Halloween Red Velvet Souffle With Sugar Stencil

Hi guys! I hope it isn't too late to make some delicious Souffle for Halloween. If you're like me, the kind of person who generally not a big fan of candy or outgrew the need for sugary confections yet still love desserts, well this is perfect FOR YOU!

Souffle is a french baked dessert, that is light and airy with a fluffy texture. If I were to put it, it's like a cross between a cake and a pudding. Not as firm and stiff as a cake sponge, but not as mushy as a pudding. My favorite has got to Chocolate souffle or a vanilla passionfruit one..yummm

For today, we are going to bring some American flare. We are making a Red Velvet souffle. That means yes, this will have a pronounce chocolate flavor and yes, it's going to be as red as blood, and yes, it's super delicious!!!

Step 1: More About This Souffle

There are many souffle recipes out there, and yes all of them will eventually collapse. Some collapse even more than others because of the difference in air, egg whites and base ratio.

For my recipe, I am going to change the rules a little bit, so that we can maintain that height for a slightly longer period of time. Yes, it will still collapse, but just a little! Or at least give you enough time to stencil your powder sugar design and present them nicely to your love ones before they dig in.

So let's get to it!

Step 2: Ingredients for Your Base Custard

This base will yield approximately 8-10 souffles.

Ingredients:

1 cup (250g) of whole milk

3 egg yolks

3 tablespoons (50g) of white granulated sugar

4 tablespoons (40g) of all purpose flour

(Note: If you only require 4 servings, you can divide this base recipe in half. Just use 2 egg yolks instead of trying to divide a yolk in half, it made little to no difference. 1 souffle serving per person, adult or child.)

Step 3: Making Your Base Custard

In medium size pot, pour in your milk, sugar, egg yolks and flour. Whisk until there's no traces of flour lumps.

Step 4: Cook Your Base Custard

Place your pot on the stove and turn on the heat to medium.

Because we are skipping the whole heating the milk process, you must not leave your pot or the eggs will scramble.

Whisk constantly, ensuring you scrape the bottom as you go, as it starts to heat up.

Around the 6 minute mark, you will start to see steam rising. Whisk constantly until it starts to thicken slowly.

Continue cooking and whisking non-stop. If the pot gets too hot, reduce the heat a little to low.

It will eventually reach a thick bubbling stage.

Step 5: Whisk Whisk Whisk

Whisk until you reach a point where it starts to slightly pull away from the base of the pot.

Once you reached that stage, turn off the heat and pull the pot away from the stove.

Pour your thick base into a bowl and cover with a saran wrap, touching it's surface.

Let it cool to room temperature completely.

If you attempt to mix in the meringue while the base is hot, it will immediately deflate and ruin your egg whites.

Step 6: Prep Your Ramekins

You will need:

4-8, 4oz, short ceramic ramekins

1 tablespoon of butter

1/2 cup of white granulated sugar

Directions:

Grease the inside and lip of your ramekins with butter. Make sure it's well-coated.

Once complete, pour a little bit of your sugar inside your greased ramekins and coat the sugar around, even the lip of your ramekins.

Next, place them over a baking pan so you can transport them easily to and from the oven later. The wider your baking pan, the easier for you to remove the baked ramekins individually with mittens.

Set aside.

Step 7: Preheat Your Oven & to Make Your Red Velvet Base

First! Preheat your oven to 385 degrees Fahrenheit or 195 for Celcius.

(Note: I am only making 4 servings of Souffles from this step onwards, reserved the other half of base custard for the future)

Ingredients:

Half of your custard base, cooled to room temperature

2 egg yolks

1/8 cup of dutch-processed cocoa powder

1 teaspoon of pure vanilla extract

Gel Red food coloring*

*Please use the Gel food coloring as it will not dilute the base with too much liquid and change the consistency.

Step 8: Mix the Ingredients Together

Place your cooled base custard in a mixing bowl together with 2 yolks and vanilla extract. Using a whisk or a spatula, mix them together until it reaches a smooth consistency.

Gradually add in your cocoa powder and mix. It would help to add the cocoa powder little by little so as to prevent any large cocoa lumps.

Step 9: Add the Dye

Squeeze a generous amount of red gel food coloring into your batter. If you add less, your souffle will be more brown than red once baked. If you want it to be red and bright, add more food coloring.

It's alright if it looks dark, because once you add the meringue, it will lighten up significantly.

Step 10: Make Your Meringue

You will need:

4 egg whites (that's approximately 1 cup)

1/3 cup of white granulated sugar

(Note*: Remember this is half a batch. If you are going to be making 8 full servings, double up on the egg whites and sugar)

Directions:

Place your egg whites into a large stainless steel mixing bowl. Add just a few of white granulated sugar into your egg whites.

Step 11:

Using a hand held mixer, start whisking your egg whites at low speeds.

As it starts to foam, gradually add more sugar while mixing. Continue doing so until you ran out of sugar.

Whisk your egg whites at medium to high speed until the meringue is glossy.

One way to find out if your meringue is ready is to invert your bowl, the meringue sticks.

Step 12: Fold in the Meringue

Once the meringue is ready, time to fold in.

Add one third of your meringue and fold it into your base batter. Once most of the white streaks is gone, add in the other third of your meringue and fold again.

And add the last third of meringue and fold.

Step 13: Pour Into Your Ramekin

Pour your batter into the prepped ramekins until it reaches the lip.

Step 14: Time to Bake!

Bake your souffles in your already preheated oven at 385 degrees Fahrenheit or 196 for Celcius.

Bake at 385F for 22 minutes FLAT.

Step 15: While We Wait...time to Do the Stencils!

Step 16: Make Your Stencils & Prep Your Powder Sugar

Now because it is halloween, I think a good, classic jack o lantern pumpkin design will be amazing.

I recommend that you pick an easy design to cut out, as intricate design doesn't show well with powder sugar. Designs that have simple large holes will allow the sugar to penetrate easily.

Previously, I attempted to do a Pennywise the dancing clown stencil, the stencil came out amazing but the powder sugar end result was far from flattering.

Tools you'll need:

Drawing paper

Pencil/Marker

X-acto knife

Confectionery/powder sugar

Small strainer to dust

Step 17: 22 Minutes Later!!!

Now this came out really tall! About an inch and a half in height.

This are already amazing to serve immediately on it's own but hey! we are stenciling for Halloween!

Step 18: Dust

Lay your stencil paper over the souffle and dust a sprinkling of powder sugar. Not too little or the heat will melt it away, but not too much that it'll dust the counter with a single breath.

Serve immediately, piping hot.

Step 19: End Notes

I really love how this came out. My kids love the adorable halloween design on top. And because these are 4oz ramekins, they are the perfect dessert portion for both children and adults alike.

It's so rich in chocolate flavor that my kid's though it was chocolate cake! Warm, comforting, cutely jiggly..it's a nice way to treat-o-trick yourself into Halloween <3