The Not-So-Great-Bake-Along Week 7

It’s meringue week! Which means I’ve had to triple-check how to spell meringue! I think I’m getting it right!

I like it when Bake Off does a new week (provided the show never repeats the horror of Mexican week), and what amounts to just whipping egg whites a lot proved to be a fun week. 

I told my partner during the episode that I would be furious if the showstopper did prove to be some kind of ice-cream-and-meringue confection, and no one tried to make something in the shape of a bin. Iain came through, bless him! I’m still not entirely sure what a vacherin glace is, exactly, other than a pavlova with frozen stuff and extra steps, but a good time was had by all (apart from poor Lesley, sad to see her go). 

Anyway, time for soufflé. 

The Rules:

• I have to recreate, to the best of my ability, the Technical Challenge. 
• I will not be looking at any kind of recipe. Each week, I have to do this purely with some context from the show and my own store of baking knowledge. 
• The time limit: The maximum amount of time I’ll be allowing myself is the time given to the bakers. However, as I don’t want to be wasting food and I don’t have a vast team of producers and camera operators to eat my bakes, I will sometimes be scaling my bakes down. When that happens, I’ll be reducing my total time accordingly. 
• The judging: I do not have handy professionals available to judge me. I have, however, considered purchasing some fabric to make my own gingham altar. I will be judging myself, and I’m a raging bitch so I won’t be particularly lenient. My partner will be scoring as well, and probably his office mates if there’s too much cake for us to consume in one sitting. 
• The equipment: I like to think I’ve got the sort of decently-stocked kitchen any skilled home baker would have. If a technical challenge requires specialist equipment I don’t have, I won’t be buying anything for the occasion. I will be MacGyvering it, and adjusting my handicaps accordingly. 

Meringue Week - Raspberry Soufflé 

I’ve been singing ‘Raspberry soufflé’ to the tune of ‘Raspberry Beret’ to myself all week, so thanks Bake Off. 

First off, the tuile. I have made these fiddly little nuisances before, a long time ago. I do not, unsurprisingly, own a fancy leaf mould for making them. I did not buy one for the occasion. 

I melt some butter without weighing it, on the basis I’ll need the extra. I whisk an egg white with some icing sugar, some flour, and the butter. My plan is to spread the batter very thinly on a tray, bake it, and try and cut some rounds out as soon as it comes out of the oven. 

I chuck the tuile-sheet in the oven, and throw some raspberries in a pan with some sugar. While the biscuit’s baking, I brush a few ramekins with melted butter and dust them with caster sugar, because I have made soufflé before and I believe this is the proper thing to do. I do my best to ignore the fact that I didn’t see any of the Bake Off contestants doing this. (According to the recipe, I did the right thing). 

The tuile comes out of the oven, and I haphazardly cut circles and try and drape them over a rolling pin. The tuile hardens too quickly, and I just have flat discs. Also, it’s definitely a bit under-baked, and was slightly too thick. 

I realise, later, when plating things and trying to make them look pretty, that my flat tuile discs look like communion wafers. I just need a tabernacle to serve them in. Sadly, I don’t own a tabernacle. Maybe I don’t have such a well-stocked kitchen.

Soufflé then! I mash the raspberries, strain them, add more sugar and get the syrup doing its thing. I have to pause, to wash up the tuile nonsense and make some space, and then I get on with whipping egg whites. 

It’s quite fun doing a challenge that only lasts an hour. There’s not really time to stand around waiting and having an existential crisis. (I do still have a little one, just for funsies). The downside is, it’s not much to write home about. 

With a bit over twenty minutes to go - the tuile faff and washing up have consumed a surprising amount of time - I pour raspberry syrup into my soft-peak egg white, and pray the whole lot doesn’t collapse. Miracle of miracles, it seems fine. With 19 minutes to go, the mixture is in ramekins and in the oven. 

The eagle-eyed might spot that the soufflés on the show needed twenty minutes to bake. However, I am using slightly smaller ramekins. That does mean I’m sort-of cheating, because if I was doing the challenge properly, I obviously wouldn’t be getting it right in the allotted time. However, the bakers didn’t have to do the washing-up, so I’d say it all balances out in the wash.

I stare desperately into my oven, watching my little soufflés rise. I realise that I really need to clean my oven. Especially because I’m trying to film my soufflés rising. (Head over to my TikTok or Insta to watch me in action!) 

With eight minutes to go, I risk yanking the soufflés out. (Writing this up had made the word soufflé lose all meaning to me.) They get the hastiest possible dusting of icing sugar, making my kitchen bench look like a Spoons toilet on a Saturday night in the process, I nearly drop a whisk on them, and with 6 minutes to go, I am done. 

The Judging

My partner gives me tens, dropping it down to a nine for the communion-wafer tuiles. Admittedly, he has never eaten a soufflé in his life and has nothing to compare these against, and his main comment is that ‘it’s like warm mousse’, but I’ll take whatever praise I can get. 

I’m giving myself a ten for flavour - the tuiles do still taste good, and the soufflé’s actually pretty damn perfect. I’ll go down for a seven for appearance though - those biscuits are giving me uncomfortable catholic flashbacks. 

Was this a fair challenge? For once I’ve got pretty much no complaints. It fit the theme of the week, it’s an interesting technical skill to have, it’s definitely doable in the time limit, and (despite the fact I did) tuiles aren’t that hard to fuck up. I like the challenge having a staggered start time, and actually allowing for something to be served when it’s actually at its best. More importantly, there was also a showstopper that didn’t have a nonsense height restriction! Maybe there’s hope for Bake Off after all. 

Next week, desserts! Even though I just made a dessert!