Raspberry Soufflè

There is something very decadent about a soufflè.  I’m not sure if that’s to do with the delicacy of it’s texture, the risk of imminent failure we feel as we prepare it, or just because it has a beautiful French name!  I haven’t made many soufflè’s in my baking life, but lately I have had soufflè on the brain, raspberry soufflè in particular.   This recipe isn’t difficult, it’s just about organising yourself making the raspberry purèe, and once you’ve done that, the rest is easy! I halved the recipe below and made 3 soufflès. The Maxwell Williams dessert bowls I used have a 1 cup (250ml) capacity.

Raspberry Soufflè

• 300g  raspberries
•  2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 55g  (1/4 cup) fine caster sugar (for raspberries)
• 1 tablespoon cornflour
• 3 teaspoons water
• 5 eggwhites (150g)
• 75g fine caster sugar (for eggwhites)
• icing sugar, for dusting
• butter to grease bowls + caster sugar to dust

1. Preheat oven to 180ºC . Brush 4 x 250ml capacity ramekins generously with butter, and dust with caster sugar.
2. Place the raspberries in a saucepan over low heat with the 55g caster sugar and cook for 3–4 minutes, until sugar has dissolved and mixture starts to simmer.  Using a hand blender, blend the raspberries until smooth. Pass the purée through a sieve and return to the pan over low heat. Add lemon juice.
3. Combine cornflour with water in a small cup and mix until cornflour has dissolved.
4. Increase heat to medium, bringing raspberry purèe to a boil and add cornflour & water mixture to the raspberry purée.  Whisk for 1 minute. Refrigerate until cold.
5. Place the eggwhites in an electric mixer and beat until soft peaks form. Add the extra 75g of caster sugar a little at a time and beat until glossy.
6. Gently fold through the raspberry purée and spoon into ramekins.  Fill the ramekins with the mix, flatten the top with a pallet knife and run your thumb around the edge to remove any excess.
7. Bake for 12 minutes or until risen, and golden.  Dust with icing sugar and serve immediately.
8. If you make extra raspberry purèe, you can create a hole in the centre of the soufflè and pour a little inside the soufflè.  Throw in a couple of spare raspberries too if you have any.

*Little helpful tips to assure you get a perfect soufflè!

• If you want your soufflè to have a flat top, level off the top with a palette knife, removing any excess mixture.
• Using the bottom oven tray should facilitate your soufflè to rise well.
• I did not know that you can make a soufflé ahead of time and bake them when you’re ready.  They can be refrigerated for up to 2 days.  Remove from fridge, and bring to room temperature before baking.

The picture below shows what happens if you don’t want to level off your soufflè.  This was the last of 3 ramekins I filled, and the mixture didn’t come to the top.  I tried a little experiment and squiggled some raspberry purèe on top to see how it would look when it cam out of the oven…. I was very pleasantly surprised!