Kaiserschmarrn with the Thermomix® almost always fails at the same step: egg whites and yolks go into the mixing bowl together, everything is blended for 30 seconds at speed 4, and the result is a flat, rubbery pancake. We keep the two processes strictly separate. Egg whites first, on their own, with the butterfly whisk. Yolks and batter afterwards. Folding by hand at the end. That way the air stays in the Schmarrn and it does not collapse in the oven.
We have been making this Schmarrn regularly for years, mostly as a midday meal for the whole family after a long walk or as a sweet main course on a Sunday. By now we have tried every approach: blending everything together, stirring in the egg whites briefly at the end on a low speed, whipping the egg whites separately by hand. Only one method reliably produces a light, airy Schmarrn with an open crumb. Egg whites strictly separate, then folded in by hand.
Kaiserschmarrn with the Thermomix®
Ingredients 0 / 9 ✓
- 6 eggs
- 40 g sugar
- 1 sachet vanilla sugar
- 150 g flour, type 550
- 40 g sugar
- 150 g milk
- 30 g double cream
- 30 g butter
- 50 g icing sugar
Instructions 0 / 8
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1
Separate the eggs.
Insert the butterfly whisk into the mixing bowl. Separate the eggs, add the egg whites to the mixing bowl and whip to stiff peaks for 6 minutes / speed 4, letting 40 g sugar trickle in through the lid opening as it runs.
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2
Remove the egg whites.
Remove the butterfly whisk and transfer the stiff egg whites to a bowl.
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3
Mix the batter.
Add the egg yolks and the remaining ingredients to the mixing bowl and stir together for 20 seconds / speed 4.
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4
Preheat the oven.
Preheat the oven to 210 °C.
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5
Start baking.
Melt 15 g butter in an ovenproof frying pan on the hob, carefully fold the egg whites into the batter a spoonful at a time, pour the batter into the pan and brown over a medium heat.
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6
Finish in the oven. Place the pan on the middle shelf of the oven and bake for a further 10 minutes.
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7
Tear apart.
Use two forks to tear the Kaiserschmarrn into irregular pieces in the pan. Add 15 g butter and 20 g icing sugar, return the pan to the hob and caramelise over a medium heat for 3 minutes, turning the pieces several times.
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8
Serve.
Dust with the remaining icing sugar and serve with compote or apple sauce.
Tip: If you like, scatter 2 to 3 tbsp of raisins over the batter at step 6.
Nutrition per serving
Why blending in the egg whites gives you a pancake
Stiffly whipped egg whites consist of roughly 90 per cent air bubbles held in a fine network of egg-white protein. That network is fragile. The moment egg yolks, fat or flour are added and the whole thing spins at speed 4 or higher, the blades mechanically burst the bubbles. The air escapes, the egg whites collapse, and the batter ends up with exactly the same density as ordinary pancake batter.
That is precisely the difference between a pancake and a Kaiserschmarrn. A pancake is meant to be flat; a Kaiserschmarrn must rise. The Thermomix® is excellent at whipping egg whites because the butterfly whisk folds air cleanly into the protein. For folding in, however, it is the wrong tool. Even reverse direction at speed 1 visibly destroys the bubbles once the blades have been running for more than twenty seconds. We deliberately take the mixing bowl out of the equation at that point.
Butterfly whisk, 6 minutes at speed 4, sugar trickles in
Separate six eggs and add the egg whites to the clean, grease-free mixing bowl. Insert the butterfly whisk. Important: not a trace of egg yolk in the egg whites, otherwise the whites will never stiffen. We separate the eggs one at a time over a small cup and only tip the egg white into the mixing bowl once we are sure it is clean. Six minutes at speed 4 is the measure. While the mixing bowl is running, we let 40 g sugar trickle in slowly through the lid opening. The sugar stabilises the egg-white protein and makes the foam glossy rather than grainy.
To test the consistency: remove the butterfly whisk, hold it at an angle and check the tip. If the foam holds a firm peak, it is ready. If the peak droops, give it another minute at speed 4. Then use the spatula to scrape all of the egg whites from the mixing bowl into a second bowl and set aside. We do not rinse the mixing bowl at this point; a few traces of egg white on the sides will not affect the next step.
