How to make a Souffle. Includes recipes for cheese and Amaretto souffle The souffl is made up of two parts: the first is the base, which if savoury, is a thick flavoured white sauce, made from flour, butter and milk. To this base, egg yolks are added for consistency and then stiffly whisked egg whites are folded into the mixture. The egg whites give the dish their light and airy texture and cause the souffl to rise during cooking. For sweet souffls, a custard style base is made with sweet ingredients to which the stiffly whisked egg whites are then added. The souffls are then poured into individual ramekins or a larger round souffl dish and baked in the oven for about 20 minutes. The tricky part of preparing souffls is getting the cooking timing exactly right. For a start, the oven door must never be opened whilst the souffl is baking, as this will cause the souffl to immediately deflate. The souffl should rise several inches above the dish during cooking and the crust will become browned and crisp on the outside. If the souffl does not spend enough time in the oven and is removed before it has been cooked properly, it will deflate quite soon after being taken out of the oven. On the other hand, overcooking the souffl will have the same effect and the air bubbles will burst, causing the souffl to collapse. As you can see the timing has to be perfect. The way