What The Magic Souffle Tastes Like

This morning Dominique Ansel, the pastry chef behind the famous Cronut, debuted the magic souffle, his latest attempt to make the world forget about this doughnut-croissant hybrid.

FDL was there to capture the excitement of the very first time a customer bit into the magic souffle, which is really a crispy orange-scented broiche with a chocolate center.

The pastry is served warm and meant to be consumed immediately. It sold in a rectangle popcorn box and costs a whopping $7 a piece (compared to $5 for a cronut).

''It tastes like Christmas, like a good Christmas!'' Those were the first words out of New Yorker Alex Rodgers (pictured below) after Ansel himself surprised him with a free magic souffle. Rodgers, who had arrived at the Spring Street bakery at 4:58 a.m., was the first person to stand in a line that snaked around the block.

_{Rose Y. Colón/FDL}

His excitement was contagious and after standing in line for two hours we couldn't wait until it was our turn to sample Ansel's masterpiece, which took the chef months to create. Full of anticipation we purchased not one - but two (!) - magic souffles. Here's our verdict:

The pastry has a subtle orange blossom scent and is warm to the touch. The brioche crust is golden with slightly crispy edges -a nice contrast to the soft interior. All tasters involved (including a friendly couple from Ohio in front of us) thought the souffle could have tasted more chocolatey.

It's obvious that a lot of thought went into crafting the magic souffle and the craftsmanship is definitely admirable. Let's see if that's enough to make Cronut fanatics make the switch!