Make a Big Batch of Fluffy Soufflé Pancakes in Your Oven

Make a Big Batch of Fluffy Soufflé Pancakes in Your Oven

This oven method can make any soufflé pancake recipe a little bit faster.

Japanese soufflé pancakes are fluffy, impressively tall, entirely Instagram-able, and they taste great to boot. You don’t have to go to a restaurant to have your own towering breakfast cake. Soufflé pancake batter isn’t all that different from regular pancake batter; it’s the slow cooking time that makes the process tedious. Instead of waiting 20 minutes to make one single pancake in a frying pan, take a cue from classic soufflés and use ramekins to make a whole batch of soufflé pancakes at once.

What are Japanese soufflé pancakes

These lofty pancakes are ultimately what we all want from a pancake: Fluff, turned up to 11. All-purpose flour (or cake flour), eggs, and butter are combined with whipped egg whites for extra height, with a little support from a parchment paper collar and a small, metal English muffin ring.

Once the whipped egg whites are folded into the pancake batter base, the ring is placed in a lightly greased frying pan, and a small strip of parchment paper is greased with butter. The parchment clings to the buttered metal ring and sticks up a couple inches forming a temporary, non-stick cake mold. About 1/3 cup of batter goes into the mold, and the pan is covered with a lid.

Soufflé pancakes are so thick that they have to be cooked on the lowest possible heat and covered with a lid so the steam can build up and aid with cooking. This produces the softest, most tender results, but boy, does it take a while. Set a timer for 15 minutes, then you can remove the parchment and the metal ring and finally flip the pancake. If you happen to be making pancakes for more than one person, or want to enjoy two at the same time, try my bulk technique with ramekins and the ever-helpful oven.

How to make a batch of soufflé pancakes

Instead of individually fry-steaming pancakes on the stove top, which takes time and leaves the bulk of your batter sitting in the mixing bowl, slowly deflating, make all of the pancakes at once in your oven.

Preheat the oven to 300°F. Heavily grease four to six small ramekins with butter. You can either dust the ramekins with flour, like you would when preparing a cake pan, or line each ramekin with a small parchment circle on the bottom, and a parchment collar around the side. Both will help the pancake release at the end. Parchment takes longer to arrange, but it’s more nonstick. Butter and flour are faster and easier, but you may have to loosen the edges with a knife. I did one of each, which you can see in the photo. (I removed a section of the parchment collar so it’s easier to see what’s going on, but the collar goes all the way around.) You decide what works for you.

Fill all of the ramekins with batter three quarters of the way up, and bake them for 20 to 25 minutes, or until the top just begins to take on color, and they don’t deflate when gently touched on top. Cool briefly on a wire rack and loosen the edges of the pancakes from the ramekins. Carefully flip them out of their dishes, the ramekins will be hot.

I like to plate them upside down, because the bottom of the ramekin has nice, sharp edges, like you they would had you made them in a pan. Dust them with powdered sugar, drizzle on syrup, or add any of your favorite pancake toppings. Serve them all at once, because unlike the frying pan version, you actually can

This oven method will work for any soufflé pancake recipe you use. I slightly modified this recipe by King Arthur Baking, and used my batch baking technique.

Batch Baked Soufflé Pancake Recipe

Ingredients:

4 eggs, separated

3 tablespoons water

2 tablespoons butter, melted

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

½ cup all-purpose flour

1 ¼ teaspoons baking powder

Heaping ¼ teaspoon salt

⅛ teaspoon cream of tartar

3 tablespoons sugar

Pancake toppings

Preheat the oven to 300°F. Grease four to six small ramekins heavily with butter. Dust the ramekins with flour, or line each ramekin with a small parchment circle on the bottom and a parchment collar around the side. Put them on a sheet tray.

Whisk the egg yolks, water, melted butter, and vanilla extract together in a medium bow. Whisk the flour and baking powder in a small bowl and add it to the egg yolk mixture. Whisk until mostly smooth.

In a separate bowl with a whisk, or in a stand mixer, whip the egg whites until foamy. Add the salt, cream of tartar, and sugar. Whip until stiff peaks form. Fold the egg whites into the egg yolk base in four installments. Distribute the batter amongst the ramekins so that they’re each about three quarters of the way full. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until the top is just beginning to brown, and they bounce back slightly when gently pressed on top. Cool the ramekins on a wire rack and loosen the sides from the dishes. Flip them out, and plate them upside down with your favorite pancake toppings.