Let’s talk Gingerbread Soufflé and how incredibly delightful it is with a pouring of warm Butterscotch Sauce. A soft fluffy cake made with molasses and pumpkin spice, served with a dusting of powdered sugar and a drizzle of creamy butterscotch. If you haven’t tried your hand at baking a soufflé, I suggest you grab a few ramekins or mugs and try this recipe. Your gingerbread loving tastebuds will thank you!
What is a Soufflé?
A Soufflé is a French Dessert with an egg base, that is baked and served in small ramekins. Egg whites are used as the sole rising agent for this fluffy cloud like textured cake. Ramekins are small ceramic dishes with straight sides which allow the Soufflé to rise straight to the top. Soufflés are served warm right out of the oven and topped with sugar or sauces. They can be sweet or savory with a top crust layer over a soft cake body. Due to the fluffy aerated texture of the Soufflé, it will begin to sink within 5-10 minutes. So have your toppings and spoon ready to devour your Soufflé straight from the oven!
Making a good Soufflé is all about the timing! I tested this recipe several times to make sure I could relay the right method for you to replicate. I made them in multiple sized ramekins and different sized coffee mugs. So, if you don’t have ramekins, but you do have wide short coffee mugs, you can easily make a delicious gingerbread soufflé to enjoy in less than an hour!
Timing and Prep Tips for Making a Gingerbread Soufflé:
- Use Three- 16 oz/5 inch Ramekins or Ten 7 oz Ramekins
- Have everything pre-measured and set out before starting.
- Lay out a cookie sheet to place your ramekins on for baking.
- Pour your egg whites into the bowl of a stand mixer, so all you have to do is turn it on when ready.
- Have your butter, molasses, pumpkin spice, and vanilla already in a large bowl together (not stirred) before heating your flour mixture on the stove.
- Set your ramekins out with a slice of butter and a bowl of sugar next to them.
- Grab your butterscotch chips and place them in a small bowl with a cup of heavy cream or milk measured and waiting in the fridge.
- Once everything is out and ready to go, you can start!
- Preheat your oven.
- Heat your flour, sugar, and milk mixture on the stove until just boiling. Continue to stir with a whisk until it thickens and resembles runny mash potatoes.
- Pour warm flour mixture directly into the bowl of butter and molasses and stir until everything is incorporated and smooth. Set aside to cool.
- Turn on your mixer and whisk your egg whites and cream of tartar until stiff peaks form. Egg whites will resemble a fluffy cloud and will hold their shape when ready.
- While your egg whites are mixing, prepare your ramekins.
- Take a piece of cold butter and coat the inside of each ramekin. Then pour a couple tablespoons of sugar in each. Roll the ramekin around to allow the sugar to coat the bottom and sides. Shake out any excess sugar. The sugar helps the soufflé batter to grip the sides and rise to the top.
- Once the egg whites are ready and the gingerbread mixture is cooled, its time to mix them.
- Folding the egg whites into the batter should be done slowly and lovingly.
- Using a spatula, scoop ⅓ of your stiff egg whites and place into batter bowl.
- Slowly fold into the batter until incorporated. Do Not stir or you will loose all the light air bubbles of the egg whites. But, you also don’t want large chunks of egg white in your batter. So, I softly work the spatula in curvy motions until everything looks smooth.
- Repeat with remaining ⅔ of egg whites, incorporating ⅓ at a time into the mixture.
- Spoon your soufflé batter into your prepared ramekins. Leaving ¾ inch space from the batter to the rim of the dish. If you overfill your ramekins the soufflé will rise and spill over the top losing your beautiful crust.
- Place the ramekins on the cookie sheet and set in the oven on the lowest rack with room to rise.
- Depending on the size of your ramekins it can take 20-25 minutes to bake. So, I check mine at 20 minutes to see if they have a nice crust and a good rise.
- The last 10 minutes of baking prepare your butterscotch sauce.
- Bring your milk or heavy cream to a soft boil in small sauce pan or microwave on high for 45 seconds. Pour onto butterscotch chips and let sit for 30 seconds. Then stir until smooth and all chips are melted.
- Remove ramekins from the oven. Using oven mitts to transfer each ramekin onto serving dish.
- Dust with powdered sugar and top with a drizzle of butterscotch sauce.
- Eat immediately!!!
Can you make a soufflé in a coffee mug?
Why did I try making gingerbread soufflé in coffee mugs? Well, not everyone has ramekins and there is no need to purchase them if you’re not going to use often. So, I tested out two different size coffee mugs. One was tall and slender and the other short and fatter. The tall coffee mugs rose very quickly in about 10 minutes, and spilled over the sides. I attempted a second time with less batter and they cooked to quickly again. Scratch and move on. The shorter wider mugs baked similar to ramekins and created a nice top crust. Ding Ding!
If you don’t have ramekins I suggest using coffee mugs (heat safe) 3 inches or more in width and no taller than 3.5 inches. Of course there are wider and shorter mugs out there, but I have yet to try. If you do, let me know how it goes!
Gingerbread Soufflé
Ingredients
Soufflé
- 1 Cup (250 ml) Almond Milk
- ½ Cup (100 g) Granulated Sugar
- ¼ Cup (32 g) All Purpose Flour
- ¼ tsp Kosher Salt
- ⅓ Cup (113 g) Molasses
- 2 Tbsp Unsalted Butter
- 2 tsp Vanilla Extract
- 2 tsp Pumpkin Spice Mix together 2 tsp Ground Cinnamon, 3 tsp Ground Ginger, 1 tsp Cloves, 1 tsp Nutmeg..save leftover in a container with lid
- 6 Large Egg Whites
- ⅛-1/4 tsp Cream of Tartar
Extra
- Powdered Sugar for dusting
- 1 Tbsp Unsalted Butter for buttering inside of Ramekins
- ¼ Cup (50 g) Granulated sugar for coating inside of Ramekins
Butterscotch Sauce
- 1 cup Butterscotch Chips
- ¼ Cup (60 ml) Almond Milk
Instructions
Soufflé
- See notes above for helpful tips!
- Preheat oven to 350 F (180 C). Prepare Three- 16 oz/5 inch Ramekins or Ten-7 oz Ramekins with butter and sugar coating.
- In a large mixing bowl combine molasses, butter, vanilla, and pumpkin spice. Set aside.
- Using a saucepan on medium high heat, bring sugar, flour, salt, and milk to a boil. Continually stirring with a whisk until thickened.
- Pour hot mixture directly into bowl with molasses and stir until all ingredients are incorporated and smooth.
- Set aside to cool.
- Add egg whites and cream of tartar to bowl of stand mixer with whisk attachment, and whip until stiff peaks form. Eggs should be stiff and resemble a cloud while holding their shape.
- Once molasses mixture is cool, gently fold in egg whites with a spatula a third at a time.
- Do Not stir or over mix your egg whites into the batter. Simply fold until egg whites are blended without large chunks.
- Spoon Soufflé batter into prepared ramekins leaving a ¾ inch space between batter and rim of baking dish.
- Place ramekins on a cookie sheet and bake for 20-25 minutes until well risen with a solid top crust.
Make your butterscotch sauce while Soufflés are baking.
- Place butterscotch chips in a small bowl.
- Bring milk or cream (your choice of almond milk, milk, or heavy cream) to a boil in a small sauce pan and pour over butterscotch chips.
- Let sit for 30 seconds before stirring. Stir until smooth and creamy.
- Serve Butterscotch Soufflés straight from the oven with a dusting of powdered sugar and a drizzle of butterscotch sauce.