These types of cakes are considered to be not only the most delicious, but also beautiful, not to mention their low calorie content. Moreover, cooking usually takes much less time and effort than baking a classic biscuit cake or more simple - shortbread. In this article, the reader is presented with basic recipes (with photos) of cream soufflé for a cake, on the basis of which you can create your own flavor variations of this magnificent dessert.
What is a souffle?
Initially, the souffle was a separate dessert based on beaten eggs, cream and sugar, baked in the oven until golden brown. Later, in the second half of the last century, when the popularity of gelatin increased, the souffle was called any dessert based on whipped mass (with eggs or cream), which froze due to the gelling properties of this product.
Sometimes this creates a little confusion between old and modern recipes, so before you start cooking, it is important to carefully read each recipe.
The best base for the cake
It is generally accepted that the best basis for a cake with soufflé cream is biscuit, as it emphasizes its tenderness and airiness with its equally light crumb. But not everyone takes into account that making a biscuit is a laborious process that requires special quality of beaten dough, the ratio of ingredients in it, as well as knowledge of all the details of baking, because sometimes it happens that the dough does not fit or, conversely, falls in the middle of the way. In such cases, a souffle base made of cookies that does not need to be baked at all is more practical and convenient to prepare. This reduces the cooking time of the cake and the likelihood of failure. To prepare the basis for a cake with cream soufflé by prescription, you should take the following ingredients:
- Grind 240 grams of plain cookies (from baked milk, anniversary, tea) with a blender into small crumbs;
- Leave 100 grams of butter for an hour at room temperature to melt, and then mix it with cookie crumbs;
- If the mass does not form in a lump (crumbles), you can add a couple of spoons of sour cream or condensed milk.
The resulting sweet mass is rammed at the bottom of a detachable shape with a dense layer with a height of not more than two centimeters. Any kind of cream souffle is poured over it.
Cream Souffle
The easiest to prepare and neutral in taste is cream souffle, which is prepared on the basis of cream, less often milk or sour cream. Perfectly combined with any other taste, this type of dessert can be prepared with a base cake, turning into a light diet cake.
The recipe for cream soufflé is as follows:
- 500 grams of cream;
- 150 grams of granulated sugar;
- 2 tbsp. l gelatin (it is better to use instant);
- 100 grams of milk;
- vanilla on the tip of a knife or a bag of vanilla sugar.
How to cook a souffle cake?
The first step is to soak the gelatin, in this recipe it is diluted with milk, and then heated in a water bath until completely dissolved. In no case should you boil it. All gelling properties will disappear and the cake will not freeze. Beat cream, sugar and vanilla with a mixer until light foam, at the end of beating, with constant stirring at low speeds, add dissolved gelatin, pouring it in a thin stream. It is important, before starting the whipping process, to prepare in advance the form in which the cream souffle for the cake will be poured (usually this is not indicated in the recipes), since this process happens very quickly. Sometimes this happens literally in two to three minutes: the souffle freezes before it gets into shape, so it should be ready first.
If a biscuit base is needed for a souffle cake, it is placed first on the bottom of the mold, then a split ring of the mold is installed, into which the cream mass begins to solidify. Then you need to wait for the gelatin to solidify completely and carefully remove the side of the form, you can decorate the finished dish to your taste.
How to make souffle from a lemon?
For many, its refined taste seems ideal: when the taste of cream is emphasized by the light acidity of the lemon, it seems an incredible, but such a natural combination. To make a recipe for a cake souffle with lemon cream on the basis of the main cream is simple, adding a little lemon juice when whipping, but if you want to improve the recipe a little, you can use this combination of products:
- 400 grams of the most fat cream (not less than 22%);
- 20 grams of gelatin + 130 grams of warm water;
- 4 eggs;
- 400 grams of granulated sugar;
- 2 tbsp. l lemon juice;
- 1 tsp with a slide of grated lemon peel.
Step-by-step cooking process
First you need to soak the gelatin and let it swell, then warm up to dissolve in a water bath, sometimes stirring. Separate the eggs into proteins and yolks very carefully so that there are no tiny impurities. Grind the yolks with 300 grams of sugar until white, at the end add the zest and juice. Beat the whites with the remaining sugar until a stable foam (when the bowl turned upside down does not lose its contents). Beat the cream with a mixer as well, but at the same time control the process, because they can curl into oil. Further, following the recipe for the cream souffle for the cake, it is necessary to combine all three whipped masses into one, carefully mixing them in a wide bowl with a spoon, stirring in one direction: from the bottom up.
During mixing, melted gelatin is also added. As soon as the mass assumes a uniform consistency and gives the first signs of solidification, it must immediately be poured into the previously prepared base for the cake in the mold. Align the top with a spoon and send the souffle to a cool place for complete solidification. Before serving, remove the split ring of the mold, decorate the top of the cake with small slices of lemon or lime.
How to decorate a finished cake?
Making the finished dish is a must, especially if it is being prepared for the festive table. That is why chefs, culinary specialists and pastry chefs all over the world are constantly trying to invent something new, exclusive, in order to distinguish their dish from the host of others, no less attractive. If the cream soufflé is cooked correctly, then its perfectly even surface allows the author's boundless imagination to turn a dessert into a work of art. Of course, for a homemade cream soufflé cake it’s not necessary to come up with something extraordinary, but a few simple ideas will come to the aid of a novice pastry chef:
- Coat the top of the cake with a mirror glaze of contrasting color. It is such minimalism that the soufflé will show in a favorable light, and a well-chosen taste of the glaze can emphasize its taste.
- You can cover the top of the cake with slices of fruit or small berries and pour a thin layer of fruit jelly. This is especially true in the summer, when fruits are abundantly available. But on a festive New Year's table, such a cake looks especially chic.
- Using chocolate icing (on a light cake background), you can create small “streaks” around the edge, in some places making them more, in some - less.
- Using the same glaze, you can draw beautiful patterns with thin curls on top of the souffle surface, using the thinnest tip of the confectionery syringe, and then decorate them with silver sugar beads. This design option looks very festive.
Antennae, butterflies and flowers made of chocolate, small curls of whipped cream, marzipan figurines - all this can also become a cake decoration. The main thing is not to overdo it and remember that the most important thing in a dish is its taste, not its details.
Chocolate souffle for cake
Cream with chocolate for lovers of this taste is easy to prepare on the basis of the main recipe from cream, adding in the process of whipping a melted bar of dark chocolate (80-100 grams per 500 ml of dairy product). A budget option is to use 3 tablespoons of cocoa powder, but the taste will not be as soft as with natural chocolate.
Is it possible to combine different types of soufflé in one cake?
Sometimes, in a burst of inspiration, a novice pastry chef tends to combine several recipes at once, trying to create a new masterpiece. Is it possible to combine several types of soufflé in one dessert at once? Yes, but at the same time you need to know the subtleties of mixing tastes, because during the tasting process it may turn out that a beautiful-looking dessert tastes disgusting in taste only because of the incompatibility of the products. A striking example is the nutty and strawberry flavor.
You can add any other layer to the cake with cream soufflé from sour cream or cream, because the creamy taste in itself is compatible with almost all sweet taste shades. Ideal - with strawberry, peach and chocolate flavors. Not bad - with citrus fruits, raspberries and banana. But mix pistachio and apricot in one cake. They are not harmonious, therefore it is better to use them in individual types of soufflé.