… I am!  And will tell you what that means later.  For now it’s time to talk soufflés.  When readers were invited to make one so we could have another little baking party together I didn’t fully comprehend the awe that soufflés inspire even amongst chefs.  Ignorance is bliss so I’ll just continue thinking they’re actually quite easy, which is another train of thought in social food media.  And I can’t wait to see how some of you and your soufflés have risen to the challenge!!  Hee hee.  Risen.  Yes, very corny.  Anyway, please link up to this article with your own soufflé post and comment below so we can all visit you and admire your soufflé creation, to have little conversations about them.  And I’ll include our soufflés in an ongoing roundup right here.  Then maybe instead of ‘soufflé challenge‘ I’ll start calling it our little ‘soufflé party’.

Procrastibaking

The hilarious thing is I’ve been procrastibaking, which means ‘baking something in order to put off doing something else you should be doing’.  Anyway, I’ve been baking cheesecakes and cupcakes (which is pretty new for me) and not making my challenge soufflé!  Oops.  But am I still procrastibaking if I’m baking in order to put off baking something else I should be baking?  The mind boggles.  Sorry!  🙂  Moving on, I’m going to get on it and hopefully my soufflé post will be ready to add here later or tomorrow.  But really I’m super excited and looking forward to seeing your soufflés!  Yay!

Meanwhile, here are my recent soufflés:  Cherry and almond soufflés and Easy basil and nutmeg cheese soufflés.  You could of course make one of these if you like or adapt them with your own special ingredients and flavours.

Extended deadline

Now the idea was for everyone to post on August 6th but of course there’s an extended deadline so you also have the weekend and early next week if you’d like to add your soufflé a little later.  It must be a new post (or recently posted in answer to this challenge) and a soufflé you made for our party.

Checking them out

Soufflé and non-soufflé-making people, you’re very welcome to come back in a few days or next week to check out the soufflés.  There probably won’t be many (some people saw the word soufflé and metaphorically ran for the hills) but it’s always a lovely dish to look at.  Maybe I’ll conquer technology and actually reblog or repost, or something like that.  I’ll tweet entries to my little following and they’ll also be posted on our Soufflés Pinterest board and facebook fan page.

Time to link up

So do please link up your little or big soufflés my baking friends and let’s start … 🙂

First up is a beautiful and delicious Mango soufflé by Natascha at Natascha’s Palace.  I’m so impressed by Natascha’s first ever soufflés and her wonderful post full of interesting visuals and facts (want to know about a patron saint of cooks?) with great tips and information on making soufflés!

I’m almost moved to amazed and happy speechlessness at seeing Natascha’s brilliant soufflé and entertaining story.  Click here to read it and you’ll find yourself encouraged to also love soufflés. She says:

 …  you know what? I felt pretty proud of myself!  So…the question is, how did they taste?  Fantastic! … Would this challenge motivate me to try another soufflé?  Frankly, yes!  It really is just wonderful to see the soufflé rising and it is true, you feel great when it works out well!

Next up is the Baking Hermit’s Chocolate and raspberries soufflé.  They accepted the challenge via Twitter and have also found soufflés easier than expected, producing a beautiful chocolate soufflé.

I do love the photo with the icing sugar and you’ll find their take on soufflés to be very practical and reassuring (do visit here!).  Plus they’re producing such a yummy-looking chocolate treat!  They report:

The tartness of the berries really added an extra dimension to the otherwise mundane chocolate dessert.  It was really light and fluffy…. this is definitely an impressive dessert when having people over. And it really does not cost a bombshell.

It’s also great to see Laurie here from ten.times.tea and her Caraway and nutmeg soufflés with roasted rhubarb.  Her wonderful flavour combinations are amazing everyone as always and that is a super-duper excellent rise on her soufflés!  Wow!

So lovely, even and fluffy-looking.  Laurie mentions how pleased she is to have finally made a soufflé and that it was fun.  She has some great ideas for the soufflés she’ll make next time so do go over (here) and see her soufflé and interesting analysis.  Finally, she adds:

‘ … thank goodness, the souffles rose! Some rose more evenly than others but they all got a bit of a lift. I suppose I never should have doubted it!’

I’m drooling over all these soufflés.  Contented sigh. 

A few days later, here’s my contribution:  Broccoli and cheese soufflés.  Not quite pâtisserie, but a savoury snack with a nutmeg and cayenne pepper kick!

So who’s up next?  Are you motivated to make a soufflé?! 🙂

P.S.  If you’d like to follow me on social media here are the links: instagram, facebook or Pinterest.

P.P.S.  Happy soufflé-ing, looking at soufflés, procrastinating or procrastibaking sweet reader!  See you again soon and have a lovely end of the week and weekend! 🙂 x

SOUFFLÉ TIPS AND NOTES – things I’ve learnt and picked up from my baking friends, experience, books and the internet.  Loads of the information below was picked up watching Le Meilleur Pâtissier Season 2 final:  sweet soufflés signature challenge (8:15 to 32:40).

1.  Apparently the egg whites should not be beaten too stiff (they should still be soft and shiny, and just reaching the point where they don’t fall out of an upside-down bowl). 
2. And they shouldn’t be beaten to stiff peak too quickly.  If you whisk them slowly to stiff peak there’ll be smaller air bubbles which means your soufflé should stay up better once out of the oven (big air bubbles go down faster).  I haven’t tried this out yet but it sounds interesting.
3. Chocolate soufflés usually stay up better than fruit-based soufflés.
4. Sweet soufflés should rise and the top should be crusty and darker, with the sides showing above the ramekins being a significantly lighter colour.  You should be able to lift the top up to see the soft insides (see Le Meilleur Patissier episode).
5. Savoury cheese soufflés seem to look more ‘rustic’ and knobby looking than the sweet ones!
6. If you add little pieces in your soufflés they will probably stop the soufflés from rising as well as they could.  So it’s best to purée added fruit or vegetables.  Perhaps next time I’ll purée my broccoli even more…
7. You shouldn’t open the oven door for the first 10 or 15 minutes.  After that if you find your soufflés are underdone you can return the soufflés to the oven and they should puff up more!
8. You can test your soufflés with a skewer or sharp knife, which if inserted in the middle should come out clean?  I read this and haven’t tested this out myself but will next time.
9. Sweet soufflés can be stored in the fridge and though they are denser the next day they can taste even nicer!  As confirmed by both Natascha’s Palace and the Baking Hermit.
10. The Meilleur Pâtissier contestants didn’t use a crème patissière base but just beat the egg yolks with sugar and any fruit purée, zest or chocolate.  Then they folded in the egg whites!  Some people at our soufflé party used similarly straighforward processes.  Worth looking into and will make one like this next time.
11. The Meilleur Pâtissier contestants had one hour to produce their two sweet soufflés, so it is pretty fast to make.   And everyone agreed that baking the right amount of time was one of the trickiest parts – one took theirs out too early but it was still delicious.
12. Soufflés are easier to make than you think!!!  And so much fun!  One of the biggest conclusions drawn at this party! 🙂

Can you think of any other tips or notes I could add to this list?