Berry soufflé with fresh berry sauce

Reserve a few of the prettiest berries for garnish. Add 12 g sugar to the berries and mash, so the blueberry skins pop open.

Over medium heat, stir nearly constantly so nothing burns, until the fruit breaks down and the colour deepens; simmer about 5 minutes.

Push the sauce through a sieve into a bowl with a wooden spoon until only seeds and skin remain, scraping the underside. About a cup of sauce. Rinse the saucepan.

Separate two eggs; yolks into the cooled saucepan. Whisk in 24 g sugar, then add 16 g cornstarch.

Gradually drizzle in two thirds of a cup of the sauce while whisking, dispersing the starch in a thick slurry first so it does not clump. Add 14 g butter.

Heat on low from a cold pan, whisking nonstop; raise the heat slightly only if nothing happens after a couple of minutes. After about five minutes the egg proteins coagulate; keep whisking to avoid curds. A minute later the cornstarch gelatinises. Take off the heat and cool; this can be done well in advance.

Beat the egg whites with a tiny pinch of cream of tartar and a pinch of salt until fairly stiff and glossy and leaving trails.

Beat in a third of a cup of powdered sugar in two batches, then beat on full blast to stiff peaks. Add a splash of vanilla.

Lightly grease two teacups with melted butter.

Whisk a little of the meringue into the cooled base to lighten it, then cut and fold the base into the rest of the meringue gently, in as few moves as possible.

Fill the cups to the brim, pressing out air pockets, smooth the top, run a thumb around the rim to make a lip, and wipe the cups with a damp paper towel.

Bake at 375 F (190 C), no convection, about 18 minutes, until the tops are just golden and still wobbly when the cup is tapped; another minute or two if needed.

Pour the remaining third of a cup of sauce into a serving spout.

Rest until the handles can be touched, dig a small hole in the centre of each soufflé and pour the sauce in; eat at once, as soufflés fall once out of the oven.