I started counting how many pancake recipes we have posted since we started the blog and it’s surprisingly few. At least if you divide that number with the number of times we have made pancakes since we started the blog, which is embarrassingly many. We like pancakes in our family and I think we need to blog more about it. We have pancakes for breakfast, lunch or dinner at least once a week.
So with a few hours left on Shrove Tuesday aka Pancake Tuesday, we wanted to throw in a little collection with some of our favourite pancake recipes from the past years – both sweet and savoury. We are also sharing the ultimate way to eat pancakes, in the form of a cake! If not for tonight, it’s an unbeatable breakfast (or dessert) for your loved ones on Valentine’s Day. The recipe is from our first book, The Green Kitchen, which btw is coming out on Portuguese this Spring (the 11th language it is being translated to, crazy!).
We love American style pancakes that are stacked up high and topped with a drizzle of syrup and fruit. These Flour-free Banana, Blueberry & Coconut Pancakes are made simply with egg, banana, blueberries and desiccated coconut and they are much lighter than common American pancakes. The recipe is from The Green Kitchen but can also be found on Cooked.com. All our book recipes are actually available on the Cooked website, it’s a subscription based site but they have a 30-day free trial.
Spinach Crepes with Chickpea, Apple & Tahini Filling. We have been making green pancakes for years and it’s simply achieved by mixing pancake batter in a blender with the addition of spinach (or beetroot). We serve these with a savoury filling for dinner but they also taste great on their own. Click here for the full recipe. And here is a video with us making them.
Masala Dosa filled with Sweet Potato & Peas, Mango & Raisin Chutney and Raita. We loved eating dosa for breakfast in India and all the different fillings add so much flavour with both sweet and savoury tones. The dosa batter is made without eggs so these are perfect for vegans. This recipe is from Green Kitchen Travels and is available on Cooked.com.
Coconut & Quinoa Pancakes with Clementine Marmalade. These vegan pancakes are from Amy Chaplin’s brilliant book that we blogged about last year. Here is the recipe.
Buckwheat crêpes with passion and mango syrup. Our version of French dessert crêpes are topped with an addictive Mango & Passionfruit Syrup and a dollop of mascarpone. The recipe is from Green Kitchen Travels and can also be found on Cooked.com.
Summer Berry Pancake Cake
I have made different versions of this cake since I was a child, and I never get tired of it. I think it is so beautiful with all those stacks of pancakes, and the berries and cream squishing out from the sides. Traditionally you put jam between the layers, but we stick to fresh fruit, nut butter and date syrup. The pancakes should be very thin, so we always use a non-stick frying pan when we make these. You can prepare the pancakes one day in advance and assemble the cake just before serving. If fresh berries aren’t in season, you can use frozen instead./David
Pancake Batter
200 g buckwheat flour
3 large eggs (or 4 medium)
500 ml / 2 cups soy milk or milk of your choice
1 tbsp butter, plus extra for frying
pinch sea salt
Layers
3 ripe bananas, sliced thin
225 g / 1 1/2 cup raspberries, mashed with a fork
225 g / 1 1/2 cup blackberries, mashed with a fork
125 g nut butter
120 ml raw date syrup (soft dates mixed with a splash of water in a blender)
500 ml / 2 cups thick cream, chilled
Topping
150 g / 1 cup raspberries
125 g / 1 cup blackberries
2 tbsp pistachio nuts, chopped
To make the batter, add all the ingredients, plus 250 ml / 1 cup water to a large mixing bowl and whisk vigorously until you have a smooth batter. Make sure that there are no lumps of flour left. Refrigerate for 20 minutes. Give it a good whisk after you have removed it from the fridge, as the flour tends to sink to the bottom.
Heat a 20 cm / 8, preferably non-stick, frying pan on medium-high heat. When the pan is hot, add a few drops of oil and about 75 ml of the batter. Tilt the pan until the batter is evenly distributed. Fry for 45–60 seconds on each side, until the pancakes are golden and can be flipped easily with a spatula. Fry all of the pancakes – the batter should make about 15 – and place on baking paper to cool off. You can layer with baking paper between the pancakes to stop them sticking together.
To assemble, pour the cold cream into a large chilled bowl. Use an electric hand mixer or a whisk to whip it until soft peaks form. Set aside. Put the cold first pancake on a cake stand. Spread a layer of thin slices of banana evenly over the top. Add another pancake and top it with about a third of the mashed raspberries. Then continue with next pancake and a third of the mashed blackberries. Continue with another pancake and carefully spread a thin layer of nut butter and date syrup on it. Add another pancake and spread with a layer of whipped cream.
Then start all over with the banana layer. Continue until all the pancakes are covered. Top with whipped cream, fresh fruit and finely chopped pistachios.
All photos from our first book by Johanna Frenkel.