No-Fail Cheese Soufflé for Brunch
I was looking for inspiration for a brunch gathering I was hosting and came across this recipe from waaaay back in my files for a no-fail cheese soufflé.
I had planned on making my famous quiche (it IS the very best and I’ve tried a LOT of quiches), but I wanted something a little different for this brunch.
The original recipe was procured from Chef Larry Wolf at the seminary where my Dad was a professor years ago and I haven’t made it for ages. It used to be my go-to staple for brunch parties and it was past time to trot it out again!
While soufflé sounds very hoity-toity and labor intensive and finicky and like something maybe you should reserve for special occasions unless you have a personal chef, it IS the ultimate comfort food and can and should be enjoyed as often as possible!
This version is so easy and foolproof it’s practically as simple and comforting as a grilled cheese sandwich - though it does take longer to bake.
The no-fail portion of this adventure is because white bread (crusts removed) dipped in butter is the base between layers of cheese that gives it the soft pillowy structure of a soufflé without the reliance on the temperamental nature and multiple bowls required for traditional soufflé production.
Like magic, the bread essentially disappears into the texture of the soufflé during baking, leaving a rich cheesy egg dish everyone will love!
A Spring Brunch Tablesetting
For this occasion, I set the table for late spring with a riot of garden colors plucked from the Bavarian china dinner plates; Pink scalloped chargers, flowers in pinks, reds, yellows, and purples, and green cotton dinner napkins trimmed with crocheted lace.
In the genre of Oprah “and YOU get a plant, and YOU get a plant…” each placesetting had a potted miniature rosebush for the guest to take home.
A bucket of Trader Joe’s cut flowers was transformed into a low centerpiece.
Unique teacups in reds, pinks and purples were culled from my teacup collection for each place.
A Spring Brunch Menu
Mimosas or OJ (served on the porch as guests gathered) - I‘m still working my way through leftover bottles of Asti Spumanti from our Nutcracker Sweets Party?! _ I think I’m finally down to the last one.
Buffet Service of
Ham
No Fail Souffle
Green Salad with Goat Cheese, Cinnamon Sugar Pecans, and Peaches lightly dressed in a honey vinaigrette
Fruit Salad
Served at the Table
Mini Lemon Ginger Scones
Coffee or Tea
Dessert
While not really necessary for a breakfast/brunch type meal, is there ever a wrong time for Snickerdoodles?
And there’s still that Fruit Salad!
No-Fail Souffle Recipe
This recipe is made for an institutional size lasagna pan, and I HAVE made it that way before. But for this smaller gathering, I wanted to bake it in more decorative baking dishes and I didn’t need quite so massive an amount.
I use a set of two oval bakers: an 8 1/2” x 11” X 3” (around 12 cup capacity) and a 7 1/2” x 10” x 2 1/2”.
The amount of bread and butter and cheese is pretty much dependent on your baking dish size. For these two dishes I used a total of 2 lbs of cheese, 1 1/4 lbs of butter, and about 1 3/4 loaves of white sandwich bread.
I halved the recipe for the egg mixture to 6 cups of liquids and 10 eggs and I still had too much for my dishes. I wasn’t sure how it would turn out since I hadn’t used all the egg mixture, but with all that cheese, butter, and eggs, how could it be bad?? It turned out just as delicious as I remembered so it really IS pretty no-fail!
I’d recommend starting with the least amount of egg mixture you think you might need - you can always mix up more in less than 2 minutes if you need to top off your pans!
What follows is the original recipe, which serves approximately 30.
You can adjust the amounts to suit your needs as long as you keep the ratio of liquids to eggs approximately the same.
No-Fail Cheese Soufflé
Serves approximately 30
Ingredients
White generic sandwich bread slices, crusts removed (this is not the place for rustic, robust bread as the whole point is for it to break down and disappear in the casserole)
1 to 2 lbs Butter, melted
Grand Marnier (1/4 cup per pound of butter)
2 to 3 lbs shredded cheddar (other similar melty cheeses would work too)
20 eggs
10 cups whole milk
2 cups chicken broth
10-20 drops Tabasco
Directions
Preheat oven to 350° F
Melt butter and mix in Grand Marnier
In a large lasagna pan (or the baking dish of your choice), line the bottom with slices of the bread dipped in the butter mixture, fitting the bread tightly to the edges.
Add a layer of shredded cheese
Top with another layer of butter soaked bread slices.
Continue alternating layers of cheese and butter/bread finishing with cheese as the top layer. (My oval bakers each used 3 layers of bread and 3 layers of cheese)
Mix together eggs, milk, broth, and Tabasco. (I used 10 eggs, 5 cups milk, and 1 cup broth - which was about 20% more than I needed to fill my baking dishes)
Pour egg mixture over the layers letting it seep in - you’ll see the air bubbling up as the liquid settles into all the crannies - fill to top of cheese.
Set prepared pan in a larger pan and add water to come halfway up the side of the baking dish, creating a water bath for gentle, even cooking of the custard-like mixture.
Bake 1 hr.
Remove from oven and rest for ~1-2 hrs before serving (rest the soufflé! you can rest too, if you want 😂)
Enjoy!
Other posts you might enjoy:
The quiche recipe that will ruin you for all other quiches
Our favorite Snickerdoodle Recipe
Easy homemade vinaigrette and other way to level up your salad