Trailstops: Chili Cappuccino Souffle

A souffle is a fluffy baked cafe from a base of custard and egg whites beaten to a soft peak meringue. The base custard provides flavor while the egg whites provide the lift, which makes the souffle rise as it should be when taken out of the oven. It falls flat rather quickly, around 5-10min afterwards.

This experimental souffle is made of :

160ml buttermilk
1 heaping teaspoon instant coffee (espresso)
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
50g caster sugar
50g cornflour
25g butter + extra for greasing ramekins
2 teaspoons extra caster sugar for ramekins
1 tablespoon caster sugar for egg whites
2 eggs, separated
2 ramekins (or 4 small ones - which is actually preferable)
chili flakes and icing sugar for garnish

Pre-heat oven to 180C. Prepare the ramekins by buttering the sides, then drop a teaspoon of sugar into the ramekin and swirl it around to coat the sides evenly. Remove excess sugar.

In a small pan, heat buttermilk, coffee, cayenne pepper, the 50g of sugar, until the sugar is dissolved and the mixture about to boil. Set aside.

coffee custard

Melt butter in a saucepan, then whisk in cornflour.

Add milk mixture and let simmer til it thickens. Let cool. Meanwhile, beat egg yolks, then add to the slightly cooled milk mixture, making sure that you mix rapidly (otherwise you'll have scrambled eggs).

In a separate bowl, whisk egg whites and sugar still soft peaks form. Add a dollop to the milk mixture, mix to slacken the mixture a bit. Fold in remaining egg whites, incorporating as much air as possible. Spoon into prepared ramekins.