Vanilla Baked Soufflé & Chocolate Variant:

18cm soufflé dish

50g softened butter + extra

50g plain flour

½ vanilla pod

120ml whole milk

4 large eggs                                                             *see Tips for general soufflé‘rules’*

75g caster sugar + extra

8 – 9 ladyfinger biscuits

40ml Grand Marnier

Icing sugar

Knead the butter with the sieved flour and make a ball then cut into slices. Scrape out the vanilla seeds into the milk, then place the flesh into the milk. Bring the milk to the boil over low heat and add the dough slices one by one to the boiling milk. Whisk vigorously by hand to obtain a smooth and homogenous batter. Take off the heat.

Separate the whites from the yolks and add the latter one by one to the cooled butter-flour-milk mixture. Pour the 70g sugar straight over the egg whites and whisk into very stiff but not dry peaks. Fold these in incredibly gently bit by bit by lifting. Grease the soufflé tin, sprinkle with a fine coat of sugar. Fill the bottom with biscuits and brush them with Grand Marnier. If you have spare alcohol, go over them again and again if necessary.

Pour the batter over the biscuits and cook in a bain-marie of very hot water for 45 minutes. The mould should be surrounded by 5 cm of water. Keep a close eye on the water temperature. It must neither exceed nor fall below 80°C so adjust your oven temperature accordingly. If by 50 minutes the soufflé is still not cooked, remove the mould from the bain-marie and cook for a further 5 – 10 minutes at 200°C. Sprinkle with icing sugar as soon as it comes out of the oven.

VARIANT: Chocolate

Brush the biscuits with rum instead of orange liqueur and mix in 100g bitter chocolate to the milk before boiling so it melts in.