Egg yolks, flour, milk, double cream: 20 seconds is enough
Six egg yolks, 150 g flour type 550, 150 g milk, 30 g double cream, one sachet of vanilla sugar and the second portion of sugar (40 g) go into the mixing bowl. Twenty seconds at speed 4 is all it needs. Blending for longer develops gluten strands in the flour and the Schmarrn turns chewy. After 20 seconds the batter looks smooth and slightly thick, which is the right consistency.
Flour type 550 is not a coincidence here. Type 405 would make the Schmarrn softer, but type 550 has more gluten protein and gives the batter the stability it needs to hold the air from the egg whites. If you do not have type 550, type 405 works too, but you should fold in the egg whites even more carefully. The double cream cannot be left out. It makes the Schmarrn more tender because the milk fat slows gluten development in the batter.
Folding by hand, with the spatula in one direction
Transfer the mixing bowl contents into a large bowl. Spoon the egg whites from the second bowl on top of the batter. Fold with a flexible dough spatula, do not stir. Folding means: from the edge of the bowl downwards, through the batter, back up at the other side, turning the bowl a quarter turn with your free hand as you go. Twelve to fifteen folds is enough. The batter may still show faint white streaks when it goes into the pan.
The classic beginner mistake here: stirring with a whisk instead of folding. That destroys the egg whites just as surely as the mixing bowl does. If you do not have a wide spatula, use a large tablespoon. It works better than a whisk. The batter now has more volume than before and looks almost foamy when you lift it.
210 degrees in the oven, then two forks and caramel
Preheat the oven to 210 °C (top and bottom heat). This happens in parallel with whipping the egg whites so there is no waiting time later. Melt 15 g butter in an ovenproof frying pan, add the batter and cook for two to three minutes over a medium heat on the hob. As soon as the underside is golden brown (lift a corner briefly with the spatula to check), move the pan to the middle shelf of the preheated oven. It stays there for ten minutes. During that time the Schmarrn rises because the air from the egg whites warms and expands, the reverse of soufflé logic.
Take the pan out of the oven, grab two forks and tear the Schmarrn into irregular pieces. Deliberately irregular, because every edge will caramelise later. Add another 15 g butter and 20 g icing sugar, return the pan to the hob, medium heat, caramelise for three minutes turning the pieces several times. The kitchen smells properly of Kaiserschmarrn for the first time at this point. The icing sugar melts, starts to turn golden and coats each piece with a thin layer of caramel.
Raisins soaked in rum, not added dry to the batter
Classically Austrian, raisins belong in this dish. We do not add them straight to the batter in the pan; instead we soak two to three tablespoons of raisins an hour beforehand in two tablespoons of rum. If you prefer not to use rum, hot water or apple juice works just as well. The effect is the same: the raisins absorb liquid, soften and carry their flavour through the dish. Dry raisins added straight to the batter stay hard, crunch between the teeth and burn at 210 °C.
We scatter the drained raisins directly onto the batter in the pan just after it has started to colour on the hob, before the pan goes into the oven. That way they sink into the still-liquid batter and distribute evenly. If you do not like raisins, leave them out. A classic Viennese Kaiserschmarrn does include them, however. Flaked almonds are another option we sometimes use when children refuse the raisins.
Bring the Schmarrn to the table dusted with the remaining icing sugar, alongside a small bowl of home-made apple sauce with the Thermomix®, which we often prepare the day before and serve cold. If you prefer something fruitier, cherry compote is the way to go. If any egg whites happen to be left over (which does not happen with this recipe since all six eggs are used in full), our advocaat with the Thermomix® is the obvious next step. That uses six egg yolks and creates exactly the opposite leftover problem.
TM31, TM5, TM6, TM7: the butterfly whisk makes them equal
Whipping egg whites works identically on all four models. Six minutes at speed 4 with the butterfly whisk produces the same stiff foam because the butterfly whisk works mechanically, not via the heating element or a guided function. The TM6 browning mode or the TM7 sensor technology add no value for this recipe because all the browning and caramelising happens entirely on the hob.
Goes well with: vanilla sauce and icing sugar.
Our tip: lemon layer dessert with the Thermomix®.
Note for TM31 users: the mixing bowl holds a maximum of 1.8 litres when cooking. Six eggs plus the batter volume stay well under that limit. One thing to be aware of: official Vorwerk support for the TM31 ended on 31 December 2024. The machine continues to work, but original spare parts are no longer available through Vorwerk. Third-party replacements for the butterfly whisk that are compatible with the TM31 are available. We still use the TM31 ourselves for whipping egg whites and can confirm: the Schmarrn is no different from one made with the TM6.
