This delicious gingerbread soufflé recipe from Simon Haigh, pairing the airy pudding with a sweet quenelle of apple sorbet. The flavours of apple and ginger are perfectly matched, and this dessert will quickly become a favourite.
Firstly, make the gingerbread. Preheat the oven to 150°C/gas mark 2. Melt the butter with the golden syrup and black treacle in a pan. Blend together the brown sugar, milk, egg and stem ginger using a hand blender. Add the butter, syrup and black treacle mix and combine slowly
Once incorporated, gently fold in the flour, bicarbonate soda, ginger, cinnamon and mixed spice.
Bake in a lined deep tray at 150°C/gas mark 2 for 30-40 minutes. Leave to cool
Take 400g of the cooled gingerbread, place in a pan with the milk and bring to the boil. Blend the remaining 400g in a food processor to a crumb-like consistency
Once the milk mix has boiled and the cake has broken up, blitz into a loose purée and transfer back to the pan. Stir in the cornflour mix and cook until thick
Place the blitzed bread back into the processor and gradually add the thick liquid from the pan, blending continuously. Add more milk if needed, the mix should be firm and thick once cool
6
Line the soufflé dishes with butter and chill in the refrigerator. Once chilled, add another layer of butter and dust with the additional caster sugar, making sure to evenly coat the whole dish. Set aside
caster sugar for dusting
butter for greasing
7
For the sorbet, blend the frozen apples with the stock syrup and lemon juice until smooth. Pass through a fine sieve and churn in an ice cream maker
For the soufflé, preheat the oven to 170˚C/gas mark 3. Whisk the egg whites with a squeeze of lemon juice and a tablespoon of caster sugar. Once peaks begin to form, gradually add the remaining sugar. Whisk for 1 minute or until stiff peaks form
Mix a heaped tablespoon of the meringue with 1 dessertspoon of the gingerbread base. Whisk in the remaining meringue until fully incorporated. Gently fill the ramekins up to halfway with the mix, then add a cube of fresh gingerbread before continuing to fill
10
Use a palette knife to smooth down the surface of each soufflé. Run your thumb around the inner rim of the dish to create a small indent, this will ensure even cooking of the soufflé to give a better rise. Bake at 170°C/gas mark 3 for 8 minutes
11
Meanwhile, dress a plate with fresh apple and candied ginger. Once the soufflé is almost finished, quenelle the sorbet and stick a thin slice of fresh apple on top. Dust the soufflés with icing sugar, place onto the plates and serve immediately
