Cook a Large Batch of Fluffy Soufflé Pancakes in the Oven

Japanese soufflé pancakes are fluffy, impressively tall, totally Instagrammable, and taste great, too. You don’t have to go to a restaurant to eat your own giant cake for breakfast. Soufflé pancake batter is not much different from regular pancake batter; It’s the slow cooking that makes the process tedious. Instead of waiting 20 minutes to cook a single pancake in the pan, take a cue from a classic soufflé and use ramekins to make a whole batch of soufflé pancakes at once.

What are Japanese soufflé pancakes?

These tall pancakes are ultimately what we all want from pancakes: fluff turned up to 11. All-purpose flour (or cake flour), eggs and butter are mixed with beaten egg whites for extra height with a little help from the side parchment paper collar and small metal English muffin ring.

Once the beaten egg whites are folded into the pancake batter, the ring is placed on a lightly greased pan and a small strip of parchment paper is buttered. The parchment sticks to the greased metal ring and rises a couple of inches to form a temporary nonstick cake pan. Approximately 1/3 cup of dough goes into the pan, and the pan is covered with a lid.

Soufflé pancakes are so thick that they need to be cooked on the lowest possible heat and covered to allow steam to build up and aid cooking. It gives the softest, most delicate results, but damn it takes time. Set the timer for 15 minutes, then you can remove the parchment and metal ring and finally flip the pancake. If you’re making pancakes for several people or want to enjoy them for two at the same time, try my bulk cooking technique with ramekins and the always useful oven.

How to prepare a batch of soufflé pancakes

Instead of steaming the pancakes individually on the stove, which takes time and leaves most of the batter in the bowl slowly deflating, cook all the pancakes at once in the oven.

Preheat oven to 300°F. Generously butter four to six small ramekins. You can either flour the ramekins as you would for a cake pan, or line each ramekin with a small parchment circle on the bottom and a parchment collar on the sides. Both will help the pancake release at the end. Parchment takes longer but is more non-stick. It’s quicker and easier with butter and flour, but you may need to loosen the edges with a knife. I made one of each, which you can see in the photo. (I removed part of the parchment collar to make it easier to see what’s going on, but the collar goes all the way around.) You decide what works for you.

Fill all the ramekins three-quarters full with batter and bake them for 20-25 minutes or until the tops begin to take color and they deflate when lightly touched from above. Cool briefly on a wire rack and separate the edges of the pancakes from the pans. Carefully remove them from the dish; the molds will be hot.

I like to place them upside down because the bottom of the pan has a nice sharp edge, just like you would cook them in a frying pan. Dust them with powdered sugar, drizzle syrup, or add any of your favorite pancake toppings. Serve them all at once because, unlike the skillet version, you can actually do this.

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

Recipe for soufflé pancakes, baked in portions

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
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• ⅛ teaspoon cream of tartar
• 3 tablespoons sugar
• Pancake toppings

Preheat oven to 300°F. Generously grease four to six small ramekins with butter. Dust the ramekins with flour or line each ramekin with a small circle of parchment on the bottom and a parchment collar on the sides. Place them on a baking sheet.

Whisk the egg yolks, water, melted butter and vanilla extract into the medium onion. Whisk the flour and baking powder in a small bowl and add them to the egg yolk mixture. Beat until smooth.

In a separate bowl, use a whisk or mixer to beat the egg whites until foamy. Add salt, cream of tartar and sugar. Beat until stiff peaks form. Fold the egg whites into the egg yolk base in four additions. Divide the batter between the molds so that each is about three-quarters full. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until the tops begin to brown and they puff up slightly when pressed lightly on top. Cool the molds on a wire rack and separate the sides from the dishes. Flip them over and top them upside down with your favorite pancake toppings.