, it was a Luxury Brownie™.

• Discover our Handmade Brownie Collection

• Why Handmade Food Is the New Luxury

Food evolves, and that’s part of its beauty. Chefs reinterpret classics all the time, think of the playful twists on tiramisu, or the way brownies themselves have been adapted with nuts, caramel, and fruit. Innovation keeps cuisine alive and exciting.

But there is a difference between reinterpretation and misrepresentation. Creativity should build upon tradition, not erase it. Calling a pudding a soufflé doesn’t modernise it, it simply strips away the meaning of the word “soufflé.”

This is why protecting names of provenance, Champagne, Roquefort, Parmesan, is so important. They carry the history of place, people, and technique. When those names are used loosely, the story and the culture behind them are lost.

At Dello Mano, we embrace reinterpretation. Our brownies themselves were born from reimagining a classic chocolate treat. But we believe that innovation must walk hand-in-hand with integrity. Names matter because they connect food to its roots.

At Dello Mano, our brownies are often compared to cake or fudge, but they are neither. Just as soufflé vs pudding teaches us that words matter, so too does the word “brownie.” For us, it represents over 18 years of perfecting balance, fudgy yet structured, indulgent yet elegant.

It’s why we trademarked the Luxury Brownie™: becasue we created a brownie like no other, it was ours and we gave it a name that reflects its uniqueness. A soufflé shouldn’t have to masquerade as a pudding, and a handmade luxury brownie shouldn’t be mistaken for a supermarket slice.

Food is memory. It connects us to culture and craft. When a soufflé is mistaken for a pudding, or when sourdough is used as shorthand for any bread, we risk losing respect for those traditions.

As artisans, we carry a responsibility to protect food language and the craft it represents. A soufflé should always rise. A sourdough should always be nurtured. A brownie should always deliver on the indulgence it promises.

When you read the words “chocolate soufflé” on a menu, you imagine something very specific: a dish that rises proudly, served straight from the oven, delicate enough to collapse within minutes. When you read “pudding,” you imagine something entirely different: warm, dense, comforting, perhaps nostalgic.

That’s the power of language in food, it shapes our expectations before the dish ever arrives at the table. When a pudding is called a soufflé, disappointment is almost guaranteed because the words set a promise the dish can’t keep.

This simple soufflé vs pudding mix-up highlights a bigger truth: language in food is more than description, it’s part of the dining experience. At Dello Mano, we carry that same belief into our brownies. When we say “Luxury Brownie™,” it signals more than chocolate,  it signals indulgence, craftsmanship, and 18 years of small-batch devotion.

What’s the difference between a soufflé and a pudding, and why does it matter? This reflection, first written in 2011 and updated for today, explores food authenticity, provenance, and why respecting names and craft is central to our philosophy at Dello Mano.

If you enjoyed this reflection on soufflé vs pudding and why food words matter, you may also like:

• Why Handmade Food Is the New Luxury, our cornerstone article on what defines true artisan luxury.

• The History of Brownies, a journey through the origins of one of the world’s favourite chocolate treats.

• Cakey vs Fudgy Brownies,  how texture shapes the brownie experience, and why words set expectations.

Food evolves, but language anchors its meaning. Protecting those words protects the craft, and that’s a value at the heart of Dello Mano.

Want to explore Australia’s best handmade brownies? Discover why quality matters → Best Brownies in Australia