5 tips for the perfect soufflé
Making a beautifully light, well-risen and proudly upright soufflé can sometimes seem like an impossible task. But nothing could be further from the truth. With these tips, you’ll become the soufflé whisperer you secretly always were.
Savory or sweet, the principle behind most soufflés is the same: you make a base, fold in beaten egg whites and bake the whole thing. Emma previously told you how to prevent your cake from collapsing, but in the specific case of soufflés, there are a few extra tricks.
1. Eggs at room temperature
Make sure you use fresh eggs and that they are at room temperature. Beating cold eggs takes more work, and they give your bake less lift than room-temperature eggs.
2. Add acid
Meringue is the building block of your soufflé. Can’t get those beautiful peaks to form in your egg whites? Add a little lemon juice or cream of tartar to strengthen the structure of your egg-white mixture.
3. Don’t fold too much
As convincingly as you have beaten the egg whites, you must fold those beaten egg whites into your base just as carefully. You don’t want to immediately knock out all that air you have just beaten in with so much effort. So: gently fold the egg whites into your base until the white streaks have disappeared. At first, you will probably think you haven’t mixed it well enough, but trust us: you have probably done it perfectly.
4. Oven position
Emma already said it: make sure your oven is at temperature. But that’s not all—the position of your soufflés in the oven is also important. It’s best to place them on the lower rack. The theory is that the warm air rising will give the soufflé a lift. I don’t know whether that’s true, but at least the chances of the top of your soufflé burning are smaller.
5. Cut off the top
How do soufflés in restaurants appear on the table looking so perfectly level? Simple: by cutting off the top. Run a flat knife along the top and voilà: there’s your restaurant-worthy soufflé.
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